In many countries around the world, school lunch is the only meal that children in low-income communities can reliably count on. Today, on International School Meals Day, it is important to take a moment to look at the way school feeding programs are helping to create a brighter future for children around the world.
School meals are about more than just food; they are a way to incentivize attendance and encourage families to continue sending their children to school versus dropping out early to support their family financially. These programs make a critical impact on the educational outcomes and quality of life for vulnerable children around the world, and girls in particular. With generous support from the USDA McGovern-Dole program, Counterpart International is currently implementing three school feeding programs: Our Bright Future! in Mozambique, Sukaabe Janngo II in Senegal, and The Future is Ours and Bridging the Future in Mauritania.
“At USDA, we know that children do better in life and in the classroom when they have consistent access to healthy, nutritious meals,” says US Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Xochitl Torres Small, who recently visited Counterpart’s school meals program in Mozambique. “Students who are hungry cannot effectively learn,” underscored US Ambassador to Mozambique Peter H. Vrooman at the same event.
Together with our partners, our global school feeding programs are improving educational outcomes and access to education through school feeding, literacy activities, support for nutrition and clean water and sanitation practices, and capacity building through local partnerships.
Our Bright Future!
In Mozambique, the Our Bright Future! program has supported 72,000 students across 252 schools by serving over 14 million meals since 2021. Our local team has established and revitalized 105 school gardens and 7 community farms where we teach students and community members about smart agriculture and grow fresh produce to supplement the school meals. Access to nutritious meals during the school day not only addresses immediate hunger, but also has far-reaching impacts on children’s physical and cognitive well-being, educational achievement, and long-term potential.
Students in Metutuine, Mozambique enjoying a school lunch.
To date, we have trained 880 teachers in bilingual education and produced and distributed 104,000 books to help students learn to read. We train teachers on improved literacy techniques, and build capacity of local partners at all stages of the value chain, from our team responsible for overseeing our stores of commodities and managing the logistics required to distribute food throughout rural communities in Maputu Province, to forging strong relationships with local food producers to ensure procurement of locally grown food whenever possible, to organizing a large group of volunteer school cooks and providing training on nutrition and safe food handling practices. Together, these partnerships create local jobs and feed the next generation of children in Mozambique, ensuring that they have the energy and ability to attend school and prepare for their future.
Sukaabe Janngo II
The Senegalese Ministry of National Education has mandated that all children must go to school, but only slightly more than 50 percent make it to 6th grade. Of those who remain in school, only 62 percent are able to pass the standardized exam to enter middle school. Counterpart has been implementing school feeding programs in Senegal since 2001 with the aim to improve both retention and performance of students. Our current project builds on our strong in country network of partners to support healthy children and families and strengthen academic performance—ultimately providing more opportunities for the next generation.
Cooks prepare meals for students at the El Hadji Alkaly Bacary Djité canteen in Sédhiou, Senegal as the school welcomed the U.S. Ambassador to Senegal on a visit to schools participating in the USDA McGovern-Dole program.
Sukaabe Janngo II works in 285 preschools and primary schools in Senegal to improve school-age children’s reading skills, increase the use of improved health, nutrition, and WASH practices, and improve school nutrition through the provision of healthy local food. Our staff works closely with local stakeholders and partners to increase school attendance by providing nutritious daily school meals, building or rehabilitating storerooms and cooking areas, and increasing access to drinking water and sanitation. Impacting lives far beyond just school meal provision, we improve health, nutrition, and WASH practices by providing access to deworming medication, cooking demonstrations, behavior change campaigns, and nutrition/health/WASH knowledge, as well as safe and healthy food preparation and storage trainings. Together, these improved practices are helping to provide Senegalese children with the support they need to remain in school, obtain a strong education, and dream bigger.
The Future is Ours and Bridging the Future
In Mauritania, 75% of people depend on subsistence farming and pastoralism and 30% suffer from food insecurity. Food inaccessibility impacts the health and education of young children and hinders their potential for growth, prosperity, and success.
Counterpart and our regional and local partners have been implementing USDA-funded programs in Mauritania since 2019. Our programs aim to reduce hunger, improve health, and strengthen the primary education system. Serving 320 primary schools through activities aligned with national education and health policies, we work closely with schools, parents’ associations, community members, NGOs, and government agencies to improve student attendance rates by providing nutritious daily school meals.
Community leaders and partners during the launch of Counterpart’s Mauritania McGovern-Dole project in October 2023.
Our current project aims to distribute over 60 million meals to over 139,000 students provide 239 schools with improved water sources and clean cook stoves, train over 5,000 school cooks and staff in safe food preparation and storage, and provide deworming medication to almost 130,000 students. Building capacity across teachers, school management, and government officials is creating a better educational system, able to support the students of tomorrow.
