This in-depth qualitative study in Zambia is integral to a mixed method impact evaluation of the Home Grown School Feeding (HGSF) and the Conservation Agriculture Scale Up (CASU) programmes. Zambia’s HGSF (launched in 2011, and institutionalized in 2012, by the Government of Zambia in collaboration with the World Food Programme, WFP) provides nutritious cooked meals to almost one million schoolchildren and WFP’s Purchase for Progress (P4P) programme procures the commodities that make up the school meals provided by HGSF. P4P aims to improve livelihoods and address food insecurity by expanding local market opportunities for smallholder farmers in rural areas. The CASU programme (implemented between 2013 and late 2017 by FAO) aimed to provide solutions to declining crop production among small- and medium-scale farmers, strengthen partnership and networking between the Zambian government and cooperating partners, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the private sector, and reduce hunger, improve food security and income by increasing crop production, diversification and productivity.

The aim of the qualitative study is to contextualise the findings of a quantitative impact evaluation conducted between October 2017 and January 2018, and deepen understanding of how and why specific findings and impacts transpired.