Preschool boys eat lunch after class. Bartolome de las Casas preschool in Matagalpa, Nicaragua.
Washington D.C/Paris, March 27, 2025 – As the Nutrition for Growth Summit kicks off in Paris, the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) reaffirms its recent commitment of US$3 million to expand school nutrition programs in low-income countries, reinforcing its commitment to ensuring children have the food they need to learn and thrive.
“Children cannot learn on an empty stomach. Investing in school meals is one of the smartest ways to improve education outcomes and create future opportunities,” said Laura Frigenti, CEO of the Global Partnership for Education. “This funding will help more governments expand school nutrition programs, ensuring more children have a fair chance to succeed.”
Every day, 73 million children in low-income countries arrive at school hungry. Globally, one in four children under the age of five suffers from stunted growth and development due to undernutrition, severely impacting their ability to learn, thrive, and build a secure future.
Despite clear evidence showing that nutritious school meals boost attendance, learning outcomes, and overall well-being, international funding for school feeding programs has declined sharply since 2020—even as food insecurity deepens globally.
The additional US$3 million committed by GPE to expand sustainable, government-led school nutrition initiatives, builds on over US$60 million invested in health and nutrition since 2021.
In 2024 alone, GPE supported 23 active grants totaling $29 million for school feeding and nutrition programs. Additionally, during the COVID-19 pandemic, GPE provided $8 million in emergency funding to mitigate disruptions to school meals in 22 partner countries.
With this new funding, GPE is stepping up efforts to help countries integrate school nutrition into education plans, ensuring that hunger is no longer a barrier to learning.
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About the Global Partnership for Education
GPE is a shared commitment to end the world’s learning crisis. It is the only global partnership and fund dedicated entirely to helping children in lower-income countries get a quality education, so they can unlock their potential and contribute to building a better world.
Media contact
- Tamara Kummer, Head of Communications, tkummer@globalpartnership.org, + 33 7 82 26 07 18
Preschool boys eat lunch after class. Bartolome de las Casas preschool in Matagalpa, Nicaragua.