subject: Eradicate Hunger, Promote Education - one child at a time [print this page] Eradicate Hunger, Promote Education - one child at a time
The Akshaya Patra Foundation is an organization with the vision that no child shall be deprived of education because of hunger. Akshaya Patra is one of the world's largest NGO-run midday meal programs, feeding 1.2 million children each day in over 7,000 schools through 19 kitchens in eight states in India. A public-private partnership, Akshaya Patra combines good management, innovative technology and smart engineering to deliver school lunch at a fraction of the cost of similar programs in other parts of the world. It costs $28 to feed a child daily for the entire school year. With an average government subsidy of 50 percent, $28 feeds two children. This meal gives these children an incentive to come to school, stay in school and provides them with the necessary nutrients they need to develop their cognitive abilities to focus on learning. The organization also sources its food stocks from local markets, thereby reducing costs associated with transportation and food spoilage while supporting the local economy.
In a short time, the foundation has grown to become the largest, and certainly most innovative, school lunch program in the world. Akshaya Patra is a great example of what can be accomplished when the public sector, private sector and civic society collaborate-- a cost effective, scalable solution with high quality service delivery. After reaching its goal of feeding one million children each school day, Akshaya Patra's next milestone is to serve 5 million children daily by 2020. For more information,
