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This International Day of the African Child, Join Us in Promoting Education and Nutrition in Madagascar

on  June 16, 2021

Every year on June 16, we commemorate the International Day of the African Child. This day was made to remember the lives of the brave children who protested in Soweto, South Africa, seeking access to higher quality education. International Day of the African Child is a day of recognition for children in Africa, but also a day to inspire action toward addressing the challenges children in Africa face daily.Here at Rise Against Hunger, we know a child’s education is their shining light on their journey out of hunger. We also know that it starts with a meal.With children being among the most vulnerable populations in Southern Africa, Rise Against Hunger has partnered with the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) on the Southern Africa School Feeding Initiative (SASFI) to increase resilience among children and improve access to education through school feeding programs.One of the countries we serve in this initiative is Madagascar. Madagascar is among one of the most impoverished countries in the world, and has one of the highest rates of chronic malnutrition among children. Southern Madagascar is an even more vulnerable region, due to harsh environments and increasing food insecurity, continuing to drive up the rates of malnutrition and school dropouts among children there. With little rainfall and extreme temperatures, food scarcity has taken over the area, leaving vulnerable populations without access to basic needs.SASFI has distributed over 15 million Rise Against Hunger meals within 103 schools in the Ampanihy District, Atsimo-Andrefana Region of Southern Madagascar. These meals have nourished nearly 17,000 students!For students in Madagascar like 13-year-old Antoine (pictured above), these meals have provided him and his family with the nutrients they need during the lean season of the year when their income and harvest is depleted. Since receiving these meals, Antonine says he has “more attention and energy to be more awake during class” and he is no longer underweight. Moving up to second in his class, he’s on the way to reaching his dreams of becoming a politician one day.As a result of this program, school attendance rates for girls have increased from 87% to 98%, and attendance rates for boys have increased from 86% to 92%. Malnutrition rates have decreased as well.To continue our long-term sustainable solutions, we have established 39 school gardens that the students and staff have learned to tend to while also being able to eat the food they’ve grown.This project not only provides nourishment for the children of Southern Madagascar, but it also provides them with an education, which will empower them on their journey out of hunger and poverty.Let’s continue to lift up the children of Africa, today and every day, ensuring access to better education and a brighter future. Will you join us? Please give today in honor of the International Day of the African Child and support their journeys all year round.

About the Author

McKenzie Grimes is the Marketing Coordinator for Rise Against Hunger. She strives to empower volunteers worldwide and has a passion for sharing people’s stories.

More Posts by McKenzie Grimes

Strength, Stability And Hope

The gift that filled Nelly’s table.

“We were yielding very little, and the crops could not sustain us the whole year,” Nelly remembers. As a mother of seven and a farmer with two decades of experience, the stress of inconsistent yields was all-consuming. A poor harvest not only strained her family financially, but also limited their own meals to just two a day. Their story reflects that of many in their fishing and farming village near a lake in the Karonga district of northern Malawi. Here, heavy rainfall makes conventional farming methods nearly impossible. The entire village is, quite literally, saturated in food insecurity — a reality that leaves families struggling to survive season after season without a dependable source of nourishment.

In 2019, Nelly began participating in Harvesting Prosperity and Resilience, a sustainable agriculture project implemented by Rise Against Hunger in partnership with the Foundation for Community Support Services (FOCUS). The project works with 3,100 smallholder farmers in Malawi’s Karonga and Mzimba districts to strengthen food and nutrition security by improving production methods, nutrition practices and household income.

Just one year later, Nelly was ready to expand the variety of crops on her farm. What land once only produced maize began to flourish with sesame, cowpeas, rice and groundnuts during the rainy season (summer), as well as maize and vegetables during the dry season (winter). Through climate-smart agriculture training, she learned new techniques like manure making, pit planting and mulching, crop rotation and intercropping. Equipped with these tools, Nelly’s farm began to thrive.

After the 2023–2024 growing season, she sold enough produce to purchase an ox cart. Her harvests in 2024-2025 season yielded over 500 pounds of crops, including 22 bags of groundnuts, seven bags of maize, 12 tins of sesame and three bags of rice. With this surplus, she was able to invest in a motorbike, which she now uses to transport African doughnuts (mandasi) that she cooks and sells — creating yet another source of income for her family.

The transformation reaches far beyond her finances. Nelly now has the stability to provide for her husband and children. “I am able to eat different food types, pay school fees for my children and fulfill the visions that I have made with my family,” she beams. “I am now sleeping peacefully without any fears of food or paying school fees for the children.”

Her leadership has also grown. Today, Nelly serves as a leader in the Harvesting Prosperity and Resilience project, teaching other farmers in her district to adopt climate-resilient, labor-saving practices. By sharing her knowledge, she is multiplying her impact — empowering her neighbors to experience the same transformation she has achieved.

Across Nelly’s community, food and economic security are on the rise. Lombani, a government extension officer for the region, explains, “I can see the community is being transformed in the sense that in the area, there is food, income and nutrition security. Development is also happening at the household level.”

Nelly reflects on what it means to invest in holistic programs that address the root causes of hunger: “We are now healthy people. Children are going to school after eating their breakfast, having high yields and different types of crops due to conservation agriculture practices. With the support from the project, we have food, and we can access other food items from the market after selling our produce.”

This is the gift that fills: a future full of stability, strength and hope. It fills tables with food, families with security and communities with the resources to thrive. It’s an investment in futures rooted in resilience and hope.