Zhakata Primary School, Murewa District, Mashonaland East Province, Zimbabwe.
On the Day of the African Child, this year dedicated to universal access to water, the global charity Mary’s Meals highlights the essential role of water and sanitation within its school feeding programmes and remembers the sacrifice made by thousands of African students 50 years ago in defence of their right to quality education.
On 16 June 1976, thousands of students were killed in Soweto, South Africa, while protesting for their right to fair and quality education. Today, 50 years after this tragic event, Mary’s Meals marks this Day of the African Child while providing school meals to more than 2,654,000 children in 10 countries across the continent – encouraging children into the classroom and supporting their readiness to learn.
Day of the African Child, established by the African Union in 1991, is not only a commemoration but also a call to action and a moment of reflection on the rights of African children, with a particular focus on education and a different theme highlighted each year.
This year, the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child has chosen the theme: “Ensuring universal access to water, sanitation and hygiene for every child in Africa.”[1]
Mary’s Meals provides daily nutritious school meals to more than 3 million children in 16 countries worldwide. The vast majority of these children are in sub-Saharan Africa, although the organisation also operates in Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. Its work encourages children experiencing extreme poverty and hunger to attend school or an informal place of learning, something that would not be possible without access to safe and reliable water sources.
Education is a fundamental right of every child, as is clean and safe water. Research shows that reliable daily meals served in school help to reduce hunger, increase energy, increase enrolment and attendance, and enable children to concentrate better in class. However, lack of water can still be a barrier to schooling, as illustrated by Nyawa, a pupil at Nkhuzyeni Primary School in Zambia. Nyawa lives close to her school but must fetch water and complete household chores before attending classes.
“I go with my friends to fetch water, never alone. There are bushes and thick vegetation along the way, and there are risks from both from people and animals,” she says. “I want to complete my education to have a better life. I’d like to train as a nurse. I like my teachers, my friends, and I really like Mary’s Meals porridge,” she adds.
In Madagascar, families whose children receive daily meals in school report that the re-enforcing of good handwashing and hygiene habits as part of the Mary’s Meals programme is having a notable impact at home.
A safe water supply is an essential element of a successful school feeding programme and while water projects is not a specific focus of Mary’s Meals’ work, some of its delivery partners run complementary water projects alongside the school feeding programme.
“Our school feeding officers live in the communities and see the community day-to-day, which helps our understanding of the problems they face. This provides a strong foundation for our other work, such as addressing the need for clean drinking water.
One of our programmes focuses on providing clean water through boreholes and hand pumps, and we are now prioritising schools involved in the school feeding programme for these interventions,” says Samantha Cameron, Programme Coordinator for one of Mary’s Meals’ partners in Madagascar.
According to the latest UNESCO data, approximately 118 million children, adolescents and young people in Africa are currently out of school.[2] In 2025, Mary’s Meals reached more than 638,000 additional children, supporting over 1,280 schools across its school feeding programmes in Africa.
To mark this important day and respond to the 2026 call to action, Mary’s Meals urges people from all backgrounds to offer support to help expand its programmes across Africa and contribute to a brighter future for millions of children.
