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Journals & Publications

This section features a collection of journals and publications on school meals and nutrition, including relevant reports and peer reviewed articles developed by the School Meals Coalition and other experts.

A Chance for every Schoolchild - WFP School Feeding Strategy

Year of publication: 2020

In this strategy (2020 - 2030) WFP lays out its vision of working with governments and partners to jointly ensure that all primary schoolchildren have access to good quality meals in school, accompanied by a broader integrated package of health and nutrition services.

The State of School Feeding Worldwide

Year of publication: 2022

This report is WFPs flagship publication and the main reporting mechanism of the School Meals Coalition. It provides an overview on how countries support their children through effective school feeding programmes.

An interactive experience: State of School Feeding Worldwide

Year of publication: 2022

This is an interactive version of the State of School Feeding Worldwide publication. It provides an overview of the key messages and emerging research on school health and nutrition

Ready to learn and thrive: school health and nutrition around the world

Year of publication: 2023

This report provides the first overview of the extent to which countries have school health and nutrition (SHN) policies and programmes in place. It aims to encourage efforts to improve, scale up and sustain SHN and to provide a basis for monitoring progress.

Nutrition action in schools: a review of evidence related to the Nutrition-Friendly Schools Initiative

Year of publication: 2020

Good nutrition during childhood and adolescence is key to ensuring optimal growth, health and well-being. Healthy dietary practices in early life have an immediate impact on healthy growth and help prevent noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) later in life and across generations.

Rethinking School Feeding Social Safety Nets, Child Development, and the Education Sector

Year of publication: 2009

This review was prepared jointly by the World Bank Group and the World Food Programme (WFP), building on the comparative advantages of both organizations.

Home-Grown School Feeding Resource Framework

Year of publication: 2018

This resource framework is intended as a guidance tool for the design, implementation and monitoring of home-grown school feeding programmes. It was jointly produced by WFP, FAO, IFAD, NEPAD, GCNF and PCD.

Impacts of school feeding on educational and health outcomes of school-age children and adolescents in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Year of publication: 2021

School feeding programmes are ubiquitous in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and may have critical implications for the health and education of school-age children and adolescents.

School meals and food systems: Rethinking the consequences for climate, environment, biodiversity, and food sovereignty

Year of publication: 2023

There is an urgent need to rethink our global food systems. The world is facing a nutrition crisis, and the way we produce and consume food is altering the equilibrium of our planet, causing environmental damage and biodiversity loss, and climate change which further compromises food security.

The Broader Economic Value of School Feeding Programs in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Estimating the Multi-Sectoral Returns to Public Health, Human Capital, Social Protection, and the Local Economy

Year of publication: 2020

This article also explores the policy implications of including the returns of school feeding to other sectors in an economic analysis. The research develops an economic evaluation methodology to estimate the costs and benefits of school feeding programmes across four sectors: health and nutrition...

