School Meals / Feeding

This indicator measures the proportion of targeted schools or learning spaces that offer school meals/school feeding programmes. It can be used at a single point in time to gain an understanding of the general situation, or to measure progress – due to the implementation of project activities – over a pre-determined period of time (for example, between a project’s baseline and endline).

1) Determine the total number of schools or learning spaces targeted by the action. This data can be gathered from project-level documentation.

2) To collect this data, first develop criteria that need to be met for schools or learning spaces to be considered as offering school meals/feeding. School meals/feeding refers to the provision of food or cash/vouchers for food to children in schools or learning spaces generally through onsite meals and/or snacks, or take-home rations of food conditional to attendance. The criteria developed should be aligned with this definition and with any existing contextual standards. If standards are not available at the national or local level, align with Education or Nutrition Cluster/Working Group standards, if they exist.

3) Using the set criteria, collect data about the provision of meals/feeding in schools or learning spaces. Ideally, data should be collected for every school or learning space since a sampling of schools or learning spaces will not reflect individual schools or learning spaces needs.

1. If access to the school or learning space is possible, it is recommended to collect information through an observation checklist using the criteria created. One example is PIN’s School and Learning Space Observation Checklist which can be filtered for school meals/feeding related questions. Note that this may require multiple observations to check if school meals/feeding is being provided and how regularly it is being provided.
2. If access to the school or learning space is not possible or to verify the findings from the observation checklist, information can be collected through key informant interviews (KIIs) or surveys with a representative sample of stakeholders (for example, teachers, school management, education authorities, children and/or parents/caregivers). Recommended survey questions for measuring this indicator can be found here.

4) Calculate the indicator's value by dividing the number of schools or learning spaces with school meals/feeding programmes by the total number of targeted schools or learning spaces and multiplying the result by 100 to convert it to a percentage.

Disaggregation of the data can be done by the type of school or learning space (formal versus non-formal), level of education (pre-primary, primary, lower secondary, upper secondary, vocational, higher/tertiary) and category of school meals/feeding programme (i.e. on-site breakfast, on-site lunch, on-site snack, take-home ration).

1) This is INEE Indicator 2.8.

2) There is no commonly agreed framework or measurable set of indicators for monitoring school feeding policies and programmes.

3) The World Food Programme (WFP) defines ‘School Feeding’ as the provision of food to children. This is most commonly done by provision meals provided in schools or learning spaces - breakfast, lunch or both; and/or fortified, high-energy biscuits or snacks. Some programmes provide take home rations (transfer of food resources conditional upon school or learning space enrolment and regular attendance of children).

4) Related indicators:

     Global Education Cluster

        - % of affected schools/learning spaces with feeding programmes

        - number and % of emergency-affected children/youth (3-18 years) accessing to emergency education programmes that incorporate nutrition interventions

     Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)

        - 4.a.1 Proportion of schools offering basic services, by type of service