The Research Consortium for School Health and Nutrition was launched in 2021 as a global initiative to provide independent, evidence-based guidance to the 103 member states of the School Meals Coalition as they recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and rebuild the health, education and future of their schoolchildren and adolescents.
Guided by a 10-year independent research strategy, the Research Consortium operates through a global Academy of more than 850 scholars, policymakers and practitioners from over 85 countries to consolidate and distil research findings to guide actionable approaches that policy makers can apply in their own national contexts. Broad support from donors enables the Research Consortium Secretariat and its six mature Communities of Practice to create a global voice and perspective, and to collaborate with national and regional hubs in the translation of research findings for regional, national, and sub-national decision makers. In addition to expanding the independent global network of academics, scholars and practitioners, the Research Consortium is increasingly partnering with other established global and regional networks, including the FAO School Food Global Hub and the Inter-Parliamentary Network for Education (IPNEd) to share useful research and guidance with parliamentarians.
As in previous years, this Annual Research Statement reports new (2024) programmatic and policy insights, as well as adding to the evolving evidence since the Global School Meals Coalition Summit in Paris 2023. The Statement builds on this evidence base by exploring the implications for policy, with the aim of contributing to the reach, quality, and comprehensiveness of national school meals programmes towards 2030.
The Statement was prepared by the Research Consortium as an input to the School Meals Coalition for the parliamentarians and policymakers of the member countries of the Coalition. The insights consolidated within this Statement draw from analyses led by the Research Consortium’s global Academy, as indicated under each statement below.
