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The African continent has seen the most significant rise of any region, with the number of children receiving school meals rising by over 30 percent from 66 million in 2022 to 87 million in 2024. Chad, Ethiopia, Madagascar, and Rwanda have increased the number of pupils receiving school meals by up to six times.
Government investments in school meals in Sub-Saharan Africa have also increased, signalling a significant shift from reliance on foreign aid to recognising school meals as a strategic public investment in children’s education, health, and broader national development.
In countries like Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia, Rwanda, and Zambia, school meal programmes are mainly funded through national budgets. Other governments, such as Ethiopia and Burundi, have doubled and tripled their respective contributions since 2022, while still receiving some funding from external sources.
“We are proud that the majority of school meal programmes are funded through domestic budgets. WFP is dedicated to helping national governments expand state-funded school meals, ensuring that no child is left behind,” said Margot van der Velden, WFP’s Regional Director for West and Central Africa. “We need to work together with partners and communities in feeding the future of our children, giving them the chance to grow and thrive.”
Beyond education and children’s wellbeing, sustainable school meal models, such as home-grown school feeding programmes, also have far-reaching benefits for smallholder farmers, agricultural economies and climate-smart food production.
- In Benin, where the government primarily funds school meals, purchasing local food for these programmes contributed over US$23 million to the economy in 2024. Direct purchases from smallholder farmers increased by 800 percent, benefiting more than 23,000 people.
- In Burundi, WFP’s local food procurement for school meals resulted in a 50 percent increase in farmers’ incomes in 2024 and created employment opportunities across 67 cooperatives with 20,000 members.
- In Malawi, every US$1 spent on school meals generates US$8 in economic benefits.
- In Sierra Leone last year, 40 percent of food for school meals came from smallholder farmers – mainly women and youth – providing a varied diet with rice, pulses, sweet potatoes, and vegetables.
- In Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda, WFP, The Novo Nordisk Foundation, The Grundfos Foundation and the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs are supporting diverse, eco-friendly diets for children by creating 1,300 school gardens, training 61,500 smallholder farmers in climate-smart agriculture, and supplying schools with fuel-efficient cooking equipment.
“A meal at school is more than just giving food to a child; it is also an investment in the family, the community, and ultimately a country’s future. Sourcing food locally provides healthy, culturally appropriate meals for children while supporting smallholder farmers, driving economic growth and national development,” said Eric Perdison, WFP’s Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa.
However, millions of children, especially in low-income African countries like the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Somalia, and South Sudan, still lack access to school meals due to low domestic funding and a reliance on decreasing external donor support. WFP will continue prioritising children in these fragile settings for direct delivery of school meals to safeguard their access to learning and nutrition amid global uncertainty and reduced funding.
The report comes out the week before the second School Meals Coalition Global Summit in Brazil, on 18-19 September, where leaders will meet to assess progress and mobilise further action.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of World Food Programme (WFP).