At just 11 years old, Aschila’s life was turned upside down when conflict erupted in her village in northwestern Ethiopia. Forced to flee with her family, she left her home, her friends and her education behind. Seeking safety in a neighbouring village, survival quickly became a daily struggle. With little means to support themselves, sending Aschila to school seemed impossible. Instead of learning in a classroom, she spent her days tending cattle to help her family earn a meagre income.
Despite losing hope of continuing her education, Aschila’s life took a positive turn when World Vision in Ethiopia, with support from the Education Cannot Wait (ECW) programme, introduced school meals at her local school. A simple plate of food became the bridge back to learning, health and hope.
Nutrition as stability
Amid multiple crises, where conflict, climate shocks and economic instability continue to disrupt the lives of millions, nutritious school meals stand out as one of the most effective tools to safeguard children and communities. They are more than food on a plate. They represent stability, dignity, and opportunity. When routines are shattered by displacement or disaster, a reliable meal at school restores a sense of normality and keeps children learning.
Beyond the classroom, school meals improve nutrition, reduce hunger and enhance learning outcomes. In drought-affected East Africa, they keep children in school rather than dropping out to work or migrate. In Latin America, fortified school meals reduce anaemia and improve classroom participation. These outcomes strengthen human capital by ensuring that children, regardless of background, have equal opportunities to learn and thrive.
From nutrition to livelihoods
School meals are not only a social protection intervention, but also a driver of local economic development. By sourcing food locally from smallholder farmers and cooperatives, programmes create predictable demand for local produce, generate an income for families and build resilience across communities.
In Malawi, locally grown maize and beans supplied to school feeding programmes have supported smallholder farmers while nourishing children. In West Africa, women’s cooperatives have been empowered through catering contracts, strengthening livelihoods and reducing vulnerabilities.
Global call to action
Girls like Aschila stand to benefit the most. Nutritious school meals ensure girls attend school, stay in school, and thrive. They increase girls’ school attendance and attainment, improve health during critical growth years, support long-term economic empowerment, avert child marriages, and help break intergenerational cycles of malnutrition
School meals are also a lifeline in emergencies and a foundation for long-term food security and community resilience. The compounding effects of conflict, climate change and forced displacement make joined-up action even more urgent.
Providing nutritious school meals to all children by 2030 could lift 120 million children out of malnutrition and reduce deaths from non-communicable diseases by 3 million in low- and middle-income countries. With an incredible economic return of $7 to $35 per every $1 USD invested, school meals support the overall well-being of communities and societies at large.
By 2030, every child should have access to a nutritious meal at school. We know school meals work, and scaling them globally is achievable. National school meal programmes now reach a total of approximately 466 million children globally. Between 2020 and 2024, funding for national school meal programmes doubled, and an additional 80 million children were reached. Greater investment in data, cross-sector collaboration, and innovative financing is critical to deliver sustainable, long-term school meal programmes.
Ultimately, providing school meals is not only a matter of food and nutrition security, but of dignity and opportunity, enabling children like Aschila to thrive in a shock-prone world. Her story is proof that when we fill plates, we can help unlock better futures.
