The Smiling Children School Feeding Program aims to support impoverished school-age students who lack sufficient food by providing free meals at schools, primarily targeting SDG 2 (Zero hunger). With further goals of improving children’s nutrition, increasing their educational participation, and reducing their families’ burdens, the Initiative also aims to address SDG 1 (No poverty), SDG 3 (Good health and well-being) and SDG 4 (Quality education). 

The successful implementation of the initiative relies on the experience and wisdom of both Chinese and Ethiopian/Sudanese parties. In addition to raising programme funds, the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation (CFPA) shared valuable experience learned from the Nutritious Meals Program carried out in rural China in the past years. For example, at the local level, the Ethiopian Government and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) provided a reliable mapping of the status quo and needs, thus targeting the most needed populations and maximizing the impact. Moreover, CFPA incorporated and systematized the localized ‘mother group model’ into programme management. As a result, joint cooperation led to a most effective solution to address the problems. 

Different participants strictly perform their duties and obligations to ensure the orderly operation of the programme. In Ethiopia, for instance, the programme’s Chinese team is fully responsible for programme design, implementation, daily management, monitoring and feedback. The Office of the First Lady of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia assists the team in programme implementation and monitoring, and in the coordination of local agencies and partners. Yeenatweg Charitable Organization, an Ethiopian partner, is responsible for the overall management of the programme. Beneficiary schools select qualified students in accordance with the standard, provide corresponding equipment, supervise and examine the quality of the meals, and report back in a timely manner. Each ‘mother group’ purchases ingredients and prepares quality meals according to menus and the meal standard. 

The criteria for selecting beneficiary students vary according to the different executive parties. When  CFPA is the executive party, it carries out the whole-school coverage principle; i.e. all students from candidate beneficiary schools (public/government-funded) that meet the following requirements will benefit from the programme: 

When Yeenatweg Charitable Organization is the executive party, the beneficiary students that meet the following requirements will benefit from the programme: 

As an innovative approach, the mother group model was adopted to ensure that meals would be reasonably priced, healthy and safe, and to provide some women with employment. Yeenatweg Charitable Organization recruits the parents of each targeted school’s students into a mother group, formulates the rules and regulations of the group, organizes and trains them, and provides them with necessary kitchenware. In turn, with monthly funds for food from Yeenatweg Charitable Organization, the mother group purchases ingredients on the market and cooks in the school kitchen. The school and partners monitor its expenditures to ensure that it supplies quality food at a reasonable price. The adoption of the mother group model has enabled unemployed women to access employment and provided them with appropriate living allowances. Moreover, cooking and distributing meals for students can stimulate the mothers’ enthusiasm for the programme, thus ensuring food quality and safety.  

Since 2015, the programme has been successfully implemented in Ethiopia and Sudan. By the end of 2019, a total of 38,164 person–years (number of beneficiary students multiplied by the number of years benefited) of poor children benefited (23,621 in Ethiopia and 14,543 in Sudan). School feeding has improved both school attendance and performance, improved students’ nutrition and immunity, and guaranteed the safety of students. A midline survey shows that in all academic years, beneficiary students outweighed students without school feeding by an average of 6.125 kg (female) and 5.9 kg (male). The beneficiary students’ drop-out rate in 2018 was reduced by 76 percent with respect to the rate prior to the programme. In addition, the programme has provided employment opportunities for women; each school provided 30 to 50 jobs in the mother group, which enabled some impoverished women to earn a living. 

Observing its effectiveness, the Education Bureau of Addis Ababa decided to adopt the model and expand school feeding to all Addis’s public schools. CFPA has also expanded the programme to more schools in other areas of Ethiopia, including Somalia State refugee camps and Amhara State. Involvement of the local government, together with continuous support from Chinese NGOs and other partners, guarantees the programme’s strong sustainability.