Home Grown School Feeding (HGSF) programmes are integrated into national policy frameworks, the degree to how this is done varies from country to country but a strong policy basis for the programmes helps to strengthen their sustainability and quality of implementation.

In expansive programmes, there is a great amount of politicization, for example, in India school feeding is supported by a Supreme Court ruling and in Brazil it is included in its Constitution. Countries may also implement programmes at centralized or decentralized levels which also adds nuances to implementation. 

National planning should ensure that governments identify the most appropriate role for HGSF in its development agenda. In many developing countries, school feeding is mentioned in the poverty reduction strategies of a number of countries and is often linked to agriculture, education, nutrition or social protection sectors.  It is increasingly important that if made a priority, HGSF is included in sector plans which determine where donor resources are allocated.

Continue reading through the following pages on: 

• Funding
• Institutional Capacity 
• Community Engagement