School Meal Planner (SMP) PLUS

School feeding programmes are a lifeline for millions of children, helping them learn better, stay healthy and grow strong while supporting local economies. Yet many children living in extreme poverty still don’t have access to these programmes.

Creating school menus is a complex process that requires balancing nutrition, costs and local food availability. While traditional methods provide solutions, they often miss opportunities to optimize meal quality, reduce costs and source food locally. With smarter tools, schools can design meals more effectively, ensuring children get the nutrition they need while supporting local farmers and economies.

By improving how school meals are planned, feeding programmes can reach their full potential to transform children’s lives and strengthen communities.

The School Menu Planner (SMP) PLUS is an easy-to-use online platform that leverages advanced technology to design nutritious, cost-effective menus tailored to local ingredients. By automating the menu creation process, SMP PLUS helps schools save time, reduce costs and improve the quality of meals. With its ability to balance nutrition, budgets and local food availability in just minutes, SMP PLUS empowers school feeding programmes to deliver better results for children and support local economies.

Today, SMP PLUS is transforming school feeding programmes across 17 countries by improving nutrition, reducing costs and increasing local food procurement. Its optimized menus empower governments to deliver healthier, more sustainable meals while strengthening local food systems and ensuring children stay in school.

Madagascar – Supporting Local Procurement
SMP PLUS played a key role in improving Madagascar’s national school feeding programme by designing locally sourced, affordable menus. For the 2024 school meal plan, 59 percent of food will be procured locally, strengthening local food systems and boosting the integration of staple foods into school meals.

Lesotho – Increasing Budgets and Meal Diversity
In Lesotho, SMP PLUS supported advocacy efforts that led to a 65 percent increase in school feeding budgets from 2023 to 2024. The tool also diversified school meals, increasing the variety of food groups from four to eight and introducing ten new local ingredients. Today, SMP PLUS is a key tool in Lesotho’s national school feeding policy, benefiting nearly 295,000 children across 1,400 schools.

Bhutan – Reducing Costs and Supporting Local Food
In Bhutan, SMP PLUS piloted optimized menus that reduced costs by 20 percent and increased locally procured food by 70 percent. These improvements strengthened local food systems and enhanced the nutritional quality of school meals.

Sri Lanka – Addressing Budget Constraints
During a period of financial challenges, SMP PLUS helped Sri Lanka maintain its school feeding programme by developing optimized menus that reduced costs while ensuring nutritional standards. This work supported advocacy for increased funding per child, ensuring continued access to school meals for vulnerable children.

The journey of SMP PLUS underscores its transformative impact on school feeding programmes worldwide. In 2025, the School Meals and Social Protection Service plans to work more closely with the 66 countries already using SMP PLUS, supporting government goals to improve school meal menus and set new guidelines. With plans for more training and implementation, SMP PLUS is adding new features to better meet the nutritional needs of millions of children. With ongoing support from the WFP Innovation Accelerator, SMP PLUS is set to reach even more children, promoting healthier and more sustainable school meals around the world.