Indonesia is launching a $28 billion plan to provide free meals to 82 million school children and pregnant mothers, aiming to fight stunting and boost economic growth. While this bold plan under President Prabowo Subianto promises big health and economic benefits, it faces challenges in delivery, funding, and management, with lessons from Nigeria’s school feeding program offering useful insights.
Difficulties with School Meals Implementation
Implementing a nationwide free school meal program in Indonesia, which spans over 17,000 islands, presents significant logistical and financial challenges. One major hurdle is the physical distribution of food across such a vast and diverse archipelago (group of Island scattered in lakes), where remote areas might lack the infrastructure needed for efficient food delivery. Similarly, setting up kitchens in these locations requires substantial initial investment and ongoing maintenance.
Drawing parallels with Nigeria’s experience can illustrate these challenges further. Nigeria’s Home Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP), launched in 2016, aimed to provide one free meal daily to millions of schoolchildren. Despite its success in increasing school enrollment and reducing children absence from school, Nigeria faced several issues:
- Logistics: The geographical spread of schools, especially in rural areas, made food distribution inefficient. This is akin to the challenges Indonesia might face with its island geography.
- Funding: Nigeria struggled with budget constraints, with the program costing a significant portion of the national budget, leading to delays in payments to vendors and affecting the program’s sustainability. Indonesia’s $28 billion annual cost could similarly strain its fiscal resources, potentially impacting its credit rating as noted by financial analysts.
- Management and Corruption: There were reports of mismanagement in Nigeria, where the quality and quantity of meals provided varied, sometimes not meeting nutritional standards. Corruption also emerged as a barrier, with funds not always reaching intended beneficiaries. Indonesia must ensure oversight and transparency to prevent such issues.
- Scale and Coverage: Nigeria’s program initially only covered students from basic one to three, facing criticism for not including older children. Indonesia’s plan to cover all schoolchildren and pregnant mothers requires even more comprehensive management to avoid similar pitfalls.
Investing in Long-term Health: Preventing Stunting and Future Ill Health
Indonesia’s initiative to provide free school meals targets the persistent problem of stunting, which has seen a reduction from 37% in 2013 to 21.5% in 2023. By supplying daily balanced meals, the program seeks to combat malnutrition directly, ensuring children receive the nutrients vital for physical growth.
Additionally, it aims to boost cognitive development by improving dietary intake, which is critical for better academic outcomes. This focus on nutrition in early childhood also serves to prevent chronic diseases later in life, such as diabetes and obesity, by instilling healthier eating habits from an early age.
Economic Benefits: Incomes, Jobs, GDP Growth
The free school meal program is not just about health; it’s a strategic economic move with multiple benefits:
- Job Creation: The Warungkiara district piloting the initiative has already shown job creation, employing local people in roles like cooking, cleaning, and distribution. Nationally, up to 30,000 kitchens could mean millions of jobs, particularly for women previously without employment.
- Boosting Local Economies: By sourcing food locally, the program directly supports farmers and small businesses, increasing their income. In Warungkiara, local farmers expanded production to meet demand, doubling their income.
- GDP Growth: Enhanced nutrition leads to better health, which translates into a more productive workforce. President Prabowo aims for an economic growth jump from 5% to 8% annually. While the program alone won’t achieve this, it complements other economic policies by improving human capital.
- Reducing Poverty: Providing meals reduces the financial burden on families, potentially lifting many out of poverty by freeing up money for other needs, thus indirectly boosting consumer spending and economic activity.
