Tsogolo la Thanzi (TSOLATA) Healthy Future Phase II Support to evidence based decision making Contract related to: Tsogolo la Thanzi (TSOLATA) Healthy Future Phase II Support to evidence based decision making - The Action will support the expansion of school meals in primary schools and Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres in 7 districts of Malawi, while improving market opportunities for smallholder producers, as preferred suppliers to the schools. The Action will follow the Homegrown School Meal approach, which is the Government¿s preferred modality for delivering school meals.The Action will work with District Councils to ensure that school learners receive diversified school meals throughout the school terms. This will ensure regular access to healthy food for pupils, contributing to a better nutrition and better school performance. It will also increase school attendance, hence contribution to primary school completion rate, especially for girls who are most at risk of dropping out. As the nutritious food composition will be purchased from local farmer groups around the selected schools, the Action will boost agricultural commercialisation and increase income generating opportunities for smallholders, mostly parents of the pupils receiving school meals, triggering a virtuous cycle of community socio-economic empowerment. Through a crisis modifier, it will provide safety nets for households in times of crisis (should schools be closed again due to a pandemic or should farmers require support to face a challenging planting season). This Action will expand the existing investment under the Tsogolo la Thanzi (TSOLATA) ¿ ¿Healthy Future¿ intervention, implemented in 4 districts of the South of Malawi and 200 primary schools, adding three more districts and doubling the number of targeted primary school. It will also expand the school meals to ECD centres, following the MIP¿s priority of empowering women and girls throughout the lifecycle. Since it contributes to primary school completion, it also lays the foundations for the EU support to secondary education. The Action will seek to build synergies with ongoing programmes on sustainable agriculture and nutrition (Kulima and Afikepo), supporting agricultural diversification and increased productivity and nutrition education at community level.The Action contributes to MIP Priority Area 1, Green and Resilient Economic Transformation, in particular specific objective 1.1, Boosting productivity, resilience, diversification and commercialisation for agriculture and fisheries. It will also contribute to MIP Priority Area 3, Human Development and Social Inclusion, in particular specific objective 3.2 of strengthening social protection systems.With this Action, the EU will become the main partner (in financial terms) for Government in the area of school meals and will reinforce the existing engagements in nutrition (Afikepo programme), agricultural diversification and support to smallholders (Kulima programme) and social protection (social cash transfers). Finally, as part of the TEI Green Growth, following a food systems approach, the Action will develop synergies with other nutrition interventions as well as activities in support of sustainable farming and agribusiness.