Indigenous zoom: Impact of the implementation of the School Feeding Program for Indigenous Peoples in Colombia on enrollment

Abstract

Considering the socioeconomic and cultural heterogeneity of the Colombian population, which leads to lower access and permanence in the educational system of indigenous children and youth, the National Government has developed a feeding program with a differential approach for these students. Although the World Bank (2022) developed an analysis of the implementation of the School Feeding Program for Indigenous Peoples (PAEPI – because of the initials in Spanish –), its impact has not yet been evaluated. Hence, this article seeks to fill this gap by establishing whether the implementation of this program had a positive impact on the enrollment of indigenous students. For this purpose, a Difference-in-Differences model was estimated with data from 24 departments during the period 2017-2021. Although it was found that the impact of the PAEPI on indigenous enrollment is not statistically significant, the article provides evidence of the potential effect that this policy can have, since it showed a positive impact on indigenous enrollment. Thus, these findings support the idea that adopting differential treatments can enhance the impact of public policies.