The World Food Programme (WFP) and the two Danish foundations Novo Nordisk Foundation (NNF) and Grundfos Foundation today announced the launch of the third phase scale up of their flagship school meals partnership, representing the largest private sector commitment to school feeding in WFP’s history.
The contribution will strengthen Home-Grown School Feeding models across Uganda, Kenya, and Ethiopia, connecting schools with local farmers, clean energy solutions, and food systems built to withstand climate shocks. The initiative will provide 366,000 children with nutritious, locally sourced meals, while creating stable and predictable markets for more than 57,500 smallholder farmers over the next 5 years.
“School meals are one of the best investments a government can make in a nation’s future — and the results speak for themselves,” said WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain. “We know school meals keep children learning. We know buying food locally strengthens livelihoods for farmers, as well as the markets and communities around them. And we know this can be done in ways that are good for people and good for the planet. This record contribution shows what is possible when partners come together.”
Foundation for lifelong health
The partnership is supported by a granting frame of up to USD 77.75M from the Novo Nordisk Foundation. Grundfos Foundation is contributing USD 3.1M to the partnership over a three-year period. The granting frame is split into three tranches, the last of which (USD 15.4M) is subject to the Novo Nordisk Foundation’s approval. This commitment represents a record-high contribution to WFP school meals from a private sector partner.
“Healthy diets in childhood are the foundation for lifelong health,” said Novo Nordisk Foundation CEO Professor Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen. “This partnership brings our existing commitment to supporting homegrown school feeding programmes in Eastern Africa to a new level.”
Phase III works across three areas: sourcing food from regenerative, locally grown agriculture; improving the nutritional quality of meals; and making school kitchens more climate friendly. Together they’re designed to get nutritious meals on the table now while helping governments fortify sustainable food systems that long outlast the partnership.
Resilient local food systems
“Safe and reliable water supply is essential for school feeding programmes: it enables local food production, preparation of safe and nutritious meals in schools, and strengthens communities’ ability to withstand climate shocks. By scaling up climate-smart, inclusive Home-Grown School Feeding programmes, WFP and partner countries can build resilient local food systems that deliver lasting benefits for both children in schools and smallholder farmers,” said Grundfos Foundation CEO Kim Nøhr Skibsted.
This is the third phase of a partnership that has been building since WFP and NNF first worked together in Rwanda and Uganda, before expanding to Kenya. Phase II is currently reaching 321,400 students in 375 schools across the region. Phase III takes that to Ethiopia for the first time.
The contribution also supports the School Meals Accelerator — a global initiative of the School Meals Coalition, designed to help governments with catalytic technical assistance to scale national school feeding systems and unlock improved meals for an additional 100 million children by 2030.
Nutrition-sensitive, locally sourced school meals
School meals are now recognized as both an educational intervention and a health, food systems and nutrition investment. Since 2020, global funding for school meals has nearly doubled — from USD 43 billion to USD 84 billion annually — with 99% financed through domestic budgets. Today, 466 million children receive school meals: 80 million more than just four years ago.
Yet many countries still struggle to secure sustainable financing or integrate school meals into national systems. The ambition of the Novo Nordisk Foundation, Grundfos Foundation and WFP is to demonstrate how nutrition-sensitive, locally sourced school meals can drive broader food systems change. If hundreds of millions of children can receive a nutritious, locally produced meal every day, this model can help shift entire food systems toward healthier diets, better nutrition, and reduced chronic disease.