Promoting equity and inclusion: the role of integrated school feeding programs

Session Submission Type: Group Panel

Description of Session

Panel Summary:

Governments, development agencies, and civil society organizations have long advocated school feeding programs as a way to help improve the general well-being and educational participation for the poorest and most marginalized children. School feeding can serve as an important incentive for poor parents to send (and keep) their children in school; at the same time, through providing a nutritious meal, it can reduce hunger and help children concentrate in class. Research has shown that school feeding programs can improve enrollment, attendance, and educational achievement of children living in poor/food insecure households, especially if supported by a wide range of complementary interventions, such as de-worming, water and sanitation, and teacher training.

This panel will explore school feeding as part of an integrated effort to improve education for all. Presentations will share experiences from USDA-funded school feeding programs implemented in 4 distinct country contexts with different elements of integration: Laos; Sierra Leone; Mozambique; and Tanzania. Results to date from these programs will be shared, along with lessons learned in terms of integration, defining inclusiveness, and how school feeding can be used as a platform to mobilize teachers and communities in efforts to improve their schools.

The panel will begin with an overarching presentation, looking at research and evidence to date on school feeding and providing a framework for discussion for the other presentations. Presentations will focus on different ways that school feeding has been integrated with other interventions, and the effect this integration has had on the promotion of equity, both in schools and within classrooms.

Following the presentations, the discussant will pull together themes and major ‘take-away messages’ from the presentations, and lead an open discussion.

Sub Unit

• General Pool

Chair

• Anne Sellers, Catholic Relief Services

Individual Presentations

• School feeding: Conceptual framework and context - Anne Sellers, Catholic Relief Services

• Inclusive education and school feeding in Laos - Yangxia Lee, Center for Inclusive Education, Ministry of Education; Joshua Poole, NGO; Vatvisa Keosalivong

• Food for knowledge: using teachers as community development agents in Mozambique - Marie Lichtenberg, Humana People-to-People

• School feeding and early grade reading instruction in Sierra Leone: what difference does a year make? - Bidemi Carrol, Institute of Policy Analysis and Research; David Sombie, Catholic Relief Services

• Innovations in Integration: school feeding and school health in Tanzania - Stephanie Gaffney