Adolescence	Adolescence is the phase of life between childhood and adulthood, from ages 10 to 19. As a period of life characterized by important physical, psychological, and social changes - with specific health and developmental needs - adolescence carries new risks, but also provides unique opportunities. Investments in adolescents today will have broad implications not only for their own lives but also for family members and broader communities alike. The adolescents of today will be the parents, the teachers, and the policymakers of tomorrow.
Beneficiaries	Those who receive the benefits of a particular social programme. For this publication, it refers to primary and secondary school-age children between 5-18 years who receive food in school feeding programmes.
Costs	The per-child cost of school feeding is estimated as the total expenditures associated with school feeding activities divided by the number of beneficiaries. The figure reflects costs related to commodity procurement, transportation, storage and handling, and personnel. Community contributions are not included (Gelli & Daryanani, 2013). Cost recovery refers to the programme costs being offset by contributions from the beneficiaries or communities.
Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4)	The proportion of school-attending children receiving school meals
Development partners	An umbrella term for stakeholders that support the development efforts of national, subnational, or local authorities, depending on the particular context. Development partners can include: bilateral donors (national governments providing international development assistance); UN agencies and institutions (WFP, UNICEF, FAO, UNESCO, UNFPA, UNSCN, WHO…); international financial institutions (International Monetary Fund, World Bank, AfDB, AsDB, EBRD, IADB…); other multilateral agencies (e.g. IsDB, EIB, OFID, AIIB…); multi-stakeholder partnership global pooled funds (GPE, ECW…); international non-governmental organizations (Plan International, Save the Children International, demo International, Care International, Relief International, Dubai Cares…); international civil society organizations (Partnership for Child Development, International Food Policy Research Institute, the Millennium Villages Project, GCNF…); and civil society at the local level.
Deworming	A treatment to control the intestinal worm infections such as helminths (roundworm, ringworm, and hookworm) and schistosomiasis. The World Health Organization has recommended giving children albendazole or mebendazole to treat helminths and praziquantel to treat schistosomiasis.
Dietary Diversity	The consumption of a proper balance of different foods that provide all the macronutrients and micronutrients needed for healthy growth and productive life.
Food-based safety nets	Category of interventions that provide direct, regular and predictable food assistance, to the most vulnerable people to: (1) prevent them from falling below a minimum level of food security as a result of a shock; (2) to increase their resilience to shocks; and (3) in some cases, to promote their food security (Grosh et al., 2008). The retail value of a food transfer in the local market is referred to as an income transfer.
Food Systems	Interlocking networks of relationships that encompass the functions and activities involved in producing, processing, marketing, consuming, and disposing of food from agriculture, forestry or fisheries.
Fortification	The practice of deliberately increasing the content of essential micronutrients (such as Vitamin A, iron, iodine, or zinc) to foods (WHO and FAO, 2006).
Home-Grown School Feeding	A school feeding model that is designed to provide children in schools with safe, diverse and nutritious food, sourced locally from smallholders.
Investment	The total budget allocated to school feeding by the government or WFP, or an estimation of that budget. In this publication, these are estimates based on secondary data and not on information from national balance sheets.
National school feeding programme	A programme managed by the government either alone or with the support of WFP or other development partners to provide food on a regular basis to schoolchildren.
Nutrition-sensitive Programme	Interventions addressing the basic and underlying determinants of malnutrition; namely, food security, caregiving, and access to health services and a safe and hygienic environment. Nutrition-sensitive programmes also address the enabling environment, through technical assistance to governments, including advising on policies in complementary sectors.
School Feeding	The provision of food to children or their households through school-based programmes. Such programmes can provide meals, snacks or conditional household transfers in the form of cash, vouchers or in-kind, take-home rations.
School Meals Coalition	An emerging initiative of governments and a wide range of partners to drive actions that can urgently re-establish, improve and scale up food and education systems, support pandemic recovery and drive actions to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Social Protection	A set of policies and programmes aimed at preventing or protecting all people against poverty, vulnerability and social exclusion throughout their life-course, with particular emphasis on vulnerable groups.
School Health and Nutrition	Health and nutrition programming designed for school-age children, as well as outreach activities that expand the effect of programmes within communities and to children not in schools. The services provided through School Health and Nutrition go beyond feeding, and may include additional interventions such as deworming, vaccination, vision screening, nutrition education, and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH).

Source	Symbol	Number of countries used in this report	Country names
African Union, Sustainable School Feeding in the African Union	AUSSF	2	Angola United Republic of Tanzania
USDA- sponsored, GCNF Global School Feeding Survey 2019	GCNF 2019	8	Colombia, Comoros, Egypt, Fiji Indonesia, Nauru, Republic of Moldova. Viet Nam
USDA- sponsored, GCNF Global School Feeding Survey 2021	GCNF 2021	125	Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda Argentina, Armenia, Australia Austria, Bahamas, Bangladesh Barbados, Belgium, Belize Benin, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil Brunei, Darussalam, Bulgaria Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Cameroon Central African Republic, Chad Chile, China, Congo, Croatia Cyprus, Czechia, Côte d'Ivoire Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ecuador, El Salvador Estonia, Ethiopia, Finland France, Gambia, Ghana Greece, Grenada, Guatemala Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana Haiti, Honduras, Hungary Iceland, India*, Iraq, Ireland Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kiribati Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Latvia, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Mexico, Monaco, Mongolia, Mozambique, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Niger, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Palau, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Slovakia, Slovenia, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Spain, Sri Lanka, St. Kitts and Nevis, Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, United States of America, Uruguay, Zambia, Zimbabwe, eSwatini
World Bank, State of Social Safety Nets 2018	SSSN	5	Costa Rica, Mauritius, Morocco State of Palestine, Turkey
State of School Feeding Worldwide 2013	SSFW	3	Canada, China Hong Kong SAR Iran (Islamic Republic of)
WFP, Smart School Meals 2017	SSM	5	Bolivia (Plurinational State of) Cuba Dominican Republic Nicaragua Paraguay
WFP, Annual Country Reports 2019	WFP ACR	6	Algeria Djibouti Jordan Lebanon Myanmar Yemen
Other sources: government reports, case studies and individual country publications	OS	4	Japan Russian Federation Rwanda United Kingdom
Estimations	Est.	18	Afghanistan Albania Bahrain Belarus Bermuda Dem. People's Republic of Korea Dominica Marshall Islands Pakistan Puerto Rico Qatar Saudi Arabia Seychelles Singapore Tonga Ukraine Uzbekistan Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)