Malawi

Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world, with a staggering 70% of the population earning below the International Poverty Line of $2.15 a day. Malawi has consistently high levels of food insecurity and the population is increasingly vulnerable to the effects of climate change.   

Malawi faces huge challenges in education, access to healthcare and widespread child malnutrition – 39% of children under five have stunted growth. As families struggle to find enough food to eat, survival takes priority over education. Almost half (45.9%) of primary school- age children drop out of school early.  

The UN estimates that around half of the populations of the Central and Southern regions of Malawi have insufficient food intake. 

Mary's Meals in Malawi 

Mary’s Meals has been serving school meals in Malawi since 2002, when our founder met a 14-year-old boy who told him: “I want to have enough food to eat and to be able to go to school one day.” It is where Mary’s Meals began our work by feeding just 200 children. 

Malawi is our largest programme – serving more than 1 million children every school day – and is delivered by Mary’s Meals Malawi alongside a local partner, MCSPA, who we began working with in 2020. The programme is able to reach so many children because of tens of thousands of volunteers from local communities who give their time freely to prepare and serve our nutritious meals.

The majority of schools receiving Mary’s Meals are in the Southern region, with large numbers also supported in both the Central and Northern regions of Malawi. We also reach pre-school age children in nurseries, who are most vulnerable to the effects of malnutrition. We operate out of Blantyre in southern Malawi, and have more than 100 employees who manage, deliver and monitor our programme.