“Our students were not starving, but they could not receive a nutritious diet,” said Domingos de Jesús, principal of Cossamar Elementary School in Same City, where 500 students receive a meal each school day. “Now they get more protein and vegetables and proportionally less carbohydrates.”
With full stomachs, students are more alert and pay more attention in class, said Caetano Marcelo, principal of Betano Elementary School on the country’s southern coast. “This is very important for their learning,” he added.
The cook at a school in East Timor prepares food with local ingredients.
Some students’ families cannot afford breakfast and most cannot afford nutritious meals. “For many families here it is difficult to buy meat, eggs and some vegetables,” Mr. de Jesús said. Most of the region’s 60,000 inhabitants are small subsistence farmers.
In Timor-Leste, 18 percent of the population suffers from hunger daily and 45 percent of children under five are stunted. Improving child nutrition is among the government’s top three priorities and a cornerstone of the new United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework in the Asian island nation, which is expected to be signed in the coming weeks and implemented in the period 2026-2030.
The UN-supported school feeding program benefits more than 70,000 children across the country, while strengthening government nutrition capacity, ensuring long-term sustainability.
The Government has made school feeding a national priority, decentralizing its management and financing to the municipalities.
While this approach promotes local ownership and the inclusion of homegrown products, challenges remain in diversifying diets and ensuring consistent access to locally grown foods.
A farmer grows produce for school feeding programs in Timor-Leste.
To close these gaps, the World Food Program (WFP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) are working together with national and local authorities to strengthen menus and supply chains, improve kitchen infrastructure and train school staff in nutrition and hygiene, in support of the government’s vision of linking nutrition, education and local economic development for long-term sustainability.
stew and beans
On a recent Monday, the menu at Same School consisted of venison stew, vegetables and brown rice, all served on stainless steel trays provided by the Ministry of Education with support from WFP.
WFP also advised authorities on creating balanced meal plans using local ingredients and is helping to build a modern kitchen on the school grounds.
In Betano, where the children enjoyed chicken satay skewers with spinach that same Monday, accompanied by rice and beans, FAO provided cooking materials. WFP provided training on budget management, school menu preparation and kitchen hygiene.
“The students eat everything, and that’s great to see,” said Imana Imaculada Fernandes, head chef at the same school. “The meal plans, prepared on the advice of the government and the WFP, include 75 percent local products.”
Fernandes and his team can spend 35 cents per day per child and an additional 7 cents for other costs, such as fuel and labor. “That’s 70 percent more than we had before, and that translates into more nutritious food and better hygiene.”
Eat what you grow
The initiative also generates stable income for local farmers. André Pereira de Sousa and his neighbors on the outskirts of Betano have seen stable demand for tomatoes, watermelons, sweet potatoes and bananas.
“The biggest advantage is that we no longer waste time or use fuel going to the market,” he said. “We can use that time to improve our farms and spend more time with our families.” Stable demand has also reduced food waste and encouraged farmers to increase production.
Betano farmers who supply the schools are among 9,000 households that have benefited from an FAO program on conservation agriculture.
As a result, they have diversified into higher value crops and now use manure instead of fertilizers, reducing the costs and environmental impact of their farms. The group of farmers also received small mills to produce flour and prepare snacks for sale, along with a trailer to transport their products.
A united approach
The coordinated work of FAO and WFP exemplifies an approach increasingly adopted by the United Nations, where agencies work in a complementary way to support the government.
“This is a great example when one plus one equals more than two, reinforcing the benefits for greater sustainability of projects,” said Funmi Balogun Alexander, United Nations Resident Coordinator in Timor-Leste. “The new Cooperation Framework between Timor-Leste and the United Nations is built around these joint approaches.”