School Feeding Programme (SFP) is the provision of food to primary day-school children. It is an intervention designed to support the education of children living in poverty and food insecure areas. It is viewed as a potential safety net and social support measure that help keep children in school and make them learn. The study was designed to establish the sustainability of school feeding programme in Zambia with specific focus on Western Zambia. A descriptive survey design was used. The study employed both qualitative and quantitative research methods. The instruments that were used in data collection included questionnaires, interviews and focus group discussion guides. This research was conducted in nine of the sixteen districts of Western Zambia. The sample consisted of four hundred fifteen respondents drawn from the targeted population. Simple sampling and purposive sampling procedures were used to select the respondents. Qualitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics while qualitative data were done using the thematic approach. The findings of the study revealed that SFP in most schools was not sustainable because it relied mostly on external support and also showed that the challenges faced the implementation of SFP were diverse. Few Schools that revealed SF was sustainable attributed the sustainability to the school projects they were engaged in. It was also disclosed that Home Grown School Feeding (HGSF) was identified as the best option for effective and sustainable SFP. The study recommends the need for the government to revamp the production unit in all the schools; for correct assessment of local and national capacity, and the need for complimentary investment in local agricultural production to ensure smooth programme operation and sustainability.

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The study sought to establish the benefits of school feeding programme (SFP) in Western Zambia. It also brought out the challenges encountered in the execution of the programme. This article is an extract from one of the objectives of ongoing study. School feeding entails the distribution of food commodities to children who attend school. The commodities may be locally grown and purchased or contributed by international donor community. The food may be consumed by the learners in school. In other settings, it may be given as take-home ration for consumption by the families that regularly send their children to school. The study employed a descriptive survey research design to collect, analyse and interpret both quantitative and qualitative data from 415 respondents. The results of the study showed that the school feeding programme is an intervention which has enormous education benefits; equitable access to education, increased school enrolment, improved attendance, punctuality and academic performance. Other benefits include: health and nutrition, social protection, parent involvement, and opportunities for local farmers. However, challenges were also reported; there were some possible negative attributes to the increase in the enrolment rates, that is, the educational quality may be compromised if the number of learners exceeds available resources such as desks, text books, teachers, and irregular supply of food to schools. The study recommended that plans and measures should be put in place by the government, relevant ministries and development partners on how to increase existing human, physical, and financial resources for the school feeding programme to be effective and sustainable. SFP should also be decentralized to the schools and community levels with more support from provincial offices to ensure a more effective school feeding programme.