School meals a vital ingredient in ending hunger and promoting healthy diets
This article from FAO shows and reiterates the importance of school meals and highlights the Home-Grown School Feeding Resources Framework publication. This framework supports governments through the process of policy formulation, implementation and evaluation of school meals programs. It also brings together the technical expertise of different stakeholders in a programmatic and coherent way to be easily accessed by countries requesting technical assistance. The article emphasizes the need to promote healthy eating habits for all children through sustainable policies, including sourcing food from family farmers. Every day around 370 million children around the world are fed at school through school meals programs that are run in varying degrees by national governments. School meals have proved successful in providing educational and health benefits to the most vulnerable children. School meals boost school attendance, and a full stomach can help students concentrate on their lessons. Communities, particularly in rural areas, also benefit when family farmers and small and medium enterprises are the main source of healthy food for the schools. The article also highlights two case studies in Latin America and the Caribbean and in Cape Verde.