School meals surge to half a billion children, but gains are fragile

Nearly 80 million more children worldwide are now receiving school meals through government-led programs than in 2020 — a 20% increase that brings the global total to at least 466 million, according to the World Food Programme. The biennial State of School Feeding Worldwide report, released last week, casts school feeding in a new light. Once seen as a welfare measure for lower-income students, it is increasingly understood as a long-term investment with multiple payoffs: keeping children in school, boosting test scores, improving nutrition, and stimulating economies through job creation and increased demand for agricultural products. “Governments around the world, especially in low- and middle-income countries, are showing real leadership by choosing to prioritize school meals programs,” WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain said in a statement. “They are proven to be one of the smartest, most cost-effective investments any nation can make to improve the long-term health, education and economic prosperity of future generations.” With nearly half a billion children now covered, school meals are no longer the exception but are increasingly becoming the norm, with nearly all countries reporting at least some sort of a program in place. The question, WFP warns, is whether progress can be sustained in the places most vulnerable to foreign aid cuts, conflict, and fiscal stress. The benefits are well documented. Studies show that children who receive school meals demonstrate measurable improvements in math and literacy, with girls in particular gaining in attendance, health, and well-being. Nearly 70% of governments pair feeding programs with complementary interventions such as school gardens, health checkups, or handwashing facilities. Economically, every $1 spent generates between $3 and $9 in returns, and in some cases up to $30. The programs are also powerful job creators. In 2024, WFP estimated that nearly 2.25 million cooks were employed to prepare school meals worldwide — around 1,600 cooks for every 100,000 children reached — while tens of thousands of smallholder farmers gained access to steady markets. In Benin, school meal procurement injected more than $23 million into the local economy last year, with direct purchases from smallholders rising by 800%. In Burundi, farmer incomes jumped by half as 67 cooperatives with 20,000 members sold to school programs. Africa has been at the center of recent progress. Ethiopia expanded coverage from 1.7 million children in 2022 to nearly 7 million in 2024. Rwanda grew its program five-fold, reaching almost 4 million children. Madagascar and Kenya also recorded major gains. “The surge in nationally funded school meal programmes is a powerful sign of what’s possible, even in challenging times. But in low-income countries, where needs are greatest, progress remains at risk as global aid shifts and domestic resources fall short,” said Carmen Burbano, director of the WFP-hosted School Meals Coalition Secretariat. These stories reflect the scale of momentum, but the gains are also fragile. Globally, governments account for 99% of spending, but in low-income countries that share drops to 42%, with donors covering more than half. Such reliance leaves programs vulnerable to variations in overseas development assistance. In Somalia, for example, school meal coverage had grown to nearly 200,000 children but contracted sharply last year after donor contributions fell. Conflict is another major threat to the success of school meals programming. Yet, the report also highlights how programs have adapted to keep children connected to education in the hardest-hit settings. In Sudan, where years of fighting have disrupted most services, WFP and partners shifted to providing take-home rations and cash assistance to sustain families and encourage children to return when schools reopen. In Lebanon, WFP’s initiative supported 107,000 children — including many Syrian refugees — by switching to take-home snacks during remote learning periods during a 2024 conflict with Israel, resuming in-school meals after a November ceasefire. And in Gaza, WFP distributed snacks to nearly 118,000 children in temporary U.N. learning centers. These examples underscore both the fragility of progress and the critical role of flexible models in protecting children’s right to food and education during crises. Shifting roles and new approaches WFP still delivers meals directly — reaching 21.4 million children across 61 countries in 2023. And increasingly, the agency also supports governments with technical assistance: designing policy frameworks, digitizing registries, and helping programs become more efficient. In southern Africa, WFP worked with the Southern African Development Community and other U.N. agencies to launch a School Health and Nutrition Toolkit to guide governments. Digital tools such as School Connect are replacing paper-based data collection, allowing schools to track attendance, food stock levels, and nutrition outcomes more reliably. The report also highlights more systemic changes. For the first time, the international community is moving to introduce school meals coverage as an indicator of progress toward U.N. Sustainable Development Goal 4, which is focused on access to quality education. The methodology has been submitted to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, with data expected to be published in late 2025. If adopted, governments and donors will have a consistent metric to track how many primary schoolchildren worldwide receive meals as part of their education — a milestone advocates have sought for years. The landscape of leadership is also shifting. While national governments remain the backbone of school feeding, cities are emerging as important players. São Paulo, Brazil, for example, now feeds nearly 1 million students with two meals a day prepared in more than 3,000 kitchens. Brazil, home to the world’s largest school feeding program, has pledged to expand the share of procurement from family farmers beyond its current 30% quota. That urban momentum is also visible in Kenya, where local organization Food4Education has built a model that shows what is possible when local governments, parents, and civil society work together. Based in Nairobi, the organization now serves roughly half a million meals a day through centralized, clean-energy kitchens. Parents contribute a small fee, while steady demand provides reliable markets for more than 100 tons of local produce daily. The initiative has created thousands of jobs, most of them for women, and has become one of the country’s largest school feeding providers. “Cities and counties can and should play an effective and often transformative role in delivering school meals at scale,” Shalom Ndiku, director of public affairs at Food4Education, told Devex. “In Nairobi, the Dishi na County program turned partnership and policy into nourished potential: a citywide system built in under a year that now reaches more than 300,000 children every school day.” Food4Education has also sought to ensure progress is locked in by policy. Working with the Council of Governors, it helped design a model pre-primary feeding policy that allows counties to legislate and protect budget lines. Sixteen of its 31 kitchens have been built with government partners, anchoring meals for more than 1,500 schools. “In Kenya, when governments commit to school feeding, it means real kitchens, real budgets, and real policy,” Ndiku said. “A child does not rely on an NGO that might leave tomorrow, but on a public promise to [provide] food and education.” For Ndiku, the model is about more than filling plates. It links agriculture, logistics, public health, and education into a single system. But without systemic buy-in, he warned, impact can quickly unravel. “Without policy, budget, and public buy-in, impact is short-lived, gains are fragile, and progress won’t survive a political cycle,” he said. The WFP report’s release sets the stage for the second Global Summit of the School Meals Coalition, scheduled for Sept. 18-19 in Brazil. Leaders are expected to assess progress and mobilize new financial and political commitments. With nearly half a billion children now benefiting from meals in school — and evidence showing improved test scores, 2.25 million jobs created, and tens of thousands of farmers gaining stable markets — the case for expansion is no longer in doubt. The test, however, will be whether governments and donors can sustain that momentum in fragile and low-income countries where gains remain most precarious. School feeding may be having its moment, but its future will depend on turning today’s growth into a permanent guarantee for the next generation.