School meals in the 21st century: Key evidence gaps and future directions

Aulo Gelli, Winnie Bell, Lilia Bliznashka, Patricia Eustacchio-Colombo, Jonas Heirman, Eleanor Jones, Mangani Katundu, Roshni Khincha, Benedetta Lerva, Simone Lombardini, Linda Schultz, Samuel P. Scott, Ayala Wineman and School Meal Evidence Priorities Collaborators

IFPRI working papers from International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)

Abstract: School meal programs are a widely implemented safety net with documented impacts across social protection, education, health and nutrition and high estimated returns to investment (Alderman et al., 2024). Globally, in 2022, these programs reached over 400 million children for a total investment of $70 billion a year(Global Child Nutrition Foundation, 2024). The School Meals Coalition (SMC) created in 2021 and involving 106 member countries, has brought momentum and new opportunities for school meals. Collaborative research activities by development partners from the SMC have included evidence generation, review and synthesis, and the identification of key research gaps on school meal programs. This article provides the basis for a common research agenda to support evidence generation aimed at improving action on sustainable school meal programs. These evidence gaps were generated through a series of activities including evidence reviews, expert consultations and stakeholder workshops undertaken by SMC partners.

Keywords: school feeding; investment; sustainability; cost analysis; nutrition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-01-08
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