Latin American and Caribbean countries strengthen cooperation to expand and improve school feeding policies

Expanding the coverage of school feeding programmes, improving the nutritional quality of the food provided, strengthening infrastructure and consolidating regulatory frameworks that guarantee school feeding as a permanent State policy are among the main challenges faced by countries in Latin America and the Caribbean as they seek to advance access to and consumption of healthy diets and guarantee the right to food. Currently, 80 million students benefit from school feeding programmes in the region.

To promote a cooperation agenda and strengthen school feeding programmes, representatives from 17 of the 18 RAES member countries — including government authorities, specialists and school feeding programme managers — met in Comayagua, Honduras, to exchange experiences, analyse common challenges and define joint actions for 2027.

The objective of the in-person meeting of the Sustainable School Feeding Network (RAES), entitled “School feeding: building sustainable and inclusive agrifood systems,” was to enable countries to advance in defining agreements and actions in line with the priorities selected by the countries in the RAES Regional School Feeding Agenda, and to develop coordinated responses to the region’s main challenges.

The RAES meeting was jointly organised by FAO and the Government of Brazil, through the Brazilian Cooperation Agency of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (ABC/MRE) and the National Fund for Education Development (FNDE), with the Government of Honduras as host, through the Secretariat of Social Development (SEDESOL).

Honduras: commitment to school feeding

The opening of the meeting was attended by the President of Honduras, Nasry Asfura, who reaffirmed the country’s commitment to strengthening school feeding as a strategic policy for children’s well-being and local development. “School feeding is not just a plate of food. It is about helping a child learn, grow healthy and have better opportunities.”

Honduras’ School Feeding Programme (PAE) benefits 1.215 million students every day in more than 21,000 educational centres. At a press conference held as part of the RAES event, Asfura explained that the Government currently allocates 1.022 billion lempiras (US$38 million) to school feeding, an amount that, he said, will be increased next year with the aim of improving quality and expanding coverage.

He also explained that the Government seeks to integrate family and local farmers into this process so that they can supply fresh food and, in this way, also generate production and development in rural communities.

The international delegation also learned about the experience of Lamaní, in Comayagua, Honduras, in implementing its school feeding programme, through dialogue with authorities and managers from different educational centres, as well as during a visit to the Herminio Velásquez Basic Education Centre.

The delegation met with local stakeholders, students, teachers, fathers and mothers, and learned about experiences and practices such as school gardens for educational purposes, which, in addition to providing fruits and vegetables to the school, are a powerful tool for environmental and food and nutrition education that can generate lessons for other countries in the region; agricultural technological innovation through youth empowerment; and the tasting of preparations used in local school feeding.

The meeting also highlighted two topics currently under discussion at the global level: the International Year of the Woman Farmer and the inclusion of fish in school feeding. FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Latin America and the Caribbean, Rene Orellana Halkyer, highlighted that the organisation supports countries in the region in strengthening their school feeding programmes through technical assistance, evidence generation and capacity development. “This meeting is an opportunity to advance this agenda, exchange experiences and strengthen policies that respond to the needs of each country.” Representing the Government of Brazil, the country’s Ambassador to Honduras, Andrea Watson, highlighted the importance of public policies to combat hunger, particularly school feeding programmes.

With FAO serving as its Executive Secretariat, RAES was established in 2018 by the Government of Brazil to promote the exchange of knowledge, experiences and good practices among countries in the region.

The Network currently has 18 member countries: Belize, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, Ecuador, Honduras, Guatemala, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Suriname and Uruguay.

The meeting also included the participation of several international organisations and entities, including the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty, the Rockefeller Foundation, the School Health and Nutrition Research Consortium, the World Food Programme (WFP), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Observatory of the Human Right to Adequate Food in Latin America and the Caribbean (ODA-ALC).

As part of the activities, delegations learned about the experiences of three countries in incorporating fish into school feeding, as part of the project “Incorporating aquatic foods from local fishers and aquaculture producers into school feeding programmes in Latin America and the Caribbean.” The initiative brings together Honduras, Belize and Bolivia to promote the inclusion of fish and fisheries and aquaculture products in school feeding programmes through public procurement.

The initiative is supported by FAO’s Flexible Voluntary Contributions Instrument (FVCI) and by the governments of Flanders, Norway, Qatar (Qatar Fund for Development), the Principality of Monaco and Sweden. In addition, Brazil and Chile presented their progress, results and challenges in incorporating these foods into their programmes.

The RAES Meeting held in Honduras demonstrated that transforming school feeding programmes requires political leadership, institutional commitment and the active participation of school communities. At the same time, it confirmed the strategic value of South-South and triangular cooperation promoted by the Government of Brazil, as well as FAO’s technical support, as catalysts for knowledge exchange, innovation and the development of more sustainable, inclusive and resilient school feeding systems in Latin America and the Caribbean.