Akshay Patra
Organization background

Since 2000, Akshaya Patra has been working in a public-private partnership with the Government of India to provide mid-day meals to children in public schools. The organization started by serving 1500 meals to a small group of schools, but has since scaled to serve over 1.8 million children, in over 19,000 government schools daily. They also provide breakfast and meals to pregnant and lactating mothers, and children in the age group 0-5 years. In 2006, Akshaya Patra Foundation USA (AP USA), a 501c3 public charity, was formed to support the parent organization in India.

Project Background

For many struggling families in India, educating their children is a luxury they cannot afford, and children often drop out of school to help their family with domestic work, or get jobs to help put food on their family's table. As a result, India has the highest number of child laborers and malnourished childern in the world, with 60 million children not attending school but working. As a way to incentivize children to come to school, the Indian government started a mid-day meal scheme in government schools. The role of Akshay Patra is to work with the government to implement this scheme. It is a public-private partnership that combines good management, innovative technology and smart engineering to prepare and deliver a fresh meal at a very low cost. In addition to receiving funding from the government, AP also solicits funding from the public that allows them to supplement the quality of the meal.

Akshaya Patra Kitchens are the largest semi-automated kitchens in the world with capabilities of producing 100,000 to 185,000 meals (in the larger ones) in just 5 hours. These 100,000+ meals are then distributed by their customized vans ("Meals on Wheels") to government schools within a 45-60 kilometers radius of the kitchen. The net result of this efficient centralized production/distribution model is that the cost of the meal is just 12 cents. The Government of India provides support to the extent of 7 cents per meal, with the remaining 5 cents being picked up by donors. Hence the cost of providing mid-day meal to a child for a year works out to just $15.

During the pandemic in 2020, since schools are closed, providing children with nutrition has become even more important as children now don't have access to the mid-day meals in schools. In response, AP created The Happiness Box program for children aged 3-6 years. The box contains nutrient-rich ingredients such as glucose biscuits, toor dal and double fortified salt — children pick up these boxes and take them home, thus ensuring some minimum level of nutrition for themselves and their families.

GKF contributions to AP