Mary’s Meals report shows impact of school feeding programs

The latest Impact Report from Mary’s Meals, a global school feeding charity, highlights the effectiveness of providing nutritious daily meals to students in various regions. In 2025, the organization provided more than 400 million meals to over three million children across 6,400 schools in 16 countries.

In Tigray, Ethiopia, the program led to a significant reduction in hunger-related issues, with children reporting hunger at school dropping from 72 per cent to zero per cent. Additionally, the number of students leaving school early due to hunger fell from 68 per cent to zero per cent. In Malawi, Zambia, and Liberia, hunger levels were nearly halved.

The report also noted improvements in educational engagement. In areas where meals were introduced, student concentration rose from 40 per cent to 94 per cent, while teachers reported student focus increasing from 12 per cent to 97 per cent. The charity utilized over 28,600 metric tonnes of locally procured ingredients to support local economies.