Mauritania: Fish-based products for school canteens

Project Background

Due to very favourable hydroclimatic conditions, Mauritania's coasts are among the richest in fish in the world. Small pelagic species are of great economic importance as they represent the main marine catches and are an essential resource for alleviating poverty and food insecurity.

Given this situation and the growing interest in school feeding, the Mauritanian state requested support from its technical and financial partners to implement a sustainable school feeding policy. This policy serves as the basis for the development of a national school canteen programme based on local products. Against this background, GIZ, in cooperation with the International Labour Office (ILO) and the World Food Programme (WFP), implemented the pilot project "Fish-based products in school canteens". This project was part of the PromoPêche (SEWOH) programme, a multi-donor initiative to support the development of sustainable fisheries in Mauritania.

Objectives

The general objective of the project was to contribute, through PromoPêche, to achieving food security and mitigating poverty by strengthening the value chain of artisanal fishing products and the creation of decent jobs and by promoting a sustainable use of pelagic fish in Mauritania.

The specific objective was to support the National School Food Policy in achieving the expected impact to improve the food security of students in the most deprived areas; and in particular the food for 57,378 students in 153 school canteens according to the PAM-GIZ-PNAS agreements of 2021.

Activities and/or Results

For the implementation of the contract, the team of consultants carried out work on two work packages (WP), namely: 

WP 1: Development of the basic concept of the analysis of the initial situation of the pilot project with the identification / validation of the manufacturing processes of the products to be introduced in school canteens 

1. Conduct stakeholder interviews

2. Identify and analyse products and processing methods 

3. Prepare and validate the basic concept

4. Accompany health, nutritional and acceptance tests 

5. Select operators for the supply of food products 

6. Prepare a procedures manual and a roadmap at the end of WP 1

WP 2: SWOT analysis and concept of scaling up 

7. Prepared an overview of actors and processes 

8. Performed a SWOT analysis 

9. Prepared a production and distribution plan for year 1

10. Prepared a description of the possibilities for extension, optimization and growth 

11. Developed a plan for integrating fish products into national strategies 

12. Prepared the final report and organize a restitution workshop