2nd Ministerial Task Force Meeting of the School Meals Coalition

Outcome statement from the School Meals Coalition Task Force’s second ministerial meeting in Nairobi, with strategic actions defining Coalition priorities for 2025-2026 on school meals financing, health, and education, aiming to provide nutritious meals to all schoolchildren by 2030.

This report highlights the vital role of school meal programmes in tackling global challenges, detailing their impact on nutrition, learning, and rural livelihoods, and their contribution to the SDGs. It also presents scenarios for expanding school feeding in low- and middle-income countries and addresses financial and policy needs to achieve universal access by 2030.

This statement presents new evidence on the design and benefits of school meals programmes, including impacts on growth, enrolment, and learning. The statement also explores the comparative effectiveness of cash transfers and school meals as social safety nets and highlights the cost-benefits of these programmes. It concludes with a call for further research to support national governments in adopting sustainable, planet-friendly school meals policies.

A background document on the connection between the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty and the School Meals Coalition, showcasing the synergies and linkages in how school meals drive education, health, local economies, and social protection while addressing global challenges like malnutrition, poverty, and inequality.

The School Health & Nutrition Technical Assistance Facility, an initiative of the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), strengthens countries’ capacities to implement sustainable, nationally owned school meal programmes. Piloting in Kenya and Lesotho, it supports scaling school feeding efforts, sustainable financing, and multisectoral coordination. Led by WFP with partners like the Rockefeller and Novo Nordisk Foundations, the Facility leverages the expertise of the School Meals Coalition to foster evidence-based, government-driven approaches, contributing to GPE’s mission to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4): inclusive and equitable quality education for all.