Supporting the Synergy Between School Meal Programs and Food Banks to Combat Food Insecurity Among Children: A Bayesian Mindsponge Framework Analysis

Background and Aims: Food banks play a major role in the food aid sector by distributing donated and purchased groceries directly to food-insecure families, which helps reduce food insecurity. On the other hand, school meal programs are implemented in many countries to combat food insecurity among school-aged children. The synergy between school meal programs and food banks has great potential to combat food insecurity among children effectively. This study aimed to examine the impacts of experts' involvement, such as nutritionists, farmers, and private sector actors, and community engagement, including parents and others, on the linkage between food banks and school meal programs. Methods: The Bayesian Mindsponge Framework, combining the reasoning strengths of the Granular Interaction Thinking Theory (GITT) and inference advantages of Bayesian analysis, was employed on a dataset of government representatives who manage large-scale school meal programs in 126 different countries. Results: Findings showed that the involvement of nutritionists and the private sector was positively related to the linkage between food banks and school meal programs, while farmers' involvement showed an ambiguous relationship. The engagement of parents and the public in general also showed an ambiguous relationship with this linkage. Conclusion: Findings underscore the importance of increasing the involvement of nutritionists and the private sector to link food banks with school meal programs in implementing countries, which can help improve food security among school-aged children.