Why School Meals Accountability Must Define the Future of Education and Social Protection

Dry-season farming introduced to farmers in the Binduri District in the Upper East region of Ghana is transforming the lives and incomes of farmers.

Key outcomes from the 2nd School Meals Coalition Summit: new commitments, evidence launches, financing, and World Vision’s global advocacy leadership.

Dry-season farming introduced to farmers in the Binduri District in the Upper East region of Ghana is transforming the lives and incomes of farmers.

In the heart of Manyinga District, where the North-Western Province’s terrain transitions from thick forest to unforgiving, sandy trails, the distant roar of a motorcycle isn’t just noise. To the children of these remote villages, it is the sound of hope arriving.

For years, David Mangok Ador believed his family’s survival depended on a government salary that often arrived months late. As the Payam Administrator of Kuac South and a father of ten, he frequently found himself and his household struggling in the face of uncertainty. But when he encountered a training that challenged how he viewed work and opportunity, David began to realise his future did not have to depend on a paycheck alone.

Millions of children still go to school hungry, with a single meal often deciding whether they stay in class or drop out. While 466 million now receive school meals, half of primary school-aged children remain unreached—especially in low-income countries. World Vision’s School Meals Programme delivered daily meals to over one million children in 20 countries and drove 17 policy changes to strengthen national feeding systems. From South Sudan’s new strategy to Rwanda’s citizen-led “Dusangire Lunch,” momentum is building to end child hunger for good.

Civil Society Organisation (CSO) Network for School Meals is issuing a unified call to action.

After World Vision’s Empowered World View training, Pastor Khoza used her “other 8 hours” to start a thriving garden and poultry project that now feeds her family.

This inspiring feature tells the story of Annie Mbayo, a pastor, mother of nine, and community leader from Kigoma, near Lubumbashi in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Through World Vision’s Empowered World View (EWV) training, Annie learned to combine faith with practical planning, transforming her household and community. Once dependent on small-scale seedling sales, she developed her nine hectares into a productive farm, began pig rearing, expanded mango cultivation, and built a stable home, both a symbol and a result of her new vision. Guided by principles of stewardship, savings, and collective action, she also helped form a community savings group, inspiring other women and men to take similar steps toward self-reliance. Annie’s journey reflects the essence of the EWV approach, turning prayer into action, faith into work, and hope into sustainable change.