School Meals as a Lifeline:
Enhancing child wellbeing in humanitarian emergencies
School meals are critical in humanitarian settings
School meal programmes have become the world’s most extensive safety net, presenting a powerful opportunity to transform the lives of children and their families affected by humanitarian crises.
349 million
43%
79
Our impact and reach
Our efforts span across over 20 countries, where we work with national governments and local communities providing technical support and advocating for sustainable school meals.
Together, we are serving as a beacon of hope to children and their families, not only addressing immediate needs but also contributing to the resilience of communities affected by the global food crisis.
World Vision has a proven track record of implementing large-scale school meal programmes and is currently providing school meals to nearly 1 million [1] children in twenty countries across seven regions. Out of these, more than 70% are humanitarian settings linked to either a complex emergency or a natural hazard, where World Vision is reaching a total of approximately 740,000 children. We can tailor our intervention to suit the specific needs of each humanitarian and emergency context so that school meals can provide a powerful lifeline to children in need.
[1] Data covering October to May 2025.
1 million
70%
20
Our approach
World Vision particularly excels in working across the Humanitarian-Development-Peace (HDP) nexus; by integrating emergency relief, long-term development, and peacebuilding efforts, our school meals programmes not only offer immediate nutritional support but also contribute to the stability and resilience of communities. We also have deep technical expertise in implementing integrated and multi-sectoral school meals programmes. Our approach combines multiple sectors to create a holistic support system for vulnerable children.
Children will lead us. Let's listen to their voices:
Our Engagement
World Vision's holistic approach to School Meals is a proven success, integrating Education, Nutrition, Health, WASH, Livelihoods, Gender, PSEA, and Child Protection to support vulnerable children. We collaborate with governments and partners, including the World Food Programme (WFP), McGovern-Dole Food for Education, and Education Cannot Wait, to ensure the successful delivery of school meals to the most vulnerable children, supporting them and their communities.
Working in collaboration with key partners, we are proving that school meals are more than just a humanitarian response; they are a scalable, sustainable, and transformative intervention. As an example, by partnering with national governments, World Vision provides technical support and shares best practices to ensure the sustainability of these programmes. World Vision school meals initiatives not only improve access to nutritious food but also enhance learning outcomes, stabilise attendance rates, strengthen market systems and support household food security.
Partnership with School Meals Coalition
As a key partner in the School Meals Coalition, we are actively shaping the global agenda for school meals programming, focusing on building strong safety nets for vulnerable children across the Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus.
The School Meals Coalition is a global initiative addressing child hunger through comprehensive school meal programmes led by over 100 governments and supported by over 140 partners, with WFP as secretariat. World Vision plays a pivotal role in mobilising other CSOs to collaborate effectively with the Coalition.
Partnership with World Food Programme (WFP) on School Meals
In line with the World Food Programme’s ten-year school feeding strategy, World Vision firmly believes in the value of partnering so that every school child can have a real chance to thrive and fulfil their potential in life. World Vision has been one of WFP’s largest international non-governmental partners for over 30 years. The partnership between World Vision and WFP extends beyond food and cash assistance to include school meals, nutrition programmes, and initiatives that advance financial inclusion and resilience-building for communities in fragile contexts.
For over 30 years, World Vision and WFP have partnered around a shared vision for a hunger-free world for the world’s most vulnerable children, families and communities. This longstanding partnership focuses on delivering life-saving assistance to crisis-affected populations and promoting long-term transformation.
World Vision strengthens strategic collaboration on school meals
World Vision recently participated in a two-day strategic engagement meeting with the School Meals Coalition Secretariat, hosted by the World Food Programme (WFP) in Rome, Italy. During the meeting, World Vision’s leadership in advancing school meals initiatives was recognised—particularly its efforts to mobilise civil society organisations (CSOs) to work collaboratively with the Coalition.
The organisations aligned on key opportunities for strategic engagement at several global events this year, including:
- UN Food Systems Summit – Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, July 2025
- Global School Meals Summit – Fortaleza, Brazil, 18–19 September 2025
- COP30 – Belém, Brazil, 10–21 November 2025
These events will serve as critical platforms to advocate for inclusive, sustainable school meals programmes that support children's health, education, and well-being worldwide.
Recent videos
School Meals Director, Mary Njeri, looks at how school meals can transform the lives of children around the world.
The Connection between School Meals and Climate
School meals have the potential to transform lives and create a ripple effect across communities.
School Meals – A Lifeline for Hungry Children
Cambodia | Daily School Breakfast
Working with UN partners, donors, governments, local communities and other NGOs/CSOs, World Vision aims to assure access to nutritious food for school-aged children by:
- Contributing to the improvement of primary school enrolment, stabilisation of attendance rates, and reduction of afternoon absenteeism.
- To improve children's capacity to concentrate and assimilate information by relieving short-term hunger.
- Improvement in nutritional status, especially for the most vulnerable children who may not have access to an adequate balanced diet and meals.
- To reduce the stress on household livelihoods and increase food availability for other household members.
Thought leadership
Learn more about school meals
