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State of School Feeding Worldwide

2013OVERVIEW

The book does not focus on the UN World Food Programme’s operations. Done in partnership with the World Bank and the Partnership for Child Development, the State of School Feeding Worldwide 2013 presents our current understanding of school feeding through a global survey, maps, case studies and analysis. It follows up from the landmark 2009 publication Rethinking School Feeding, to provide new insights into the policy and management of school feeding programmes globally.

Since the financial crisis in 2008, interest in school feeding has grown among both high- and low-income countries, highlighting the need to improve our knowledge and our evidence base.

The book addresses the following questions:

How can countries improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the programmes they are already implementing?

How do school meals contribute to social protection, education and health goals?

How do governments support the link between local agricultural production and school meals to make programmes sustainable?

How can school feeding programmes better support the most vulnerable families and children in any society?

A meal in school is a powerful tool. For the first time, we present the global picture and data from research that shows an estimated 368 million children receive a meal at school every day, both in developing countries and in affluent countries. The global investment is in the order of US$75 billion a year.

State of School Feeding Worldwide 2013

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Some key findings of the State of School Feeding Worldwide 2013:

• The coverage and quality of school feeding programmes vary with national income. In low-income countries, where the need is greatest in terms of hunger and poverty, the coverage is the lowest (see graphs on back page).

• The greatest opportunities for containing costs are in low-income countries – in some countries school feeding per child costs more than education itself and there is opportunity for efficiency savings.

• School feeding works as part of social protection systems to support the most vulnerable families and children and can be scaled up in response to crises. At least 38 countries surveyed have scaled up their programmes in response to armed conflict, natural disasters, and food and financial crises.

• School feeding contributes to having healthy and well-educated children, but can only help

if teachers, textbooks, curriculum and an environment conducive to learning are also in place.

• Addressing the nutrition needs of school-aged children can help ensure that the development gains in the crucial first 1,000 days of life are not jeopardized by later failures.

• Linking programmes to the agriculture sector has direct economic benefits and provides an opportunity to engage with the private sector at all stages of the supply chain.

• Development partners should improve coordination to ensure that children in low-income countries have access to programmes that are common almost everywhere else.

The publication is a work in progress that seeks to share the knowledge about a vital tool for nourishing the bodies and minds of future generations.

SouthSudan

Libya

(U.K.)

***

***

> 5 million

1 - 5 million

0.5 - 1 million

< 0.5 million

Estimated figures

No school meals programme

No data

Number of children receiving school meals

Latin America & Caribbean85 million

North America45 million

Middle East &North Africa13 million

Europe & Central Asia27 million

South Asia121 million

East Asia & Pacific47 million

Brunei Darussalam

Sub-SaharanAfrica30 million

State of Palestine

Source: WFP global school feeding survey, case studies, publications and other sources. N=169 countries.

The designations employed in this map, do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the World Food Programme concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers and boundaries. In the following specific cases: * the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir agreed on by India and Pakistan is represented approximately by a dotted line as the final status has not yet been agreed on by the parties; ** a dispute exists between the governments of Argentina and the United Kingdom concerning sovereignty over the Falkland Islands (Malvinas); *** the final boundary between the Republic of Sudan and the Republic of South Sudan has not yet been determined.

368 million children receive school meals with up to US$75 billion invested each year

To download the full PDF of the book, visit:wfp.org/school-meals

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World Food Programme Via C.G. Viola, 68-70, Rome 00148, Italywfpinfo@wfp.org wfp.org/school-meals

Printed: April 2013 Front cover photo: WFP/D

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In low-income countries, where the need is greatest, the coverage is the lowest

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

OVERALL Timor-Leste

São Tomé and Príncipe Lesotho

Honduras Bolivia

Swaziland Nicaragua

Cape Verde State of Palestine

Guatemala El Salvador

India Zambia

Egypt Sri Lanka

Senegal Djibouti

Sudan Republic of Congo

Bhutan Armenia Morocco Lao PDR Guyana

Côte d'Ivoire Iraq

Pakistan Ghana Yemen

Syria Cameroon Paraguay

NigeriaPhilippinesIndonesia

49%

Percentage0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

OVERALL

Liberia

Haiti

Burkina Faso

Kyrgystan

The Gambia

Tajikistan

Guinea-Bissau

Sierra Leone

Central African Republic

Guinea

Mauritania

Afghanistan

Cambodia

Somalia

Kenya

Malawi

Benin

Mali

Rwanda

Tanzania

Chad

DR Congo

Bangladesh

Burundi

Nepal

Niger

Mozambique

Myanmar

Madagascar

Ethiopia

Togo

Uganda

18%

Percentage

Coverage of school feeding programmes in lower-middle-income countries

Coverage of school feeding programmes in low-income countries

Source: WFP global school feeding survey, case studies, publications, World Bank and UNESCO. N=67 countries.

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