Borelli, T., Nekesa, T., Mbelenga, E., Jumbale, M., Morimoto, Y., Bellanca, R., & Jordan, I. (2023). Planet-friendly home-grown school feeding: What does it mean? World Food Programme. https://www.wfp.org/publications/planet-friendly-home-grown-school-feeding-what-does-it-mean
This research seeks to improve the environmental sustainability of school meals in Sub-Saharan Africa by developing a practical tool to guide Planet Friendly procurement practices and HGSF approaches and support the transition to more sustainable food systems.
School meals present a unique opportunity to tackle the various food system challenges, including the depletion and pollution of natural resources, habitat and biodiversity loss, deforestation, ocean acidification, and climate change while delivering multiple social and economic benefits towards sustainable food systems for healthy diets. Despite these advantages, the approach is challenged by the lack of evaluation tools and metrics that can be used to quantify the level of “planet friendliness” in the different regions where the Home Grown School Feeding approach is applied.
Through evaluation of the current school meal supply chain in Sub-Saharan Africa, this study identifies practices in food production, transport, processing, and storage that may influence the impact of school feeding programs on planetary health. The study initially focuses on three main products supplied to schools by the World Food Program (WFP) – maize, beans, and dark green leafy vegetables – and proposes to focus on general agronomic, food processing, and handling practices.
The assessment undertaken has resulted in an evaluation tool for all of WFP’s farmer-directed procurement processes linked to school feeding. The proposed tool, currently in draft form and yet to be tested, provides information about indicators to be included in food procurement policies and processes for the provision of greener school meals in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The tool is intended to simplify the evaluation of current procurement processes and guide future decision-making around school procurement to ensure planetary health considerations are widely adopted to bolster systemic resilience. The tool can serve multiple purposes: as a checklist, a scoring template for refining tenders, a monitoring and evaluation tool, or a foundation for co-creating policies for any school feeding program at the school, local, or national level.
Related article, 2025 Sep
Reimagining school meals through agrobiodiversity in Madhya Pradesh, India
— Meghajit Sharma Shijagurumayum, Natalia Estrada Carmona, Smitha Krishnan, Marlène Elias, Sarah K. Jones (Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT),
— Samrat Singh (Imperial College London),
— Pragya Gadewal, Dikhyani Konwar, Saurabh Singh, Archana Singh (Professional Assistance for Development Action)
What if school meals nourished children while supporting local livelihoods, empowering communities, and celebrating India’s rich agrobiodiversity?
In Madhya Pradesh, a new effort is exploring pathways to better link local livelihoods, community knowledge, and India’s diverse food heritage with school meal programs. While aiming to enhance nutrition for children, the effort also seeks to reintroduce neglected and underutilized crops into local farming and institutional food systems.
Mobilizing Agrobiodiversity in India to Support Integrated Landscape Planning and Planet-Friendly School Meal Programs is not just about diversifying menus; it invites a rethinking of how food, agrobiodiversity, and public procurement can intersect to support more sustainable and contextually rooted food systems.
Use the link in the title to read the whole article.
Submitted by Christine McCullum-Gomez, PhD, RDN
updated 2025 Nov
Transparency | Diversity | Dynamism | Evidence-based |