Kitchen In a Box

In El Salvador, 80 percent of schools do not have a canteen or lunch room and only 14 percent have a temporary space assigned for the preparation of school meals. This accounts for more than 700 schools and 154,000 students nationwide. Furthermore, school meals are prepared using makeshift wood-burning stoves which pose a substantial risk of contamination, foodborne diseases and malnutrition to children, adolescents and the cooking staff. Current conditions do not allow schools or the government to optimize their school meal programmes to contribute to the physical well-being and learning capacity of students.

Kitchen in a Box builds smart kitchens for schools with a holistic approach. It offers durable and low-cost infrastructure, equips kitchens with context-specific technology and storage, and builds capacity in the community for safe and hygienic food preparation and nutrition. Additionally, it adds planet-friendly components such as access to renewable energy (e.g., solar panels) and the implementation of school gardens. The school garden produces food for school meals, serves as a learning space to promote local food production and uses drip irrigation systems to save water. Kitchen in a Box aims to promote access to safe infrastructure for the preparation and delivery of nutritious school meals contributing to a better learning environment for children.

With the technical support of WFP Engineering, Kitchen in a Box transforms recycled containers into kitchens and equips them with all the necessary materials for cooking and storing food to offer school meals. 

WFP, alongside the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology from El Salvador, implemented the solution in three schools for the pilot phase, benefiting more than 3,100 students. Kitchen in a Box can potentially impact over 700 schools at the national level by providing secure and sustainable infrastructure, enabling schools to deliver nutritious meals and an appropriate learning environment.

Kitchen in a Box has started a second sprint to continue the innovation’s development. As part of the scope of the second phase, the team aims to integrate learnings from the first sprint in the three implemented kitchens and implement four new kitchens to test other models of infrastructure and equipment. In addition, the team will strengthen the monitoring and evaluation for evidence generation and create an implementation guide with the objective of scaling the solution to other countries around the globe.