The SUN Movement is working with countries across Southern and South-eastern Asia to tackle persistent malnutrition challenges through stronger governance, planning and strengthening capacities, starting at the community level.

In Sri Lanka, the success of the National School Meals Programme demonstrates the power of multiple sectors, stakeholders and communities working together.

Asia: nourishing bodies and minds for a stronger tomorrow

As countries in the SUN Asia region tackle the double burden of undernutrition and rising obesity rates, investing in foundational and far-reaching nutrition solutions is critical.

The SUN Movement promotes cross-sector collaboration in health, food systems, education, social protection and water and sanitation to strengthen national nutrition policies. Promoting access to nutritious diets in early life lays the foundation for children to thrive in health, learning, and development.

Mapping malnutrition in the region

Prevalence of undernourishment:

World:
‍12% (2004) to
9.1% (2023)

South-eastern Asia:
16.8% (2004) to
6% (2023)

Southern Asia:
19.6% (2004) to
14.2% (2023)

Adult Obesity:

World:
‍12.1% (2012) to
15.8% (2022)

South-eastern Asia:
6% (2012) to
10% (2022)

Southern Asia:
19.6% (2012) to
14.2% (2022)

Overweight in children under 5 years:

World:
‍5.5% (2012) to
5.6% (2022)

South-eastern Asia:
6.4% (2012) to
7.4% (2022)

Southern Asia:
2.7% (2012) to
2.8% (2022)

Country specific malnutrition statistics

Pakistan:
1 in 5 people is undernourished.

Sri Lanka:
300 000 (15%) children under five affected by wasting.

Timor-Leste:
‍Nearly half of all children under five are stunted.

Indonesia:
1 in 10 children under five is overweight.

Cambodia:
47% of women 14-49 years suffer from anaemia.

Bangladesh: 23% of babies born with low birthweight.

Key factors contributing
‍to malnutrition and food insecurity:

Inequalities

High population density

Climate change

Urbanization and dietary shifts

Political instability

Across the SUN Movement regions, women and children are
most vulnerable to malnutrition.

Improving the nutrition landscape

SUN is working with 11 member countries and 4 Indian States across Southern and South-eastern Asia to create a collaborative environment where governments, civil society, businesses, international organizations and donors work together to eradicate malnutrition and empower communities with greater resilience.

Myanmar

The SUN Civil Society Alliance in Myanmar (SUN CSA MMR) has leveraged the reach of "breastfeeding mother champions" through existing social networks to reach thousands of mothers across the country, including in hard to reach communities. These trained nutrition champions play a vital role in influencing nutrition practice, enforcing proper nutritional knowledge, and changing attitudes at the community level, particularly amid political and pandemic challenges.

Learn more

Pakistan

 In Pakistan, SUN CSA and Civil Society Organizations worked to integrate nutrition into emergency responses during the COVID-19 pandemic and 2022 floods. Efforts included capacity building, nutritionally balanced ration packages, and advocacy to incorporate nutrition into disaster plans. This approach improved support for vulnerable populations and highlighted the critical role of nutrition in emergencies.

Learn more

Bangladesh

Bangladesh achieved its World Health Assembly 2025 stunting target ahead of schedule, cutting rates from 43% in 2004 to 24% in 2022—benefiting female children the most. This success stemmed from a coordinated, multi-pronged approach, combining supportive policies, guidelines, and governance.

Case study:

Sri Lanka’s
School Meal
Programme

1.38 million  children in 8,956 government schools receiving school meals

Rs 21 billion (70 million USD) invested in school meals by the government in 2024

18000
‍direct jobs created in 2022

Feeding school
children since
‍ 1931

Sri Lanka’s National School Meals Programme was first introduced in 1931 to improve child health and reduce malnutrition among underprivileged children.

Today, the programme has evolved to incorporate a variety of initiatives that leverage cross-sector collaboration to improve education outcomes, boost nutrition, and enhance overall well-being, contributing to several Sustainable Development Goals.

Home-Grown School Feeding Programme:

Schools partner with local farmers and Rural Development Societies to provide fresh, nutritious food for school meals, supporting boys’ and girls’ health and education, while also boosting local agriculture and food security.

Fortified Rice Initiative: 

Fortified rice is enriched with essential vitamins and minerals, enhancing the nutritional value of school meals and helping children get the nutrients needed for healthy growth and development.

Nutrition Education:

Students, parents and the wider community are educated on healthy foods, balanced diets, and the benefits of local ingredients through school lessons and community information sessions.

Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Systems:

Information management systems help to assess the programme’s overall effectiveness. Technology enhances real-time monitoring and data collection to improve transparency and responsiveness.

Crowd-Sourcing and Gap Funding:

Private sector initiatives, like the John Keells Group’s School Meal Programme and 'A Nutritious Tomorrow For Our Little Ones' project, enable individuals and companies to fund the programme. Through co-financing mechanisms, such as Keells' crowd-funding platform and customer contributions, over 300,000 meals have been provided to children across Sri Lanka.

