The Akshaya Patra Foundation Joins Forces with Food4Education as ‘Knowledge Partner’ to Expand School Feeding Initiatives Across Kenya
Global Collaboration Towards Contribution to Educational Empowerment
Bangalore/Nairobi – 26 November 2024: The Akshaya Patra Foundation, the world’s Largest School-Meal Programme; a not-for-profit organisation and an implementation partner of the PM POSHAN programme based in Bangalore, India and Food4Education, a Kenya-based non-profit mainstreaming school feeding programs across Africa, have entered into a transformative partnership. Signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) last week, wherein The Akshaya Patra Foundation goes global by becoming the official ‘Knowledge Partner’ for Kenya’s Food4Education. The two organizations set out to accelerate global efforts toward food security and educational empowerment, marking a significant step in addressing one of the most pressing challenges faced by school children worldwide: access to nutritious meals.
Food4Education and Akshaya Patra share a unified vision of delivering school feeding at scale in their respective continents. Together, they currently feed nearly 3 million children in India and Africa daily. With their planned expansions, this number is projected to double to 6 million by 2030.
The partnership will focus on two key pillars:
- Knowledge Transfer for Enhanced Operations and Outcomes:
Leveraging Akshaya Patra’s expertise in large-scale kitchen operations, technology, safety, and logistics, the collaboration will enable Food4Education to optimize processes for efficient meal delivery as the organisation scales across Africa.
By sharing best practices, the partnership aims to improve educational and health outcomes, directly contributing to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly Zero Hunger (SDG 2) and Quality Education (SDG 4).
- Building Sustainable Systems:
Both organizations are committed to environmentally responsible practices, such as waste reduction, renewable energy integration, and innovative meal preparation and delivery methods.
These efforts aim to ensure long-term benefits for communities while supporting global initiatives for a greener future.
The initiative will also facilitate immersive exchanges between team members, fostering mutual learning and driving innovation in school feeding programs.
“This partnership is more than just bilateral cooperation; it serves as a transformational model for international collaboration in school feeding, showcasing how locally-rooted strategies can influence international policies on child nutrition,” said Wawira Njiru, Founder and CEO of Food4Education. “By highlighting the effectiveness of community-driven, scalable, and sustainable feeding initiatives, we hope to inspire further cross-border partnerships and initiatives, whether local, national or regional” she added.
Celebrating the occasion, Sri. Chanchalapathi Dasa, Co-Founder and Vice Chairman of The Akshaya Patra Foundation, stated, “As Akshaya Patra enters its 25th year in the service of children in partnership with the government, we feel both proud and humbled looking back at what we have achieved. Today, we add yet another chapter to our history as we collaborate with Food4Education and take a step towards expanding our mission to nourish and empower children globally. Both, Akshaya Patra and Food4Education have a firm belief in the transformative power of education as well as the power of a school meal to bring children to school. Food4Education is doing remarkable work in the school feeding space in Kenya under the able leadership of Ms. Wawira Njiru. By combining our expertise in school feeding programmes, we will be able to ensure that every child has the opportunity to thrive in a healthy and supportive environment.” He further added, “We are fortunate that today we find ourselves in a position where we can share our knowledge to serve children beyond India. The success of our initiatives is a result of the support of all our stakeholders— both central & state government bodies, corporate partners, donors and communities—whose unwavering support has been instrumental in our journey.”
Mr. Sridhar Venkat, CEO of The Akshaya Patra Foundation, said, “Our firm belief that every child should have equal access to nutrition has helped us to accelerate our initiatives for the past 24 years. As we commence our 25th year of service, we take the children of Kenya along with us in the spirit of partnership for future generations. We believe that when children are well educated, they are better equipped to navigate life’s biggest challenges. We have been providing children in India a nutritious, tasty mid-day meal as an incentive to come to school, thus securing their continued access to nutrition and education. We appreciate Ms. Wawira Njiru and her team’s commendable efforts to support the children of Kenya. Our partnership with Food4Education will give us the opportunity to work with them and serve the children in Kenya.”
The initiative builds upon Akshaya Patra’s milestone achievement of serving its 4 billionth meal earlier this year, a moment celebrated by Founder-Chairman Shri Madhu Pandit Dasa at the United Nations Assembly. His address underscored the ethos of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam—the world as one family—and called for international collaboration to nurture children worldwide.
Together, The Akshaya Patra Foundation and Food4Education aim to set a global benchmark in leveraging school meal programs to achieve widespread social impact, ensuring children everywhere have the opportunity to learn, grow, and thrive in a supportive environment.
For more information:
Food4Education mainstreams school feeding programmes (SFPs) across Africa by designing a blueprint, operating it, then supporting its replication. We are working every day to create a world where no child has to learn on an empty stomach, because we know that SFPs can solve classroom hunger and knock down barriers to learning.
We are champions of the school feeding revolution, with the aim of feeding one million children a day by 2027 and at least 2 million more children daily in two other African countries by 2030. We will not rest until we have created and scaled a uniquely African solution to a global challenge.
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About The Akshaya Patra Foundation (AP)
The Akshaya Patra Foundation is a not-for-profit organization that strives to address classroom hunger and malnutrition in India. By implementing the PM POSHAN Scheme in government and government-aided schools, Akshaya Patra aims to fight hunger and, at the same time, bring children to school. Since 2000, Akshaya Patra has worked towards reaching out to children with wholesome food every single school day. The Foundation is continuously leveraging technology to cater to millions of children. Its state-of-the-art kitchens have become a subject of study and attract curious visitors from around the world.
As an implementing partner of the PM POSHAN with support of the Government of India and various State Governments, Akshaya Patra has grown from humble beginnings serving just 1,500 school children across five schools to becoming one of the largest (not-for-profit run) school feeding programme, serving wholesome food to over 2.25 million children from 23,000+ schools across 16 states and 2 union territories in India.
For all press inquiries and requests for interviews, please contact Derrick Amoako:
E: F4E@aeqglobal.com; derrick@aeqglobal.com M: +44 (0) 7759764174
