This article analyzes the establishment, the institutional organization and the performance of the school meal program in the state of Mato Grosso from 1979 to 1995. The following aspects are emphasized: the transition period from a centralized management model to a decentralized one; the influence of the federal agencies on the state interventions; the priorities and the actions of the government's of Mato Grosso. This study reconstructs and analyzes the performance of a welfare policy, using the collection and analysis of secondary and primary data (20 interviews with institutional agents). The results show a close dependence of the state interventions on the federal ones and a change from a centralized model to a decentralized one. The dynamics, the intensity and the rhythm of this modification were influenced by both the federal strategies and the priorities, degrees of acquiescence and institutional capacities of the state governments. The program was developed heterogeneously concerning the number of towns involved, the school days covered, the pupils attended, the cots and the consumed foods per capita/year and the decentralization models.
school feeding; nutrition programmes and policies; centralization; decentralization
