The National School Canteen Programme (Programme National de Cantine Scolaire, inFrench, PNCS) is a school meals program with three main objectives: provision of food services, support for the local economy and the production of local foods and development of national capacities. Approaches include:
- Nutritious, locally sourced meals provided in schools to improve attendance and retention rates.
- Non-food items supplied to schools for meal preparation, including heat-retention bags to promote cleaner and greener cooking methods.
- Awareness-raising activities on gender, nutrition, and hygiene for teachers, parents, and students;
- Technical support and decentralized procurement from small-scale agricultural production organizations, particularly focusing on women;
- WASH interventions in targeted schools, including latrines, sanitation blocks, and handwashing stations;
- Collaboration with the Ministry of Education to strengthen government capacity in managing the school feeding program in the long term
The program targets school feeding initiatives for primary school-aged children living in areas with high food insecurity and selected public primary schools.
The program provides meals for 110 school days per year during the 2024/25, 2025/26, and 2026/27 school years.
The beneficiaries are approximately 857,350 children (school year 2020-21).
The program incorporates extra funding, including a $10 million grant from the Education Above All Foundation (EAA) and a non-reimbursable investment of $19 million from the Global Partnership for Education (GPE). The $15 million grant from the IDB and the $10 million grant from EAA are allocated over a five-year disbursement period, while the GPE's contribution is expected to be disbursed within four years. Despite these contributions, daily school meal operations remain largely dependent on donor contributions and the collaboration of implementing partners. The annual median cost per child for school feeding in Haiti is approximately $10 (IDB&WFP,2023)
Led by the Ministry of National Education and Professional Development (MENFP), through the Unité de Coordination des Projets (UCP) .The 2016 approval of the Politique et Stratégie Nationale d’Alimentation Scolaire (PSNAS) established foundational principles for Haiti's national school feeding program, outlining implementation strategies, delineating roles of stakeholders, and specifying financing mechanisms.
The budget for the program is managed by the government, amounting to approximately USD 8,985,816[1] during the 2020 – 21 school year. Food is procured through open-bid procedures, with an increasing emphasis on local procurement to support local farmers and the economy. MENFP oversees the National School Canteens Program (PNCS), ensuring alignment with national educational and nutritional goals.
Various institutions, including the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), World Food Program (WFP), World Bank, local agricultural organizations, and NGOs, collaborate with MENFP to implement and monitor the program. Governance is centralized within federal government bodies and supported by municipalities, which play a crucial role in the operational stages.
The implementation of a call center has proven effective for swift, low-cost data collection, facilitating informed decision-making with high-impact results. It quickly gathered information on school reopening and student attendance post-COVID-19, enabling prompt identification of potential dropout rates and timely interventions. Originally developed to improve access to quality education in Haiti, the call center has since been expanded to additional projects.
Additionally, the Management Information System (MIS) collects, processes, analyzes, and integrates relevant data on government activities, programs, and policies. It efficiently supports the school feeding program by providing timely and accurate data for decision-making, tracking school reopening and attendance, which helps identify dropout rates for timely interventions
Support for the National School Meals Program
- Standard Project Report 2015:
- The school feeding programme in Haiti provided a reliable safety net to the families of the 541,549 beneficiaries. In addition to children's improved attendance, concentration and food security, school meals represented an important resource transfer since many of the targeted poor households live on less than USD 1.25 a day. Based on interviews with parents, the average household in the targeted population contains seven persons, including two to three schoolchildren. Consequently, school feeding assistance represents a major contribution to household income;
- The food basket provided by WFP was adapted to local dietary habits and well received by the children. According to a WFP survey conducted in 2015 and covering more than 1,500 children, 94 percent of the children continued to be satisfied with the meals received, even if they wished them to be better prepared and more diversified, including also fresh food.
- Standard Project Report 2016:
- The school meals programme increased enrollment and retention rates and also supported the local economy through local purchases.
Evaluation of Local Purchasing and School Canteen Pilot Project in Petite Riviere de Nippes: Study examines the local procurement school feeding pilot project in the Department of Nippes, Haiti:
- Rural Haitian schools are deeply embedded in an informal economy, one that makes administration and provision of foods extraordinarily cumbersome and expensive. The local internal marketing economy and street food industry could—and outside of the schools does—meet the nutritional needs of rural Haitian children.
- Use local measures in purchasing and rationing foods for the canteen program. The report presents of types of local measures, something that could assist WFP and BND in moving away from a system based on weights, one that school officials, cooks, market women, and sellers find onerous and that causes confusion among the directors and contention between purchasers and sellers
- Promote the processing of high yield local staples that could be turned into flours used in low cost, readily prepared and nutritious porridges, breads and cakes. Specifically, promote the local processing of manioc, sweet potato, millet, breadfruit, and peanut flours.
