The school meal programme in Ethiopia was initiated in 1994 through a collaboration with WFP, initially implemented as a pilot initiative in 40 schools situated in pastoral areas. Encouraged by positive outcomes, the programme was expanded to additional regions in 2004. This expansion predominantly targeted areas affected by food insecurity stemming from conflicts, severe droughts, and elevated rates of absenteeism and dropouts from schools.

Since 2021, there has been a significant expansion and prioritization of school feeding by the government to ensure food security, particularly for pre-primary and primary schoolchildren. This was underscored by the School Feeding Policy Framework and Implementation Strategy which established the vision, objectives and pillars of the programme.  School feeding has now become an integral part of the national development agenda, enshrined in key policies such as the National Social Protection Policy (2012), the Education Sector Development Plan (2020-2025), the National Food and Nutrition Strategy (2021) and the National School Health and Nutrition strategy (2012) among others.

The national school meal programme is managed by the school feeding unit under the Ministry of Education. It reaches 25% of schoolchildren across all regions of the country through three modalities. One or more modalities can coexist in the same school, depending on the context.

• The traditional (in-kind) modality through which the government supplied ingredients that vary according to the region and meals are prepared on-site.
• The home-grown modality through which local farmers supply the food and parents are encouraged to contribute by cooking or providing fuel wood or water. In this modality, found in most regions, one meal is provided to students per day. The implementation of this modality typically relies on development partners like WFP, Global Partnership for Education, Education Cannot Wait, China Foundation for Rural Development, etc.
• The emergency school meal modality targets schools affected by onset emergencies such as conflicts, droughts and floods. Through this modality, hot meals and/or high-energy biscuits are provided to students targeted by a Humanitarian Response Plan.

In some areas, take-home rations are also provided to families as an incentive for their children to attend school.

Each region manages the programme based on its resources and budget capacity. For example, the Addis Ababa City Administration has institutionalized school meals by creating an independent agency supported by a budget line. This has allowed the city administration to provide two school meals per day, breakfast and lunch.

As of August 2023, the Ministry of Education in collaboration with WFP developed the National Home-Grown School Feeding (HGSF) Programme Guidelines and Standards to operationalize the national school meal policy framework and implementation strategy. These guidelines encompass a series of recommendations covering food handling, food procurement and budgeting, and provide nutrition requirements for the preparation and serving of school meals. Additionally, the document provides recommendations for the implementation of complementary interventions, such as WASH, school eye health, school gardens, etc.

The government plans to expand the reach of the programme with a long-term view of making it accessible to all public schools. 

As of 2023, there are no set standards on what can be served or sold around the school premises.

The main characteristics of the National HGSF Programme Guidelines and Standards are summarized below:

Development process of the National HGSF Programme Guidelines and Standards

The nutrition requirements for school meals, as outlined in the National HGSF Programme Guidelines and Standards were crafted in alignment with the Ethiopian National Food Based-Dietary Guidelines. According to the guidelines, the school meal should include food items from six food groups:

1. Staple foods: cereal grains such as teff, barley, maize, sorghum, root crops and tubers such as “enset” and cassava
2. Legumes: peas, lentils, broad beans and soy beans
3. Nuts and oilseeds: common nuts and oilseeds in Ethiopia include groundnuts, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds and Niger seeds
4. Milk and dairy products: animal milk, yoghurt and cheese.
5. Meat, poultry, eggs and fish: animal-source foods (ASFs) such as meat, poultry, eggs and fish.
6. Fruits and vegetables: fruits such as papayas, avocados, mangoes and bananas

All implementing entities are encouraged to follow the guidelines and standards, which should be updated every five years. Additionally, the menu planning should be designed at the regional level based on local foods and following a consultative process led by the school feeding unit, involving experts from different sectors such as health, nutrition, agriculture, disaster prevention and preparedness, as well as members from cooperatives and school committees.

The steps to plan the menu encompass:

1. A field assessment to identify a list of foods produced by smallholder farmers available in the market while considering the nutrition requirements. The assessment should provide information on seasonality, availability, acceptability by schoolchildren and cost.
2. A revision and improvement of a sample food menu (provided in the guidelines) based on the information obtained through the field assessment. The menu should include locally produced food as much as possible. The menu can be adapted to local food habits and regional variations in the availability of food items.
3. An analysis of the limitations of meal preparation related to storage, cooking facilities, availability of water and fuel, etc.
4. The selection of foods that best achieve nutrition requirements which have a reasonable cost, are in line with local food habits and traditions, are simple to prepare, require few pieces of cooking equipment and have short cooking times.
5. The preparation of the week-based meal plan.

The sample menu outlined in the guidelines is as follows:

*The oil and wheat flour used for the school feeding programme should be fortified.

Implementation

Ethiopia employs a multisectoral approach in implementing the school meal programme, involving different entities like the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Water and Energy, the Public Research Institute, WFP, and NGOs like Save the Children.

The School Feeding Policy Framework and Implementation Strategy envisions several key activities for adequate implementation, such as awareness-raising initiatives, improving school kitchens to serve as centres for training for the local community, organizing cooking contests, and celebrating national and continental school feeding days, among others.

At the school level, the implementation of the meal programme is overseen by the school committee consisting of parents, teachers, health workers and agricultural professionals. This committee manages most aspects of the programme, including school gardens, while health workers are specifically tasked with controlling the nutritional quality of school meals.

