World Food Programme Fighting Hunger Worldwide

WFP is the largest provider of school meals in Malawi. Overall, school meals by all providers reach 31 percent of all primary school children in Malawi. WFP reaches 18 percent of all primary school students, focusing on the poorest, most vulnerable and hard-to-reach areas in Malawi. These tend to be rural areas.  

Commissioned by WFP’s Executive Board when approving the Policy, this early evaluation assessed: the quality of the Policy itself; results so far; and the factors influencing these results/progress in implementation.

The Policy was timely, relevant and introduced some important new elements, based on sound principles. There are many positive features in implementation so far, but not as much tangible progress as might have been hoped, due to inherent weaknesses in the Policy and slow implementation of the necessary changes to WFP systems, incentives and procedures.

WFP' s support to school meals in Malawi began in 1999 on request from the Government of Malawi. Subsequently, WFP implemented a pilot project targeting 23,000 pupils in 24 schools in Dedza District. The success of this project led to the programme being expanded in 2000 to include Ntcheu and Salima Districts reaching out to 31,500 children in 37 schools. Further expansions followed, as two emergency operations involving school meals, were added to the full Country Programme which was in turn, replaced by the current School Meals Programme (SMP). 

Malawi School Meals Programme aims to increase girls' and double orphans’ attendance through the provision of take-home rations. Support to all schools during the lean season is ensured. Moreover, a cost estimation exercise conducted in 2008 allowed the government to choose the most effective solution for its planned National School Meals Programme.