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Power Lunch: India's Mid-Day Meal Program

India's midday meal program is the largest free lunch school program in the world. It feeds 120 million schoolchildren and employs 2 million women.

“Power Lunch” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUK0RCkbqFY&feature=youtu.be) is a lively and colorful animation that focuses on the program's impact on school attendance and the employment opportunities made available to poor or marginalized women who serve as cooks. The animation also shows how the program has reduced discrimination by allowing children of different castes to eat together. Please take a look!

This animation is based on the reporting of Rhitu Chatterjee. Rhitu traveled to India to do several stories on India’s school lunch program that were featured on PRI's The World and most recently on NPR’s Goats and Soda. Rhitu exposes some of the program's shortcomings but concludes that despite its shortcomings India’s Mid-Day Meal program reduces hunger, helps keep kids in school, and creates jobs. To read more, visit http://pulitzercenter.org/projects/asia-india-midday-meal-program-corrup....

“Power Lunch” was produced by Mathilde Dratwa for the Pulitzer Center with animation by Lisa LaBracio—I also worked on the project as an editorial consultant (and very much enjoyed the process). I found Rhitu's storytelling and radio reporting impressive and powerful—it was also wonderful to see an added dimension and another form of storytelling—I love the colors and patterns in the clothes and carpets, the buzzing bees, and the eyes that blink.

I first became aware of the power of school lunch programs while traveling to Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Don Bosco Ngangi center is now a large complex that serves more than 3,000 needy children and offers schooling, vocational training, daycare, and a home for babies with HIV/AIDS. When it first opened the students often fell asleep. Pascal Kyksa, who grew up in Goma and works at the center, explained that the cause was hunger: “Before they could learn they needed to be fed.” The center started providing a midday meal, and students paid more attention in class. The number of students also grew, so did the quantities of porridge.

Kitchen equipment comes in the giant-size variety. A vat designed in Italy holds 800 liters of beans. The chef stirs the beans with a spoon that looks more like an oar. Later he divides the food, corn mush, beans, and cassava into pails—one for each class. The storeroom holds large quantities of food, but supplies go quickly when there are more than 3,000 mouths to feed. Every month the staff worries about what will happen when the food is depleted; they have been fortunate—new donations trickle in and the cupboards are replenished.

“Without a midday meal, the children would not eat,” said Monica Corna, a volunteer who has lived and worked at the center for 11 years. When 65 students were surveyed, it was found that only 18 ate an evening meal at home.

India and the DRC are not the only countries that provide a free mid-day meal. Brazil, Chile, Namibia and Malawi are also exploring health benefits, the impact on school attendance, and benefits to local farmers of school feeding programs.