School meals in the 21st century – emerging evidence and future directions

This event is co-organized by IFPRI and The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) Research Consortium for School Health and Nutrition

Undernutrition during childhood and early adolescence has long-term consequences for development and health, and for girls it can affect the survival and wellbeing of their children. Diet-related risk factors are estimated to cause 20% of global mortality, and changes in food systems have led to rapid shifts to unhealthy diets and reductions in physical activity, contributing to the increase in rates of overweight and obesity. Moreover, current dietary and population trends will exacerbate risks to humans and the planet.

School feeding programs, or school meals, are a widely implemented safety net with documented impacts across social protection, education, health and nutrition dimensions, and substantial projected economic returns to investment. Globally, programs reach over 400 million children for a total investment of over $50 billion a year. By being most effective for the most disadvantaged children, school meal programs can “level the playing field” in education, health, and nutrition. Experiences in high- and middle-income countries have also linked school meals to food systems transformation, where food procurement for school meals is used as an outlet for commercial farmers. National governments in LIMCs have shown interest in explicitly linking food systems transformation with the school feeding market through “home-grown” school feeding (HGSF). In HGSF, the “structured demand” for school food and related services is channeled to smallholders and other supply chain actors with the intent of stimulating agricultural productivity, increasing incomes, improving diets, and reducing food insecurity.

More about this Event: https://www.ifpri.org/event/school-meals-in-the-21st-century-emerging-evidence-and-future-directions/

Welcome and Introduction Purnima Menon, Senior Director, Food and Nutrition Policy; Acting Senior Director, Transformation Strategy, IFPRI Donald Bundy, Professor, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM)

School Meals are Evolving: Has the Evidence Kept up? Harold Alderman, Research Fellow Emeritus, IFPRI

New Evidence from Impact Evaluations Impact evaluation of the home-grown school meal model in Jordan: Simone Lombardini, Evaluation Officer, World Food Programme (WFP) Impact evaluation of the home-grown school meal model in The Gambia: Benedetta Lerva, Economist, Development Impact (DIME), Development Economics, The World Bank Impact evaluation of an added milk intervention to a micronutrient fortified school feeding program in crisis settings: Lilia Bliznashka, Research Fellow, IFPRI

Panel Discussion: Moving from evidence to action Mangani Katundu, Secretary for Education, Government of Malawi Donald Bundy, Professor, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) Lynnette Neufeld, Director, Food and Nutrition Division, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Kagwiria Koome, Manager, Food, The Rockefeller Foundation Mia Blakstad, Window Manager, Food and Nutrition, The World Bank Arlene Mitchell, Executive Director, Global Child Nutrition Foundation (GCNF)

Moderator and Closing Remarks Aulo Gelli, Senior Research Fellow, IFPRI

Links:

Subscribe IFPRI Insights newsletter and event announcements at www.ifpri.org/content/newsletter-subscription