The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the Global Child Nutrition Foundation (GCNF) are launching a new Research Webinar Series: School-based Interventions in the 21st Century: Evidence Gaps and Future Directions.
School meals have re-emerged as a global priority for improving child health, education, and well-being, reaching at least 407 million children globally. Drawing on the world’s most comprehensive data from the Global Survey of School Meal Programs, the series will bring together researchers, policymakers, and practitioners to explore promising practices, evidence gaps, and new directions for school feeding research.
With rising food insecurity, increasing demands on education systems, and the growing need for inclusive, sustainable development, school meal programs offer a unique opportunity to deliver multiple wins across sectors.
This webinar series features school meal experts and practitioners from across the globe who highlight promising practices, critical evidence gaps, and future research directions for school meal programs. The series explores how this research can be applied, translated into policy, or used to improve data systems.
The first webinar will explore the latest global evidence on how school feeding programs drive broad-based returns: boosting education, enhancing health outcomes, supporting local agriculture, and strengthening national development. The session will explore new findings from a randomized control trial (RCT), evaluating the longer-term economic impacts of Ghana’s national school feeding program, and ways this methodology may be relevant to other countries. The webinar will also spotlight the government of Ghana’s efforts to assess the program’s long-term value, and how this has informed its national investment.
Theme of the first webinar: The Economy-wide Impacts of School Meal Programs: Generating evidence on return on investment
Date: September, 11
Time: 11:00 (Chilean time)