A partnership between the World Food Programme, the Ministry of National Education, and the LCIF Lions Clubs International Foundation was officially launched in Ambatomirahavavy. Starting from the 2026-2027 school year, eleven thousand students from twenty-eight schools in the Itasy region will benefit daily from nutritious school meals, thanks to a partnership between the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Lions Clubs International Foundation (LCIF). The official launch took place at the Ambohidranomanga Public Primary School in the commune of Ambatomirahavavy.

While the WFP ensures logistical coordination and the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty supports the local supply model, it is the members of Lions Clubs in District 417 — of which Madagascar is part — who will ensure close monitoring of schools, with complementary actions.

New Commitment

"Behind the figures and behind the institutions we represent, there are above all children (...). For a child to learn well, they also need to eat well," declared the Governor of District 417, Lion CMJp Stefan Andrianisa, hailing a synergy between the financial power of LCIF and the on-the-ground action of Lions, in the spirit of the 2026-2027 mandate motto: "Acting Together for a Common Heritage."

This launch marks the beginning of a new three-year joint WFP-LCIF commitment, endowed with 12 million dollars (two million per year per organization), following a pilot project that had fed more than 653,000 children in four countries. At the national level, the local school feeding model already supports 243,000 children in 673 schools.