Belize has a national school meal programme managed by the Ministry of Education offering either breakfast or lunch depending on each school’s priorities. Some schools also operate cafeterias, canteens or tuckshops managed by vendors. There are menus to guide the preparation of the meals both in primary and high schools.
Nutrition contents are delivered within the subjects of health and family life, science, physical education and social sciences. In addition to the curriculum, there are concrete extracurricular efforts that are promoted by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Science and Technology. Other initiatives are supported by the Ministries of Health and Agriculture, and specific projects with nutrition education components are supported by partners including FAO, UNICEF and NGOs.
School Food
Prior to 2020, a centralized, catering-based programme provided meals for about 1,200 children. However, from March 2020 to January 2022, all schools were closed for in-person learning due to COVID 2019 and the feeding programme ceased. In 2021, a pilot programme was initiated implementing a sustainable school feeding model under the Mexico-CARICOM-FAO Initiative "Cooperation for Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience in the Caribbean" or Resilient Caribbean Initiative. This new approach shifted from a centralized, catered-based model to a decentralized, in-school model. The pilot was successfully tested in six schools during the 2022-2023 school year. Building on this success and learning from prior feeding programme experiences piloted under the Mesoamerica Hunger Free AMEXCID-FAO programme, the MoECST expanded the initiative in the 2023-2024 school year, reaching 75 schools under the new name, the National Healthy Start School Feeding Programme. As of 2025, the programme now serves meals to just under 15,000 students daily, representing 11% of primary schoolchildren and 30% of secondary schoolchildren across the country. Additionally, in 2024, Belize joined the RAES network and the School Meal Coalition, further reinforcing its national commitment to improving school feeding and creating healthy school environments for students.
The funds for the 2023-2024 programme expansion, amounting to $3 BZD per child per day, were provided by the Government of the Republic of China (Taiwan) through the 2022 Bilateral Cooperation Programme between Belize and Taiwan. Under the management of the MoECST, funds are distributed monthly to schools, which are responsible for their own procurement, often seeking to involve local farmers. The MoECST also provides additional funding for the feeding programme, primarily for the renovation of school kitchens and infrastructure improvements.
In terms of legislation, the Ministry of Health released the National Nutrition Policy (2022-2030) supporting and reinforcing the importance of school feeding programmes. Some schools also operate cafeterias, canteens, or tuck shops managed by vendors. To support healthier school environments, Belize's School Food and Nutrition Policy has been drafted, which aims to improve the nutrition landscape in schools. A key component of this policy includes a ban on the sale and marketing of unhealthy food and beverage products to children on school campuses. This builds on the existing gradual ban on sugar-sweetened beverages, which was approved by the Cabinet in February 2023.
The draft policy has been submitted to the MoECST, which will lead the process of seeking Cabinet approval in 2025 and thereafter oversee its policy implementation. The Healthy Caribbean Coalition, which conducted a school feeding policy campaign regionally in previous years, may also contribute by raising community awareness for this new policy.
Development of the school menus
In 2023/2024, two national menu handbooks were developed to guide meal preparation in schools—one for primary schools and another for high schools, featuring a 5-week menu cycle. These menus were created by a local Belizean nutritionist with funding from FAO. Based on PAHO's nutrient requirements for different age groups, the menus incorporate a wide range of local food products and dishes familiar to children.
The menus are flexible, offering a variety of protein sources and produce substitute options based on local food preferences and seasonal availability. Schools have the option to follow the suggested menu cycle, which includes approximately 20 breakfast options and 20 lunch recipes. The recipes are standardized for 50 servings. Also, the handbooks include school kitchen standard operating procedures, to promote food safety.
- The handbook of national menus for the primary level can be consulted here: https://www.moecst.gov.bz/document/school-feeding-programme-menu-and-protocols-2023/
- The handbook of national menus for high school can be consulted here: https://www.moecst.gov.bz/document/school-feeding-program-menu-high-school
The Ministry of Education, Culture, Science, and Technology is responsible for the implementation of the school meal programme. Education has become a key element of the programme, especially as the number of school cooks has grown to over 300 and is expected to increase further. The sustainable school feeding methodology follows a multi-component model, where school administrators receive training on creating a healthy school environment and student nutrition, while cooks are trained in areas such as menu planning, food safety, and portion sizes. Additionally, all food handlers are required to undergo food safety training and obtain a food handler’s license issued by the Ministry of Health and Wellness.
