Impact & Evidence

Mission

The Impact & Evidence CoP synthesises academic evidence on the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of school meals programmes. It examines how these programmes influence key outcomes like learning, nutrition, physical and cognitive development, and psychosocial wellbeing.

Why?

School meals are known to deliver a wide range of benefits across multiple sectors but the fundamental question remains - just how strong is the evidence? On the basis of this, national governments and development agencies need clear, credible and robust evidence to make informed and rational decisions that justify investments on school meals. Also, this growing evidence gaps have necessitated the collaboration between the Research Consortium and the African Union, to support context-specific and continent-wide evidence generation to inform policy directions on school feeding in Africa.

How?

We lead systematic reviews and meta-analyses of existing studies, including a landmark Cochrane review, the first of its kind in nearly two decades that assesses the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of school meals for improving child health, wellbeing, nutrition, education, and social protection. These reviews aim to provide an up-to-date, reliable picture of the evidence base to guide policy and provide programmatic insights.

To support the practical interpretation and application of this evidence, we have established an independent Translation and Implementation Advisory Group (TIAG), comprising experts from across the Research Consortium’s Global Academy, to help convert the findings of the systematic reviews into actionable, context-sensitive policy guidance.