School Meals: A Lifeline and Development Tool Across the Caribbean

MIAMI--The World Food Program’s recently released State of School Feeding Worldwide 2024 highlights the Caribbean as a region where school feeding remains a cornerstone of education, social protection, and community development, despite economic challenges and shrinking fiscal space.

Across Latin America and the Caribbean, coverage of school feeding programs is among the highest in the world. Between 2022 and 2024, the number of children receiving meals showed a slight statistical decrease, but this is considered normal variation in larger countries. In practice, the region has sustained its investment, maintaining school meals as a critical safety net even under budgetary pressure.

A major driver of regional cooperation has been the Sustainable School Feeding Network (RAES), created in 2018 by Brazil and FAO, which now links 17 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. RAES fosters exchange of good practices, strengthens school feeding policy, and promotes home-grown models that source food from local farmers. The region has also held successive policy gatherings, including the IX Regional Forum on School Meals in Brasília in 2023 and the X Forum in Mexico City in 2024. At these meetings, governments and partners reaffirmed that school meals are not only essential for nutrition and education, but also for climate resilience and sustainable food systems.

Among Caribbean countries, Haiti stands out in the report with a dedicated case study. In a nation where 50 percent of the population urgently needs food assistance, the Haitian government has placed school meals at the center of its educational and social policy. Managed by the Ministry of National Education and Vocational Training, the National School Feeding Programme aims to eliminate hunger in schools by ensuring every child receives a nutritious meal each day. The strategy emphasizes locally prepared meals that follow strict nutritional standards while supporting national food systems, governance, and community ownership. In recent years, the share of locally sourced food for school canteens has risen from 28 percent to 54 percent, with a goal of reaching 70 percent in the 2024–2025 school year and 100 percent by 2030.

Elsewhere in the region, school meal coverage varies widely. The Dominican Republic achieves nearly universal coverage, serving between 76 and 94 percent of primary schoolchildren. Barbados is also cited as having achieved full coverage by 2021. Other island states show more modest figures: Jamaica (21 percent), Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (62 percent), Saint Lucia (36 percent), Dominica (29 percent), Belize (11 percent), Bahamas (18 percent), and Trinidad and Tobago (40 percent). These programs remain vital for vulnerable households, ensuring access to at least one nutritious meal per day and encouraging school attendance.

Countries such as Grenada, Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and Guyana also participate in global school feeding surveys, contributing valuable data that helps track regional progress.

The Caribbean’s collective efforts underscore the recognition of school feeding as more than a welfare measure. These programs are increasingly seen as investments in human capital and national development, providing nutrition, creating jobs, supporting local agriculture, and strengthening resilience to shocks.

In the words of the report, school meals across the Caribbean are “a powerful platform for food system transformation” – ensuring children are fed, families are supported, and communities are strengthened against the challenges of poverty, food insecurity, and climate change.

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