Key messages

The State of School Feeding Worldwide 2022 assesses the impact that COVID-19 and other global events have had on school-based food and nutrition programmes since the last report in 2020.

Despite the cessation of almost all school meal programmes worldwide when schools closed due to the covid-19 pandemic in 2020, school feeding is again one of the largest and most widespread social safety nets in the world.

• The number of children being reached by school meal programmes now exceeds pre-pandemic levels and the possible damage resulting from school closures is being repaired.

• 418 million children now benefit from school meals worldwide, which is 30 million more than the 388 million children reached before the pandemic in early 2020.

• Overall, approximately 41 percent of children enrolled in primary school now have access to a free or subsidized daily school meal, rising to 61 percent in high-income countries.

• This recovery has been more than 90 percent supported through domestic funds, and almost all countries have formally adopted national policies that will help ensure these are continuing commitments.

• School meal programmes have created approximately four million direct jobs in 85 countries, which equates to 1,377 jobs for every 100,000 children fed. Most of these jobs are related to the preparation of food, benefitting local cooks and small catering companies, most of them led by women.

This rapid and unprecedented rebound has been driven by national political leadership at the highest levels, channelled through the school meals coalition.

• Political leaders from 76 countries (as at the time of publication) representing 58 percent of the world’s population across all income levels, co-created the School Meals Coalition in less than a year.

The major challenge now is that the recovery has been least effective in low-income countries: coverage is least where it is needed most.

• While there has been a huge recovery overall, the reach of school meals in low-income countries remains 4 percent below pre-pandemic levels.

• Despite other demands post-pandemic and the severe tightening of fiscal space, low-income countries have increased their domestic funding for school meals from approximately 30 percent in 2020 to 45 percent in 2022.

• Disappointingly, while low-income countries have increased their domestic investment there has been a reduction in international support, down from US$267 million in 2020 to US$214 million in 2022.

• There is a need for a new compact that responds to this transition towards greater country ownership and funding. Development partners, especially international financial institutions, should commit to increasing support for school meal programmes by US$1 billion.

There is an opportunity to leverage the school meal platform for more climate-smart and sustainable food systems, that deliver better nutrition and more diverse diets.

• School-age children are bearing the brunt of the current food crisis. WFP estimates that 349 million people in 79 countries are marching towards starvation, including 153 million children and young people. School meal programmes have become the world’s most extensive safety net, and present a powerful opportunity to transform the lives of children and their families affected by the food crisis.

• The global annual investment of US$48 billion in school meal programmes creates a huge and predictable market for food, and offers an extraordinary opportunity to transform food systems and diets, and to respond proactively to the global food crisis.

• School meal programmes can purchase more local food and match quality diets to local production, increasing local agro-biodiversity and strengthening food sovereignty. This can support smallholder farmers, especially rural women and indigenous producers.

• Climate-smart school meal programmes could be part of the vanguard of country efforts to become more climate resilient, by diversifying diets, aligning agriculture and procurement to local food sovereignty, and by rethinking energy and farming practices.