- In Haiti, adopting a holistic approach in school feeding programs—covering nutrition, health, sanitation, and climate action—has shown success in improving overall program impact. However, lessons from previous projects indicate that having multiple executing units led to coordination issues. In Haiti, where emergency situations often disrupt education, a single executing unit for the program can ensure efficient, unified implementation and a clear vision.
- Haiti’s frequent emergencies pose significant challenges to school operations. In projects a contingency clause is triggered when schools are closed for five consecutive days, allowing the program to seamlessly switch to take-home rations. This ensures continued food distribution without additional procurement processes or contract modifications.
- Despite national policy frameworks supporting school feeding, the program still heavily relies on donor contributions for day-to-day operations. Experiences from the Haitian context demonstrate the necessity of developing sustainable financing mechanisms and increasing local ownership, which are key to reducing dependence on external aid and building long-term resilience
- Experience from Haiti's school feeding programs highlights the need for more tailored data collection methods that reflect local contexts and cross-sectoral impacts. By focusing on both health and education outcomes, assessments can provide a clearer picture of the program’s effectiveness.
SDG 1 - End poverty
- Target 1.3 - Implement nationally appropriate social protection systems and measures for all, including floors, and by 2030 achieve substantial coverage of the poor and the vulnerable
- Indicator 1.3.1 - Proportion of population covered by social protection floors/systems, by sex, distinguishing children, unemployed persons, older persons, persons with disabilities, pregnant women, newborns, work-injury victims and the poor and the vulnerable
SDG 2 - Zero hunger
- Target 2.1 - By 2030, end hunger and ensure access by all people, in particular the poor and people in vulnerable situations, including infants, to safe, nutritious and sufficient food all year round
- Indicator 2.1.1 - Prevalence of undernourishment
- Indicator 2.1.2 - Prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity in the population, based on the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES)
- Target 2.2 - By 2030, end all forms of malnutrition, including achieving, by 2025, the internationally agreed targets on stunting and wasting in children under 5 years of age, and address the nutritional needs of adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating women and older persons
- Indicator 2.2.1 - Prevalence of stunting (height for age <-2 standard deviation from the median of the World Health Organization (WHO) Child Growth Standards) among children under 5 years of age
- Indicator 2.2.2 - Prevalence of malnutrition (weight for height >+2 or <-2 standard deviation from the median of the WHO Child Growth Standards) among children under 5 years of age, by type (wasting and overweight)
SDG 4 - Quality education
- Target 4.1 - By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes
- Indicator 4.1.1 - Proportion of children and young people (a) in grades 2/3; (b) at the end of primary; and (c) at the end of lower secondary achieving at least a minimum proficiency level in (i) reading and (ii) mathematics, by sex
- Indicator 4.1.2 - Completion rate (primary education, lower secondary education, upper secondary education)
- Target 4.a - Build and upgrade education facilities that are child, disability and gender sensitive and provide safe, non-violent, inclusive and effective learning environments for all
- Indicator 4.a.1 - Proportion of schools offering basic services, by type of service
SDG 1 – End poverty
- Target 1.3 – Implement nationally appropriate social protection systems and measures for all, including floors, and by 2030 achieve substantial coverage of the poor and the vulnerable
- Indicator 1.3.1 – Proportion of population covered by social protection floors/systems, by sex, distinguishing children, unemployed persons, older persons, persons with disabilities, pregnant women, newborns, work-injury victims and the poor and the vulnerable
SDG 2 – Zero hunger
- Target 2.1 – By 2030, end hunger and ensure access by all people, in particular the poor and people in vulnerable situations, including infants, to safe, nutritious and sufficient food all year round
- Indicator 2.1.1 – Prevalence of undernourishment
- Indicator 2.1.2 – Prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity in the population, based on the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES)
- Target 2.2 – By 2030, end all forms of malnutrition, including achieving, by 2025, the internationally agreed targets on stunting and wasting in children under 5 years of age, and address the nutritional needs of adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating women and older persons
- Indicator 2.2.1 – Prevalence of stunting (height for age <-2 standard deviation from the median of the World Health Organization (WHO) Child Growth Standards) among children under 5 years of age
- Indicator 2.2.2 – Prevalence of malnutrition (weight for height >+2 or <-2 standard deviation from the median of the WHO Child Growth Standards) among children under 5 years of age, by type (wasting and overweight)
SDG 4 – Quality education
- Target 4.1 – By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes
- Indicator 4.1.1 – Proportion of children and young people (a) in grades 2/3; (b) at the end of primary; and (c) at the end of lower secondary achieving at least a minimum proficiency level in (i) reading and (ii) mathematics, by sex
- Indicator 4.1.2 – Completion rate (primary education, lower secondary education, upper secondary education)
- Target 4.a – Build and upgrade education facilities that are child, disability and gender sensitive and provide safe, non-violent, inclusive and effective learning environments for all
- Indicator 4.a.1 – Proportion of schools offering basic services, by type of service
The National School Canteen Programme (Programme National de Cantine Scolaire, inFrench, PNCS) is a school meals program with three main objectives: provision of food services, support for the local economy and the production of local foods and development of national capacities. Approaches include:
- Nutritious, locally sourced meals provided in schools to improve attendance and retention rates.