Since 2022, in collaboration with FAO, annual training sessions have been conducted. These in-person sessions last one day and include both theoretical and practical components. The theoretical training covers topics such as food handling, food safety, and menu planning, while the practical component teaches cooks how to prepare meals for the school programme, including methods to incorporate vegetables in a child-friendly way. In August 2025, a Technical Cooperation Programme (TCP) with FAO will be launched, focusing on gastronomy and especially on the use of underutilized local produce, such as leafy greens and sweet potatoes. The initiative will also train cooks in various cooking techniques, including chopping, seasoning, and enhancing food presentation to make meals more appealing to children.
School gardens are also an essential component of the programme; gardening is integrated into the national school curriculum and supported by MAFSE. Teaching gardens are installed on school campuses whenever funds allow, and a gardening manual has been developed to assist teachers in maintaining school gardens. Additionally, the Ministry of Education is examining physical activity in schools, both by reinforcing the existing curriculum that includes physical activity and assessing the infrastructure available for children. Drinking water access is also being prioritized, with the installation of water coolers and fountains piloted with PAHO funding.
Furthermore, the World Food Programme is planning to organize exchanges between Guatemala and Belize to share experiences on the implementation of the school meal programme.
Monitoring and Evaluation of the school menus
The Ministry of Education, Culture, Science and Technology is responsible for the monitoring and evaluation of the programme. This process includes the submission of monthly menus and financial reports by schools. Staff from the MoECST review these documents, and if any issues are identified, work with the schools to implement the necessary changes. Additionally, the MOHW Public Health unit conducts annual school kitchen inspections and provides recommendations for improvement when deemed appropriate.
The MoECST is also working on integrating school feeding data into its existing electronic data monitoring system, called BEMIS. Currently, a QR code-based feeding programme attendance app is being piloted in high schools. Each student has a unique QR code, and once linked to the BEMIS system, this tool will enable the Ministry to track school meal attendance and use this information to compare dropout rates, transition rates, and other key indicators.
School-Based Food and Nutrition Education
In Belize, nutrition contents are delivered within the subjects of health and family life, science, physical education and social sciences. In addition to the curriculum, there are concrete extracurricular efforts that are promoted by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Science and Technology. Other initiatives are supported by the Ministries of Health and Agriculture, and specific projects with nutrition education components are supported by partners including FAO, UNICEF and NGOs.
| Main targets | Primary and secondary schoolchildren |
| Main educators | Teachers |
| Integration within the curriculum | Mainly as part of subjects of science, physical education and social sciences |
| Learning approach | Mostly knowledge-based |
Development
The nutrition contents are developed by the curriculum unit, also known as the quality assurance development service of the Ministry of Education, which is responsible for ensuring that the nutrition curriculum is delivered at all levels of education.
Implementation
Teachers are the main actors responsible for delivering nutrition contents through their specific subject curricula. Some of the most common topics covered include nutrient content of foods, etc.
In some schools, the Ministry of Education organizes health fairs and gardening workshops to reinforce these concepts, providing fruit trees and videos on how to manage the school gardens.
There are a few information materials, including a school health manual, that reinforce nutrition content and lessons, mainly focused on hygiene, gardening, preventing non-communicable diseases and fitness. Additional information materials, such as the Belize Food Basket and posters highlighting the nutritional value of some vegetables are disseminated to the districts, in hopes that they can be used by schools.
Teachers receive trainings as part of their continuous professional development where topics like nutrition, physical activity and prevention of non-communicable diseases are somewhat covered. Pilot projects linked to the school meal programme have provided trainings on nutrition education for a few teachers.
Monitoring and Evaluation
There is no monitoring and evaluation plan specific for school-based food and nutrition education in Belize.
Relevant Links
Publications
Systematization of the Sustainable School Feeding Model and Proposition of Recommendations as Way Forwards to the Government of Belize
This document is aimed at presenting the systematization of the Sustainable Schools model pilot implementation in Belize, and it describes the implementation process of the pilot project, from its beginning in early 2016 to November 2018.
It is expected that this publication will contribute to the strengthening of the coordination among the sectors involved in school feeding and the institutionalization and sustainability of the school feeding policies in the country, so that, in the medium and long term, the school feeding program of Belize can contribute to food security and nutrition, the human right to food, as well as to the health and social development of its citizens.
Local Procurement From Family Farming for the School Feeding Program. The Experience of Belize
This guideline presents general recommendations for the adequate design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of this component, trying to consider the realities of different school feeding programs in the Caribbean countries. At the same time, it presents some details on how the various steps of the process have been implemented in Belize, as part of the Sustainable Schools pilot project.
It is expected that this publication will contribute to a further integration of family farmers into the national school feeding program of Belize.
Articles
Hearty meals, healthy families
10/09/2021
It is lunchtime at the village school in Santa Cruz in the Toledo district of southern Belize, and there is a babble of noise and chatter as kids settle themselves down at the long trestle tables
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