Strengthening School Feeding Programmes: FAO and WFP joint work in Latin America and the Caribbean

School Feeding Programmes (SFP) are the most predominant social protection network in the world (World Bank, 2018). In 2013, nearly USD 75 billion was invested, reaching more than 368 million schoolchildren worldwide (WFP, 2013), representing a huge public investment and broad coverage of the school population.

In Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), SFP are explicitly incorporated into national food and nutrition security (FNS) policy frameworks and becoming part of national social protection policies and systems. At present, almost all countries in the region are implementing SFP, and about 85 million children are given breakfast, a snack or lunch at school, with an annual investment of approximately USD 4.3 billion, mainly from national budgets (WFP, 2017).

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) support governments in the region to achieve more sustainable, nutrition-sensitive and quality SFP. The purpose of this paper is to provide a regional view of this contribution, showing FAO and WFP joint efforts in LAC. The document also focuses on the main core strategies and joint efforts in line with the vision of the SFP as a public policy instrument to achieve the SDG by 2030. Finally, this document presents three case studies of countries where FAO and WFP work together in support of SFP: Colombia, Honduras and the Dominican Republic.