School Feeding and Cognitive Performance in Rwanda

Abstract Using unique administrative data on test scores from a high stake national exam for primary school students in Rwanda, we evaluate the impact of Rwanda’s Home Grown School Feeding (HGSF) program on cognitive performance of students that benefited from the program. Our identification strategy exploits plausibly exogenous variations in exposure to the program induced by the staggered implementation of the program across schools and students’ grade at the time of program implementation. We find a positive impact of the program on student test scores, with the impact accruing over time. Further, our results suggest that school feeding is an important channel to closing gender gaps in student performance. Increasing the absorptive capacity of schools to accommodate the associated increase in enrollment is a likely operative channel. Back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest that providing school feeding yields an 11:1 return on investment.