The School Meals Coalition will participate in the UN Food Systems Summit +2 Stocktaking Moment taking place from 24 to 26 July in Rome, Italy. We will lead the School Meals Powering Food Systems Transformation session, which is the first plenary of the three-day Summit hosted by the Government of Italy in collaboration with WFP, FAO and IFAD.
This session focuses on the momentum and political will that the Coalition has created since it was launched at the Food Systems Summit in 2021. Key milestones will be shared, and countries will have the opportunity to highlight progress in their School Meal Programmes, focusing on domestic investment and policy commitments. Two years after the launch of the Coalition, school meals have reached 418 million children, created 4 million jobs, many of them benefitting women, and Governments have turned promises into actions by increasing domestic funding by USD 5 billion.
The summit serves as a make-or-break moment to maintain and generate further momentum on action for food systems transformation in support of the acceleration of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The School Meals Coalition Achievements
84 Governments have joined the Coalition.
95 Partners are collaborating with Governments.
USD 5 billion in increase in domestic funding that scaled up School Meal Programmes.
15% surge in domestic funding of school meals by Governments in developing countries.
418 million children are now receiving meals up from 388 million children in early 2020.
4 million jobs direct jobs created most of them benefitting women.
Achievements in the past two years
Benin announced a national budget commitment of US$ 270M dollars over the next five years to scale up their national programme.
Kenya commits to scale up coverage from 1.8M to 10M children by 2030. In 2023, the budget for school meals was more than doubled to US$ 3M.
Niger will increase its national funding to reach 25% in 2026 and 50% of children by 2030, especially the most vulnerable.
Rwanda scaled up the national school meals programme from 660,000 children in 2020 to 3.8M children in 2022.
The United States has called for the universal provision of school meals and is aiming to reach 30M children nationally by 2032.
By 2023, restore the progress we made by supporting all countries as they re-establish effective school meal programmes and repair what was lost during the pandemic.
By 2030, reach those we missed. The most vulnerable, in low and lower-middle-income countries, were not being reached even before the COVID-19 pandemic.
By 2030, improve our approach by improving the quality and efficiency of existing school meals programmes in all countries by facilitating a healthy food environment in schools and promoting safe, nutritious, and sustainably produced food.
- By 2023, restore the progress we made by supporting all countries as they re-establish effective school meal programmes and repair what was lost during the pandemic.
- By 2030, reach those we missed. The most vulnerable, in low and lower-middle-income countries, were not being reached even before the COVID-19 pandemic.
- By 2030, improve our approach by improving the quality and efficiency of existing school meals programmes in all countries by facilitating a healthy food environment in schools and promoting safe, nutritious, and sustainably produced food.
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