UNDP undertook a first-of-its-kind mapping of meal centres (soup kitchens) across the country in late 2022 and early 2023, in the framework of the Joint UN programme: Strengthening Bosnia and Herzegovina’s resilience to address the impact of the Ukraine war on food security and incomes of most vulnerable groups.  

The mapping covered 54 meal centres country-wide that are currently catering for the food needs of over 18,000 persons from vulnerable population groups. The mapping focused on the following main dimensions: 1) geographic distribution of the meal centres; 2) description of how the food service is organised (hand-over; within the meal centre; social restaurant; etc.); 3) basic number of users and type of users since 2020, with focus on unregistered social protection system users; 4) physical and infrastructure assets and sanitary conditions; 5) source of funding and sources of food supply (public, individual, private, etc.).  

The majority of meal centres users belong to the following vulnerable population groups: pensioners/elderly, unemployed, single parents, people with developmental disabilities, and members of the Roma population. The assessment found that most of these meal centres also serve people not covered by social protection programmes through Centres for Social Work.  

The geospatial map of meal centres in Bosnia and Herzegovina developed based on the data from this mapping exercise can be found here. The report outlines a range of policy and infrastructural shortcomings in the current hunger relief system in Bosnia and Herzegovina and proposes concrete systemic improvements in the policy framework, financing, sustainability and operational arrangement of soup kitchens in Bosnia and Herzegovina.