Background
School meal provision in Viet Nam dates back to 1977 in kindergartens [1] and was extended to primary schools in 1980. Its objectives have since evolved from simply providing food to promoting children’s health, nutritional status, and nutrition education. Key milestones include a school lunch piloted in disadvantaged areas under the School Education Quality Assurance Program (SEQAP) in 2010 [2], and the School Meal Project launched in 2012 by Ajinomoto Vietnam, the National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) and the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET), which introduced balanced menu-planning software, nutrition education materials and model school kitchens [3]. The National Nutrition Strategies for 2011–2020 and 2021–2030 progressively strengthened the focus on school nutrition; the current strategy targets 90% of urban and 80% of rural schools providing meals to meet Ministry of Health (MOH) nutritional requirements by 2030.
The regulatory framework has also been reinforced through MOET Decisions No. 4280/QĐ-BGDĐT and No. 2195/QĐ-BGDĐT (2022) on school meals and physical activity, Decision No. 354/QĐ-BGDĐT (2024) on training school health staff, and MOH Decision No. 3958/QĐ-BYT (December 2025) on national school menu guidelines. These developments show Viet Nam’s growing commitment to improving school meal quality, while underscoring the need for effective implementation, monitoring, and compliance with national nutritional standards.
Despite this progress, Viet Nam is not yet a member of the School Meals Coalition (SMC). The SMC is a government-led initiative, hosted by the World Food Program (WFP), that aims to ensure every child can receive a healthy, nutritious meal in school by 2030. Launched in October 2021, it now brings together 113 countries, six regional bodies and more than 160 partners. Member States join by signing a Declaration of Commitment aligned with the Coalition’s goals.
To complete its membership application, Viet Nam needs to provide:
- Updated national data for the SMC Global Database on School Meals, which compiles indicators on school meal coverage, education, funding, policy frameworks, jobs and complementary activities. Data is submitted through a government self-reporting system hosted on the database, which allows national governments to submit and update information on their own programs.
- A school meals case study prepared in line with the guidelines of the Research Consortium for School Health and Nutrition, which produces country case studies under its “Good Examples” Community of Practice. Each case study documents how a program is organised, funded, and monitored, covering the country profile, program design and implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and lessons learned, good practices, and challenges.
Alive & Thrive (A&T) is an initiative to save lives, prevent illness, and ensure healthy growth and development. From 2009 to 2014, A&T demonstrated that rapid improvements in infant and young child feeding (IYCF) are possible in settings as diverse as Ethiopia, Bangladesh and Viet Nam. In 2014, A&T began working in Burkina Faso, India, Nigeria and throughout the Southeast Asia region, expanding its scope to include maternal and adolescent nutrition, and using agriculture and social protection programs as delivery mechanisms for maternal, infant and young child nutrition (MIYCN). A&T is currently supporting the relevant Vietnamese authorities to prepare the data and case study required for the SMC application and is seeking a qualified vendor to carry out this assignment.
Requirements: please see details in the attached file.
Submit quotation to: [email protected] and clearly note in the subject line: “A&T-School Meals Data and Case Study Viet Nam”
Submission deadline: 5PM October 30, 2026