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The Beginning of a Movement
Fighting Classroom Hunger

It all started with a Harvard Business Review case study on combating hunger in Indian classrooms. The Akshaya Patra Foundation was leading the fight with mid-day meals for schoolchildren, earning recognition for its impactful work.

Pakistan’s children face similar struggles—malnutrition, poverty, and lack of opportunities. Could Pakistan’s privileged step up? The answer was yes. This thought led to the formation of the Fortify Education Foundation (FEF).

With seed funding, FEF launched the School Meal Program (SMP) in February 2020 at Pasban-e-Millat School, Orangi Town, Karachi, serving over 260 underprivileged children. As the program took off, friends and families contributed, and more supporters joined.

What began as a small effort soon became a growing movement—one that continues to expand, with a vision to reach every disadvantaged schoolchild across Pakistan.

School Meal Program (SMP) What is SMP ?

The School Meal Program (SMP) is the raison d’être for FEF. Everything that we are presently doing or will do in the future under our banner will be built upon the foundation of our SMP. Through this program we provide freshly cooked nutritious meals to children in schools on every school day. Our overarching aim is to improve the cognitive and physical health of the children. Some of the benefits of the SMP are:

  • Reducing malnutrition among children in schools
  • Prevention of classroom hunger
  • Increase in enrolment in schools
  • Increase in attendance in schools

Our program started in February 2020 at Pasban-e-millat school located in Orangi Town, Karachi. At the time there were 260 children attending the school.

In developing our School Meal Program, we studied Pakistan’s Dietary Guidelines for Better Nutrition which were developed by WHO (World Health Organization) and the Government of Pakistan in May 2018. At the same time, we also looked at similar programs in other parts of the world. In determining the meal menu, we had to consider the local dietary habits of the children in our target ages and of course cost of the meal had a significant impact in deciding what to deliver. As we move forward, we will continue to tweak the meal menus to improve its nutritional value and the cost of the meal.

RISING TO THE OCCASION – Covid 19 Relief Work

Soon after our School Meal Program (SMP) was started on 4th of February 2020 we were hit by the novel Coronavirus. Though it had raised its ugly head sometime in late 2019 in China we, in Pakistan, got the first wave sometime in early part of 2020. As a result, the schools were shut down on 27th of February. The businesses were also shut down and the entire city of Karachi was locked down. The daily wage earners were most adversely affected as there was no work for them and without work they were down on their knees. The school, Pasban-e-millat, where we started our SMP is located in Orangi, which is located in the metropolitan of Karachi is the largest slum in the world where the population is severely disadvantaged in terms of their income levels and their living conditions.

The impact of this sudden calamity on the families living around the adjoining school areas was unprecedented. A number of organizations and individuals sprung into action to help the affected. We, at FEF, decided to respond in whatever way we could. We put together 15-day ration packs for a family of 5 that included the basic food necessary for survival, viz, rice, flour, cooking oil, tea, and sugar. These packages were delivered to 600 families

Testimonial

Our school is located in an economically underprivileged area of Orangi. We have been in operation for the last 20 years. In February of 2020, FEF (Fortify Education Foundation) started their School Meal Program at our school. This program endeavors to provide nutrition to the children in schools through freshly prepared meals every single school day. We are grateful to FEF for initiating their program from our school as this is the only school in the area where lunch is being provided. We feel that because of this program the enrollment in our school has increased from 250 students when the program was started to 290 students today. FEF has also constructed a kitchen for this purpose at our school where the space was provided by us. We are proud to be part of this program. FEF plans to expand the program to other schools in the area by providing meals cooked at the kitchen in our school. We hope that the school meal program is continued and we will continue to be part of it in its expansion to other schools.

Our school is located in an economically underprivileged area of Orangi. We have been in operation for the last 20 years. In February of 2020, FEF (Fortify Education Foundation) started their School Meal Program at our school. This program endeavors to provide nutrition to the children in schools through freshly prepared meals every single school day. We are grateful to FEF for initiating their program from our school as this is the only school in the area where lunch is being provided. We feel that because of this program the enrollment in our school has increased from 250 students when the program was started to 290 students today. FEF has also constructed a kitchen for this purpose at our school where the space was provided by us. We are proud to be part of this program. FEF plans to expand the program to other schools in the area by providing meals cooked at the kitchen in our school. We hope that the school meal program is continued and we will continue to be part of it in its expansion to other schools.

Our school is located in an economically underprivileged area of Orangi. We have been in operation for the last 20 years. In February of 2020, FEF (Fortify Education Foundation) started their School Meal Program at our school. This program endeavors to provide nutrition to the children in schools through freshly prepared meals every single school day. We are grateful to FEF for initiating their program from our school as this is the only school in the area where lunch is being provided. We feel that because of this program the enrollment in our school has increased from 250 students when the program was started to 290 students today. FEF has also constructed a kitchen for this purpose at our school where the space was provided by us. We are proud to be part of this program. FEF plans to expand the program to other schools in the area by providing meals cooked at the kitchen in our school. We hope that the school meal program is continued and we will continue to be part of it in its expansion to other schools.

Our school is located in an economically underprivileged area of Orangi. We have been in operation for the last 20 years. In February of 2020, FEF (Fortify Education Foundation) started their School Meal Program at our school. This program endeavors to provide nutrition to the children in schools through freshly prepared meals every single school day. We are grateful to FEF for initiating their program from our school as this is the only school in the area where lunch is being provided. We feel that because of this program the enrollment in our school has increased from 250 students when the program was started to 290 students today. FEF has also constructed a kitchen for this purpose at our school where the space was provided by us. We are proud to be part of this program. FEF plans to expand the program to other schools in the area by providing meals cooked at the kitchen in our school. We hope that the school meal program is continued and we will continue to be part of it in its expansion to other schools.

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