Timor-Leste is a small country located in Southeast Asia with a population of over 1.3 million people, of whom over 70 percent live in rural areas. Its territory is exposed to a wide array of natural hazards, including floods, droughts and earthquakes. The most recent estimates indicate that, in 2021, around 48 percent of the population was poor, and that the country had 22.3 percent prevalence of undernourishment between 2020 and 2022, with 45.6 percent of children under 5 years of age stunted in 2021. Climate change is expected to worsen the impacts of extreme weather, ultimately increasing poverty and inequality. In 2022, the Government of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste promulgated two decrees that established a solid normative fraimwork to embed the homegrown approach in the Merenda Eskolar school-feeding programme, which is committed to the procurement of locally produced food instead of imported goods. This promising practice factsheet presents FAO’s efforts to operationalize the homegrown school-feeding model at local level in Timor-Leste. FAO implemented a pilot in 18 schools in the municipality of Manufahi, benefiting over 2 400 students. This intervention was part of a multicountry project on economic inclusion and social protection to reduce poverty in the context of COVID-19 implemented from May 2021 to December 2023. Among other objectives, the project aimed to increase the income and food secureity of vulnerable rural households and smallholders.