Advocacy and Awareness Campaigns:

Different actors within civil society such as NGOs, the SUN Civil Society Network (in Sri Lanka the SUN People’s Forum), and community leaders work to raise awareness of the programme’s benefits to mobilize support from donors, the private sector and wider community.

Gender Integration and Women’s Empowerment:

Boys and girls benefit equally from the school nutrition programme. Women play key roles as suppliers, cooks, food handlers, and leaders, promoting gender equality and boosting the programme’s impact.

The National School Meals Programme contributes to several SDGs:

Collective strength:
feeding better futures together

By bringing together government bodies, inter-governmental agencies, donors and the private sector, civil society, and communities, Sri Lanka’s National School Meals Programme shows the power of collaboration–creating a sustainable and impactful model for addressing malnutrition and improving the lives of children across the country.

SUN Movement

The SUN Movement acts as a catalyst, fostering collaboration and alignment between various stakeholders to amplify the impact of the nutrition programme in Sri Lanka. It achieves this by mobilising resources, facilitating partnerships and building capacity among stakeholders, and advocating for policy change.

Government of Sri Lanka

The National School Meals Programme falls under the responsibility of the Ministry of Education with the high-level direction from the Prime Minister’s Office, ensuring multi stakeholder representation, with involvement from the Ministries of Health, Education, Agriculture and Social Protection, as well as Provincial Councils. The Government supplies Rs 21 billion (70 million USD) in annual funding for the programme.

The Private Sector

Through the SUN Business Network, the private sector supports the National School Meals Programme through co-financing, crowdfunding, partnerships with local vendors to supply ingredients and supplies, as well as offering credit to suppliers. Businesses also offer logistics support to ensure timely food delivery to schools.

Civil Society & NGOs

The SUN Civil Society Network (known as the SUN People’s Forum in Sri Lanka), supports local communities with seed funding and agricultural entrepreneurship, enabling them to supply food for school meal programmes. It provides financial support to suppliers and empowers low-income families, especially women, to become key suppliers. Farmer Organizations and Rural Development Societies connect schools with local farmers, sourcing fresh and culturally appropriate produce, while also engaging with communities to advocate for the programme.

Funding Partners / Intergovernmental Agencies

The programme is further strengthened by funding and technical support from the agencies including World Food Programme (WFP), the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), UNICEF, World Bank, and Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Home-grown nutrition solutions
at Gannoruwa Junior School

A grain of hope:
Gannoruwa, “The Rice
Sack school”

Humble beginnings. Poverty-stricken families. Yet Gannoruwa Junior School has become a beacon of hope in the community.

“Miti Hal Pasala” (Rice Sack School). Villagers sold sacks of rice to raise the funds to build this historic school, the first building in Gannoruwa.

2 out of 3 students come from low-income families.

The majority of parents work in manual labour jobs, with a typical daily wage of ±1500rupees (= less than $10/day).

Many families rely on government assistance programs.

Gannoruwa’s Homegrown School Feeding Programme

Ganorruwa’s School Feeding Programme provides all primary school students with a nutritious daily meal, significantly improving student health, school attendance and academic engagement. The key supplies for the programme are home grown.

The programme has also created important health, educational and economic benefits for the wider community.

From garden to lunchbox

Fresh produce is sourced and quality checked each afternoon for the following school day. Most supplies, including vegetables, fruits, coconuts, and firewood are sourced and purchased from low-income families and farmers in the local community.

School meal suppliers purchase certain items like rice, spices, and eggs from local shops.

Fruit and vegetables are washed, peeled and cut, then refrigerated until the morning meal prep.

Non-perishable items are stored in plastic bins at the school facility.

Suppliers arrive at the school by 3:30 am to start meal prep.

Once ready, meals are portioned into students’ lunchboxes.

Lunchboxes are packed into class bins, which are collected by assigned students and delivered to the respective classes.

Any leftovers are given to students in the secondary school section.

Students enjoy a nutritious breakfast.

Lunchboxes are collected in the school kitchen, washed and stored for the following day.

Food waste is repurposed into compost.

Developing the school meals menu

A school meal plan with nutritional guidelines is provided by the Sri Lankan government. Teachers and advisors on the School Nutrition Committee adapt the menu to create variety and cater to student preferences, while ensuring the nutritional value is maintained.

Gannoruwa School breakfast menu

All menu items are prepared with fresh local
ingredients daily!
Featured ingredients are prepared in a variety of
delicious and colourful dishes.

