The objective of this paper is to provide an overview of the status of monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of school feeding across sub-Saharan Africa and to reflect on the experience on strengthening M&E systems to influence policy making in low income countries.

Conclusions were found that there is strong buy-in on school feeding from governments in sub-Saharan Africa. In response to this demand, development partners have been harmonizing their support to strengthen national programmes, with a focus on M&E. However, policy processes are complex and can be influenced by a number of factors. A comprehensive but simple approach is needed where the first step is to ensure a valid mandate to intervene, legitimizing the interaction with key stakeholders, involving them in the problem definition and problem solving.