Title page
Contents
Acknowledgements 3
Acronyms 8
Foreword 10
Executive Summary 13
1. Introduction 19
2. The background - child poverty, malnutrition and the 'learning crisis' 28
2.1. Children on the front line of SDG deficits 28
2.2. The twin crisis in learning and school participation 33
2.3. The downward spiral of lost education, poverty and malnutrition 35
2.4. The 'double burden' - malnutrition with rising obesity 36
3. The multiple benefits of school feeding 39
3.1. Increasing enrolment, with better learning and greater equity 39
3.2. Under-utilising school feeding in the post-Covid response 43
3.3. Preventing obesity and overweight - the public health dimension 43
3.4. Unlocking the power of procurement 45
3.5. Counting the multiple benefits 47
4. Setting the 2030 ambition - scenarios for a global scale-up of school feeding 49
4.1. Current coverage - limited and variable quality 49
4.2. The school population - rising with demographic shifts and increased enrolment 51
4.3. Two scenarios for 2030 - high ambition and expansion with convergence 54
4.4. Estimating costs 55
4.5. Reaching the most deprived children - the case for 'progressive universalism' 59
5. National budgets and delivery costs: how governments can expand school feeding 65
5.1. Global and national budget allocations 65
5.2. The costs of universal provision through country studies - evidence from Rwanda and Sierra Leone 71
5.3. The humanitarian financing gap 74
6. Financing the scale-up - domestic resources and international cooperation 77
6.1. A financing partnership for delivery 77
6.2. The fiscal backdrop 78
6.3. Domestic resource mobilisation 80
6.4. International cooperation 84
6.5. Aid for school meals - limited and lacking in strategic direction 85
6.6. 'Debt-for-school-feeding' swaps - limits and opportunities 87
6.7. Rethinking the aid delivery architecture - some lessons from the global health funds 89
7. Conclusions and recommendations - delivering through the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty 92
References 97
Endnotes 117
Table 1. Children in monetary poverty 29
Table 2. Stunting levels among children aged under-5 31
Table 3. Rising obesity in the poorest countries 37
Table 4. Cost estimates for expanding school meal coverage - Scenarios 1 and 2 58
Table 5. Selected school feeding programmes - reported annual budgets, numbers of children covered, and allocations per child 66
Table 6. Estimated school meal financing costs - Rwanda and Sierra Leone 72
Table 7. School meal rations and costs - selected WFP programmes, 2022 (current prices) 75
Figure 1. Food insecurity among secondary school children 24
Figure 2. Children in households living with hunger 30
Figure 3. School feeding coverage vs deprivation 32
Figure 4. School feeding coverage vs deprivation 33
Figure 5. School meals and learning effects in Ghana 42
Figure 6. School meal coverage - primary education, reported share and number of children (selected income groups and regions) 50
Figure 7. Numbers of children enrolled in school - reported (2022) and projected (2030), pre-primary, primary, lower-secondary 53
Figure 8. Scenario 1: The high ambition agenda - progression to 60% school meal coverage 54
Figure 9. Scenario 2: Accelerated progress with convergence 54
Figure 10. Estimated average annual cost of school meals per pupil - inflation-adjusted update 56
Figure 11. School meals coverage and stunting 60
Figure 12. School meals coverage and child poverty 61
Figure 13. Bangladesh - the composition of the food baskets and costs 70
Figure 14. The international aid effort on school feeding (US$ 2021 and selected shares) 85
Boxes
Box 1. Brazil: a mission-based approach to school feeding programmes 25
Box 2. Indonesia's double burden of malnutrition 38
Box 3. The dilemmas of targeting - evidence from Kenya 63
Box 4. Sierra Leone - the pathway to universal school meals 73
Box 5. School feeding in a humanitarian environment - Ethiopia 76
Box 6. Earmarking 'sin taxes' and redirecting general subsidies - the art of the possible 82