CDRI is collaborating with IFPRI to evaluate Cambodia’s Home-Grown School Feeding Program, an important policy tool to reduce and prevent poverty, vulnerability and inequity across the country. The School Feeding Policy 2024-2035, developed by the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sport and recently endorsed by the Prime Minister, highlights the central role of the HGSFP in the country’s overall social protection system.

Transitioning from World Food Program management to full national ownership by 2027/28, the evaluation will generate rigorous evidence on the programme’s impact on children’s education and nutrition, household welfare, and the local economy, with a comparative focus on different procurement models (individual suppliers, cooperative aggregation, and central kitchens). It will involve primary data collection at baseline and endline across schools, households, and communities, complemented by in-depth analyses, including a comparative assessment of procurement models and a case study in Kampong Cham. In addition, the evaluation will strengthen national capacity for evidence-based policymaking by embedding co-design and continuous learning opportunities for government counterparts throughout the evaluation cycle.