Nearly 80 million more children benefit from school meals, WFP says

Nearly 80 million more children worldwide are now receiving school meals through government-led programmes, the World Food Programme (WFP) said on Wednesday. 

This is a 20% increase compared to 2020, bringing the global total to at least 466 million children, according to the latest edition of the WFP's State of School Feeding Worldwide biennial report.  

"This is unprecedented progress," said WFP director of school meals and social protection Carmen Burbano.

"We have not seen a scale up of a programme of this magnitude in at least a decade, and most of it is due to government mobilisation and domestic investments," she said.

About 60% of the additional children reached since 2020 are in low-income countries, according to the WFP. Africa is leading the surge with an additional 20 million children now fed through national school meals programmes, with notable progress in Kenya, Madagascar, Ethiopia, and Rwanda.

Global funding for school meals has more than doubled, rising from $43 billion in 2020 to $84 billion last year, with nearly all nvestments coming from government budget.

The WFP attributes this progress in part to the School Meals Coalition, an initiative launched in 2021. Led by Brazil, Finland and France, the coalition gathers more than 100 countries with the goal of ensuring that "every child receives a healthy meal in school" by 2030.

“School meals are so much more than just a plate of nutritious food – important as that is. For the vulnerable children who receive them, they are a pathway out of poverty and into a new world of learning and opportunity,” said WFP executive director Cindy McCain.