Leading the Way

Photo: Elizabeth Whelan

World’s Largest NGO-run Mid-day Meal Program

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. The program started in 2000 by feeding 1,500 children from a temporary kitchen in Bangalore, India. Currently, we distribute freshly cooked, healthy meals daily to 1.3 million underprivileged children in 8,000 government schools through 19 kitchens in eight states in India.

It costs $15 to feed a child daily for the entire school year with government subsidy. For many of the children this is their only complete meal for the day. This gives them 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. In ten years, the foundation has grown to become one of the largest, and certainly most innovative, school lunch programs 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.

READ ABOUT OUR PHILOSOPHY OF FOOD AID

THE AKSHAYA PATRA FOUNDATION USA

Akshaya Patra Foundation US office was established in 2006, specifically to build a strong grassroots community and raise awareness and funds in the United States to support the program in India. The goal is to create a support base by educating and informing the public in the US and beyond about the challenges of malnutrition, hunger and lack of equitable access to education facing underserved children in India and sharing the proven track record and scalable solution that the program has to offer.

Akshaya Patra Foundation USA aims to facilitate relationships between the organization and the donor community in the US, facilitate developing a long-term plan for financial support and globally expand awareness of the organization, its school feeding model and the needs it addresses.