Dhal

Dhal tempered
Dhal curry
Dhal mallum

Banana flowers

Banana flowers tempered with sprats
Banana flowers seeni sambol

Kohila

Kohila sambol
Kohila curry
Kohila Ambula (Kohila sour curry)
Kohila devilled

New on the menu

Kankun devilled
Gotukola (Indian Pennywort) cutlet
Coloured eggs (turmeric, beetroot or Nil katarolu
(Butterfly pea)
Including ‘newly added’ items and ‘specials’ like ice
cream on World Children’s Day

Traditional recipes

Pumpkin cooked with ground coconut
Ala kola Maluwa (Taro leaves curry)

Extra Healthy

(Infused with local ayurvedic ingredients)
Green porridge
Halapa (Boiled millet dough mixed with honey in medicinal leaves)
Finger millet porridge
Healthy soup

Side dishes & desserts

(A fruit of the day, rich in vitamins and minerals!) Watermelon
Veralu (Sri Lankan Olives)
Nelli (Gooseberry)
Gaduguda (Longkong)
Star Fruit Lovi (Batoko plum)
Ambarella (June Plum)
Uguressa (Governor’s Plum)
Grape Fruit

Specials

Specials World Children’s Day: Ice cream

Customer reviews

The food we receive from the school helps us grow and protects us from diseases… We also get protein from milk and eggs. We get carbohydrates from potatoes, cassava, and rice… My favourite meals from the school are the rice dishes. I really enjoy eating this food… I come to school with a lot of enthusiasm!”

The protein, vitamins, vitamin C, and other nutrients in that food further nourish us. We become much stronger… As side dishes, fruits like bananas are provided. When we eat them, we gain nutrition. If that happens, our brains will also work very well.”

Food & health education

The Ministry of Health and the Provincial Councils play a key role in educating teachers, parents and students on issues of food safety, nutrition, and the importance of utilising local ingredients.

Ayurveda is defined as a local system of medicine that traditionally preserves unique food habits and types of medicine specific to a country. This is implemented in a unique way in each country… What is very important for our country is how we preserve indigenous food varieties. Through this initiative at school, the entire community gains awareness.”

As part of the school meals initiative, the Provincial ministry introduced two special types of cakes which are being used at the school as well as in herbal shops and in the wider community.

Made with handpicked medicinal leaves from the local environment.

Coconut is added for flavour, healthy fats, minerals and fibre.

Made with rice flour for added nutritional value and flavour.

This healthier wheat flour substitute helps reduce obesity.

Food literacy and education activities take place regularly on the school premises.

Every day, teachers, and occasionally parent volunteers, lead a class discussion or short lesson about the nutritional value of the morning meal.

Students visit the school kitchen from time to time for demonstrations or to participate in food-related activities relevant to their learning curriculum.

With the collaboration of the Zonal Education Office and the school’s Home Science teacher, cooking workshops and demonstrations are conducted for school parents.

An economy of empowerment

The National School Meals Programme strengthens the local economy through community involvement, empowering women, supporting local farmers and creating jobs.

The programme employs four low income and unemployed school mothers as suppliers,
giving them a small source of extra income which they reinvest in their children.

Eggs and fresh produce are sourced from local farmers and producers who are also part of the SUN Business Network.

The programme has established a strong network of suppliers and community support, ensuring long-term sustainability.

School Meals Programme

Community Involvement

Home-grown items bought from low income families
‍
Local farmers supply fresh produce

Parents and women in particular participate as suppliers and cooks

Main suppliers employ extra labour to ease the workload

Community Benefits

Improved nutrition in children and the wider community
‍
Local economic development
‍
Reduced poverty
‍
Gender equality
‍
Community development

Meeting global challenges with homegrown solutions

Rising food prices

The global economic crisis, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, led to significant hikes in food prices, and disruptions to food supply
chains. This made it difficult to maintain quality standards for school meals.

The solution

Suppliers were advised to rely mainly on local, seasonal fruits and vegetables, sourced from village gardens. School families with contacts in the Department of Agriculture arranged to buy produce directly from the department at an affordable price.

Fruitful outcomes

Twenty years in, Gannoruwa’s school meals programme has had a significant impact on both nutrition and learning outcomes.

School attendance rates are now at 98%, compared to 40% at the start of the programme.

After providing the morning meal programme, we have found that the focus of students on educational activities and also the engagement of students in sports have improved.”

Community platter

I believe that, like me, all parents of the children at the school are benefitting from this nutrition programme. In fact, some mothers do not have the means to provide nutritious food for their children. Those who have means may not have time, due to their engagement in economic activities. What the school provides is really a big support for those parents.”

Truly, when we look at our experiences through this programme, it has become a very big support. For the children's education, if we take into account their family backgrounds, there has been a very big change. Therefore, I believe it would be great if this programme continues to move forward with even more success.”

Seeding a healthier
future in Sri Lanka

In the future, we hope to establish a green hut alongside this programme, where we can grow vegetables protected inside the school.”

We would like to see the National School Meals programme extended to provide nutritious meals to the middle school children, especially since they engage with extra curricular activities.”