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Home-Grown School Feeding Resource Framework

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World
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Sources
FAO
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Introduction

A number of innovative approaches to home-grown school feeding (HGSF) have been successfully tested and implemented in various country contexts at different stages of the programming and implementation cycle. While the concept of HGSF is underpinned by years of experience, and many examples of good practice in HGSF have been documented, the resulting outcomes have yet to be leveraged to ensure impact at scale in line with the targets of the 2030 Agenda. In addition, many HGSF programmes have faced financial, institutional and technological barriers and challenges with sustainability, which have limited their replication and expansion.

There is therefore a need for a proactive approach to innovation and learning in order to adapt and scale up existing successful HGSF programmes. Depending on the context, this may require a systematic approach to particular challenges, including how to develop a new HGSF programme and design its implementation in ways that allow scale-up, how to bring a successful HGSF pilot programme to scale, and how to optimize and sustain HGSF programmes that are already operating at scale.

To address these questions, the HGSF Resource Framework aims at fostering the development of a community of practice to support mutual learning for the adaptation and expansion of successful HGSF models. The main goals of the resource framework are to: } clarify the main concepts, scope and goals of HGSF programmes; } harmonize existing materials; and } provide a technical reference for governments in order to support the design, implementation and scale-up of effective, efficient and sustainable HGSF programmes.

The framework is meant to provide governments and other interested stakeholders with examples and tools that are specifically relevant to HGSF. It provides a structure within which to consider and address various aspects of the planning, design and implementation of HGSF programmes, and concrete examples and multiple references that provide more in-depth technical information. These features should allow users of the framework to find inspiration, potential partners and additional technical resources specific to their needs.

The following four modules of the HGSF Resource Framework lay the ground for approaches that support the establishment and scale-up of HGSF programmes and provide a basis for purposeful partnerships for investments, technical assistance, policy dialogue and learning at the local, national and global levels.

Module 1 — Understanding HGSF: defines and explains the concepts, benefits and beneficiaries of HGSF.

Module 2 — Planning for HGSF: provides flexible guidance to the planning of HGSF programmes that are well integrated into the national context and linked to local agriculture and nutrition.

Module 3 — Design and implementation of an HGSF programme: explores different implementation options, including models for linking HGSF to local agriculture and ways of ensuring that programmes are delivered in a nutrition-sensitive manner.

Module 4 — Monitoring and evaluation of and reporting on an HGSF programme: provides a set of generic criteria to be considered when designing a national monitoring, reporting and evaluation system for HGSF, and proposes a set of HGSF-specific outcome and output indicators with guidance on how to obtain data for reporting on these.

While the elements of modules 2, 3 and 4 build logically on each other, this does not mean that all assessments (Module 2) have to be finalized before the designing (Module 3) of an HGSF programme can start. Ideally, a government interested in HGSF will lay out a strategic process that times and links the elements deemed relevant in the most conducive and adequate way