- Non-food items supplied to schools for meal preparation, including heat-retention bags to promote cleaner and greener cooking methods.
- Awareness-raising activities on gender, nutrition, and hygiene for teachers, parents, and students;
- Technical support and decentralized procurement from small-scale agricultural production organizations, particularly focusing on women;
- WASH interventions in targeted schools, including latrines, sanitation blocks, and handwashing stations;
- Collaboration with the Ministry of Education to strengthen government capacity in managing the school feeding program in the long term
- In Haiti, adopting a holistic approach in school feeding programs—covering nutrition, health, sanitation, and climate action—has shown success in improving overall program impact. However, lessons from previous projects indicate that having multiple executing units led to coordination issues. In Haiti, where emergency situations often disrupt education, a single executing unit for the program can ensure efficient, unified implementation and a clear vision.
- Haiti’s frequent emergencies pose significant challenges to school operations. In projects a contingency clause is triggered when schools are closed for five consecutive days, allowing the program to seamlessly switch to take-home rations. This ensures continued food distribution without additional procurement processes or contract modifications.
- Despite national policy frameworks supporting school feeding, the program still heavily relies on donor contributions for day-to-day operations. Experiences from the Haitian context demonstrate the necessity of developing sustainable financing mechanisms and increasing local ownership, which are key to reducing dependence on external aid and building long-term resilience
- Experience from Haiti’s school feeding programs highlights the need for more tailored data collection methods that reflect local contexts and cross-sectoral impacts. By focusing on both health and education outcomes, assessments can provide a clearer picture of the program’s effectiveness.
Access to basic education; Access to basic health care; Child and family support/benefits; Integrated programmes for human capital development, including health and education and early childhood development; Prevention, detection and management of malnutrition
Haiti’s Ministry of National Education and Professional Development (MENFP)
Led by the Ministry of National Education and Professional Development (MENFP), through the Unité de Coordination des Projets (UCP) .The 2016 approval of the Politique et Stratégie Nationale d’Alimentation Scolaire (PSNAS) established foundational principles for Haiti’s national school feeding program, outlining implementation strategies, delineating roles of stakeholders, and specifying financing mechanisms.
The budget for the program is managed by the government, amounting to approximately USD 8,985,816[1] during the 2020 – 21 school year. Food is procured through open-bid procedures, with an increasing emphasis on local procurement to support local farmers and the economy. MENFP oversees the National School Canteens Program (PNCS), ensuring alignment with national educational and nutritional goals.
Various institutions, including the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), World Food Program (WFP), World Bank, local agricultural organizations, and NGOs, collaborate with MENFP to implement and monitor the program. Governance is centralized within federal government bodies and supported by municipalities, which play a crucial role in the operational stages.
The program targets school feeding initiatives for primary school-aged children living in areas with high food insecurity and selected public primary schools.
The program provides meals for 110 school days per year during the 2024/25, 2025/26, and 2026/27 school years.
The beneficiaries are approximately 857,350 children (school year 2020-21).
The program incorporates extra funding, including a $10 million grant from the Education Above All Foundation (EAA) and a non-reimbursable investment of $19 million from the Global Partnership for Education (GPE). The $15 million grant from the IDB and the $10 million grant from EAA are allocated over a five-year disbursement period, while the GPE’s contribution is expected to be disbursed within four years. Despite these contributions, daily school meal operations remain largely dependent on donor contributions and the collaboration of implementing partners. The annual median cost per child for school feeding in Haiti is approximately $10 (IDB&WFP,2023)
The implementation of a call center has proven effective for swift, low-cost data collection, facilitating informed decision-making with high-impact results. It quickly gathered information on school reopening and student attendance post-COVID-19, enabling prompt identification of potential dropout rates and timely interventions. Originally developed to improve access to quality education in Haiti, the call center has since been expanded to additional projects.
Additionally, the Management Information System (MIS) collects, processes, analyzes, and integrates relevant data on government activities, programs, and policies. It efficiently supports the school feeding program by providing timely and accurate data for decision-making, tracking school reopening and attendance, which helps identify dropout rates for timely interventions