Healthy and cost-effective school meals in Addis Ababa: Research for policy impact

The school feeding program administered by the Addis Ababa City Authority currently benefits nearly 780,000 children in Ethiopia by reducing hunger and enhancing educational participation. As part of a broader social protection strategy, local women’s groups are contracted to prepare meals so that they can benefit economically. However, a recent research review highlighted that the program faces major challenges, including poor dietary quality and financial constraints. These challenges stem from budget shortages, weak food supply chains and inflation, which have limited the program’s ability to deliver standard meal menus. In addition, low earnings and limited nutritional literacy among the women’s groups hinder their ability to consistently deliver nutritionally adequate meals.

This project will evaluate the impact and cost-effectiveness of nutrition-focused dietary quality and food supply chain improvement interventions. It will focus on gender equity and social inclusion and track outcome variables such as dietary quality and student performance. In addition, the project will identify effective implementation mechanisms and propose actionable policy recommendations to strengthen the school feeding programs, with a focus on improving economic outcomes for women and healthy diets for boys and girls.

The project will be funded through the Catalyzing Change for Health and Sustainable Food Systems initiative, a co-funding partnership between IDRC and The Rockefeller Foundation.