Providing school lunches to kids in Mozambique

Addressing a fundamental child need

Every school day, MSLI is serving nutritious meals to 12,969 students! It seems like a basic thing, but it makes a huge difference for kids who don't have much to eat at home and often go to school hungry. With the school meals program, we've seen attendance soar above 98% - when there's food, the children will come! MSLI's dedicated team works hard each day to manage all of the logistics of ensuring schools have quality food and are preparing it on time every day. Seeing those smiles at lunch time is our biggest motivation.

School gardens enhance the nutrition of school lunches even more!

This year, MSLI has piloted a new initiative to support schools to set up school gardens to produce vegetables that can be incorporated in the school lunches – making the meals more delicious and nutritious! MSLI started out by selecting six schools in Mabalane District with good access to a water source. This is important, because in this arid region, many communities struggle with having enough water, even for cooking, and so it was critical to start with schools that had access to water that they’d be able to use for irrigating the vegetable gardens. At each school, there is a teacher responsible for looking after the garden, with the help of the parent teacher association. In May, the first seeds were sown – carrots, kale, beets, and onions, all of which can easily be cooked into a bean stew. Three months later, the students were enjoying fresh veggies in their meals! The plan is for schools to harvest vegetables gradually over the next 2-3 months, boosting the nutrition of the school meals. Some vegetables, like kale, regrow after being cut, allowing multiple harvests. It cost MSLI just $78 to cover the start-up costs for each school garden, and the production is expected to far exceed this!

Your support makes this happen!

It is thanks to the trust and generosity of people like you that enables the Mozambique School Lunch Initiative to reach children in need with nutritious food. Your donation goes a long ways in Mozambique, and makes a big difference in the lives of these kids, who often depend on the meals to attend school. Thank you!

Dear MSLI supporters,

Thank you!

This year, MSLI is serving meals to 12,969 students every day! This includes children at our 14 preschools - 12 of which were newly opened this year. Childhood is a critical and unique window of opportunity to shape a child's life and put them on a better trajectory. It is the best time to make an investment in their future. MSLI sees this first-hand in Mozambique every single day, and we take it to heart. That is why MSLI takes a holistic approach to improving children's nutrition and education at each stage of a child's life cycle.

Big kitchens for lots of students! MSLI serves schools of all different sizes, ranging from 19 students to 1,275 students! Our community approach means that we adapt to the school size, while always ensuring high-quality meals for all the students. At the big schools, it's quite an operation - with over 50 kg of dry beans needed every day!

The difference a meal makes - bringing kids back to school. In Mabalane District (where MSLI serves 41 primary schools), we have seen significant impacts of the school lunch program on student enrollment and attendance. While the official age to start the first grade in Mozambique is 6 years, in some communities, this does not happen. This year, we have documented a surge of children ages 7, 8, and even 9 years of age who are now enrolling in the first grade, thanks to the incentive of the school lunch program. We are also seeing many children who had dropped out of school in the 3rd, 4th and 5th grades, who are now re-enrolling in school. These are often the most vulnerable kids, who struggled to learn on an empty stomach. But with a big meal at school each day, they now have the energy to study again. And not only are children re-enrolling, attendance rates are over 99% - largely thanks to the school lunch program.

Betting big on beans! Beans are the chief source of protein for many of the meals served in MSLI's school lunch program. This year alone, MSLI will need to buy over 127,000 pounds of beans to supply the school lunch program! Finding that many beans to buy is not easy, so MSLI has decided to go to the source - local farmers. MSLI is supporting farmers to buy the quality seeds needed to expand their bean production. At the end of the season, farmers agree to sell 90% of their production to MSLI, a true win-win -- supporting the local economy and providing enough beans for our growing school lunch program.

Your support matters, and makes a BIG difference! We have the opportunity to change the trajectory of these children's lives through better nutrition and education in their critical years, and the clock does not stop even when the external conditions change or become more challenging. That's why MSLI is more committed than ever to investing in children, as they are truly the path to a better future in Mozambique. Thank you for your kind and generous support!