Building on the 2025 WFP-IDS framing paper on school meals and their contributions to peace and social cohesion in fragile and conflict-affected settings, this report explores how school meals may contribute to social cohesion in Somalia. Drawing on field research conducted jointly by WFP and IDS in five schools in Galkayo, Somalia, the report examines whether and how the pathways identified in the framing paper manifest in practice and assesses the extent to which the school meals programme is grounded in a conflict-sensitive approach.
The findings suggest that school meals provide children with a sense of normality, stability and hope, support school attendance and retention, reduce risks associated with dropout and negative coping mechanisms, and foster positive interactions among children from different backgrounds. Overall, the report finds that school meals support important building blocks of social cohesion, while highlighting opportunities to strengthen conflict-sensitive programming and the intentional integration of secondary social cohesion outcomes into school meals programme design and monitoring.