China has been facing increased nutrition-related chronic diseases Based on a series of national nutrition surveys, China has been faced with the prevalence of chronic illnesses and ailments from malnutrition.
Prudence Foundation and the China Development Research Foundation (CDRF) in 2006 came together with the goal of addressing malnutrition among children in impoverished regions of China.
Survey on nutrition in China. Click here
The School Nutrition Improvement Project (hereinafter “SNIP”) was initiated by the China Development Research Foundation (CDRF) in 2006 with the goal of addressing malnutrition among children in impoverished regions of China. The project underwent three stages: pilot, scale-up, and continuous improvement. After the pilot stage, CDRF, together with other stakeholders, successfully promoted the national policy "Nutrition Improvement Plan for Rural Students in Compulsory Education” (hereinafter “NIP”).
At present, NIP is implemented by the government, with fiscal funding allocated for the lunch subsidy for rural students, and governments and schools at all levels are responsible for organizing and supervising the provision of school meals. At the same time, CDRF, through its SNIP project, especially the data platform, tracks and monitors the implementation of NIP in some of the key monitoring areas. Based on their monitoring results, CDRF continues to make policy improvement suggestions to the government and provides support to local governments and schools.
Based on desk research, in-depth interviews, and on-site investigations, this report provides an overview of the SNIP's evolution over the past decade, including its intervention strategies, model evolution, major achievements, and impacts. On this basis, the report identifies the key factors that contribute to the success, quality, and efficiency of the project.
After over a decade of development, the provision of school meals for rural compulsory education (RCE) students, now financially supported by the government, has become a regular public service that has achieved wide coverage in rural impoverished areas across the country, effectively improving the physical fitness of rural children, and positively impacting students’ families and the economic development of local communities. Statistics show that the long-term benefit of children's improved nutrition because of the project is expected to far outweigh the cost of policy implementation.
The success of the SNIP and NIP can be attributed to several factors. During the pilot stage, CDRF's project team drew on both domestic and international experiences, as well as local research results, to design science-based, detailed, and highly feasible intervention strategies.
They also secured the support and cooperation of local governments and grassroots-level implementers in advance and present the policy recommendation to the central government’s decision-making departments through the national development recommendation channel.
Entering the scale-up and continuous improvement stage, a sound policy and institutional system is the strong guarantee for the implementation of school meals, while the data platform provides important support for project implementation and supervision. In addition, there is a positive reinforcement between NIP and other policies related to the well-being of rural children. CDRF continues to promote policy optimization with high-quality research results and to leverage philanthropic contribution to support local governments and schools.