The National HGSF Guidelines and Standards include a sample guide for cooks’ training covering topics such as maintaining personal hygiene, ensuring a clean space, preparing meals, preserving foods and prioritizing the use of fuel-efficient stoves. Additionally, the National Food and Personal Hygiene Protocol for the School Feeding Programme developed in 2022 by the Ministry of Health in collaboration with the Ministry of Education addresses themes like food contamination, food management, storage, food safety, food preparation and waste management. In practice, however, there are no current training schemes available for school cooks. 

Monitoring and Evaluation

All administrative bodies from the federal to the woreda (district) level are responsible for monitoring and supporting the programme, as well as ensuring compliance with the guidelines and standards. According to the National HGSF Guidelines and Standards, the monitoring and evaluation process should include:

• Data collection, analysis, reporting, feedback and corrective action.
• A responsible person for the assessment, monitoring and evaluation of school feeding.
• Staff trained to implement the monitoring and evaluation plan.
• A regular report on the school meal programme participation, funds expenditures, and food and equipment inventory.
  

When visiting schools (the frequency depends on human and financial capacity), the practical activities should include:

• Counting the pupils to be served on the day;
• Observing the measurement of ingredients and their release from the store to the kitchen;
• Observing the cooking process and cooking facilities;
• Observing the infrastructure and providing inputs and recommendations;
• Attending the food distribution and recording comments;
• Meeting with the school director, focal teachers, cooks, parents and teacher associations (PTAs), school feeding committee, and students;
• Ensuring that registers are being marked and recorded; and
• Checking the safety, security and records of the storage room.

The report from school visits is compiled quarterly and the Education Management Information Systems (EMIS) generates an annual report. As of 2023, there is no penalty for non-compliance with the guidelines and standards. The Ministry of Education intends to integrate school feeding indicators in the EMIS to capture the data on school feeding annually. Some Indicators relevant to the nutritional quality of the meal are as follows:

• Feeding days as a percentage of school days
• Food diversity score
• Quantity of fortified foods provided
  

Summary of nutrition standards

• All targeted pre-primary, primary and secondary schoolchildren should eat at least one nutritious and safe meal in school a day [1].
• It is recommended in the national dietary guideline that a school meal should provide a diversified diet with four food groups in every meal, and children should consume foods from six groups every day.
• Based on the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for the specific age groups, each meal should contain at least 30% of the daily requirements of energy, macro and micronutrients.
• The national school feeding policy specifies that school meals should provide students with 120-150 grams of food per day, accounting for 616-700 kcal and 10-35g of protein.
• The number of meals per day and how much of a child's daily nutritional needs are covered by school meals are dependent on how much time children spend in school.
• School meals should have diversified food sources with at least four food groups in every meal, contributing towards children’s balanced diet.
• A plate may have four or five different food items, but if they are from the same group, they count as one food group. Hence, it is important to select food items from different food groups.

Recommended food groups and amount per meal served

Timing of Meals

Mealtime should be based on the school schedule and must not affect the learning and teaching process. Most public schools in Ethiopia operate in two shifts, and the decision on the number and timing of meals should be based on the number of school shifts. However, each region and woreda can determine the mealtime depending on the context and the plan to provide one or two meals per day to each student. For the schools that provide one meal per day, guidelines recommend that:

• For the morning shift students, school meals should be served upon arrival at school, or during the morning school break time.
• For the second shift students, school meals should be served upon arrival at school, or during the afternoon school break time.

Mealtime might vary depending on whether the schools offer one or two meals per day for the same students. No meal should be served when the children are ready to go home as it contradicts the purpose of enhancing attention and promoting learning.

Before Mealtime

• The ideal dining condition for students is a designated, cool and shaded location. If designated dining facilities are not available, students can consume their meals in a classroom, which needs to be cleaned after the meal.
• It shouldn't take too long for students to collect and eat their meals. Time spent in queues should be as short as possible.
• Prepare the students by class or group of classes to use the time available as effectively as possible; for example, while students in the first class wash their hands, the others can play or, in very large schools, the students in higher grades may even have an extra lesson before getting ready to eat.
• While students get ready/prepare themselves for mealtime, the food should be ordered and ready on time.
• Cooked food should not be left too long before it is served, and should not be left at room temperature for more than two hours.
• All students must wash their hands thoroughly with soap and water after using the restroom, and before they receive a meal whether they used the restroom or not.
• Students should use the restroom before lining up for handwashing. They may also use the restroom after eating, but not while meals are being served or eaten.

During Mealtime

• Serve adequate portion sizes of food as per the recommended amount of food required for one meal in a day.
• For students with medical problems, the type of food and mealtime should be arranged in accordance with a doctor's prescription.
• When meals are served, younger children and students with special needs should come first.
• Students should ideally sit at tables while eating in groups of six to ten so that eating together becomes a social activity.

After Mealtime

• Students are expected to return all used utensils to the kitchen or to the designated collection location after they have finished eating.
• The dining room must be cleaned after the mealtime.
• To reduce the possibility of rodent infestations, including mice and rats, the kitchen must be cleaned after food preparation or immediately before the next meal preparation.
• Leftover food must be disposed of in the designated container, and once it is full it must be properly emptied, ideally before closing the kitchen.
• Dishes should be washed thoroughly with soap. The kitchen should have a good system for run-off water.
• Schools must have a designated area where leftover food from the school kitchens can be disposed of, or must use the existing public waste disposal system.