Nepal has made impressive strides in expanding access to education, and classrooms across the country are filled with students eager to learn and succeed. Yet many schools still face everyday challenges that can influence how well children are able to focus and participate. One practical way to strengthen learning environments is to ensure that students have access to regular, nutritious meals during the school day. With this in mind, Finland-together with Norway-has joined the Renewable Energy for Resilient Agri‑food Systems (RERAS) initiative, implemented by UNDP in cooperation with the World Food Programme (WFP) and local governments. Through RERAS, clean energy solutions for school kitchens, climate‑resilient agriculture, and stronger links between farmer cooperatives and schools in Karnali and Sudurpashchim are being promoted. Finland's support focuses particularly on the school feeding component, aligning with Nepal's Home‑Grown School Feeding priorities and helping ensure that children receive regular, nutritious meals that fuel both their wellbeing and their learning.
Through this partnership, Finland stands firmly behind Nepal's ambition to build a strong foundation for learning and human development-one meal, one child, and one community at a time.
A lesson from Finland's own history
Finland's engagement in school feeding is not theoretical. It is grounded in national experience.
In the late 19th century, Finland was among the poorest countries in Europe. Repeated crop failures and famines culminated in a devastating crisis that claimed roughly 8% of the population, leaving families facing acute malnutrition. Children frequently worked long hours in fields or factories, and many had limited or no access to schooling.
When Finland gained independence in 1917, early leaders understood that national progress required educated citizens. But they soon confronted a simple truth: hungry children cannot learn properly. The solution was bold for its time. In the 1940's Finland became the first country in the world to guarantee free school meals universally to all children. This laid the cornerstone of the Finnish welfare state. This decision equalized opportunities across urban and rural areas, supported working families, improved child nutrition, and ultimately contributed to Finland's rise as one of the world's best-performing education systems.
School feeding in today's global context
While Finland's journey shows what sustained investment in school meals can achieve, many countries still face enormous challenges. School attendance has increased significantly in recent decades, yet a global learning crisis persists: millions of children in low‑ and middle‑income countries could not read or write a simple sentence despite being enrolled in school. The situation was drastically worsened by COVID-19 school closures, leading to huge learning gaps and pushing many out of school entirely.
Compounding this crisis, climate change, economic shocks, and conflicts have intensified food insecurity worldwide. Children are always the first and hardest hit. Without reliable access to nutritious food, educational systems struggle to deliver meaningful results.
Against this backdrop, school meals remain one of the most cost‑effective, evidence‑based solutions to improve learning outcomes, child health, and social equity. Free school meals also build equity between the children by ensuring that all children have access to nutritious food, regardless economic background. Well-functional school meal programmes are also educating children about healthy diets, based on local production.
Recognizing this impact, Finland helped found the School Meals Coalition in 2021. Today, it brings together over 100 countries and 108 partner organizations, all united by the goal that every child should receive a nutritious school meal every day by 2030. The Coalition encourages countries to scale solutions, share innovations, and strengthen national school meal systems as part of long‑term education and social protection strategies.
Investing in Nepal's children and communities
In Nepal, the case for expanding school feeding is strong and urgent. Nutritious meals help children stay in school, improve concentration, and enhance learning outcomes-benefits that are especially vital in remote or food‑insecure regions. But the gains extend beyond the classroom. When schools purchase ingredients from local farmers, they stimulate rural economies, diversify local diets, and strengthen resilience against supply disruptions.
Through RERAS, Finland aims to make school meals a durable pillar of Nepal's education and nutrition strategy. The project's clean‑energy focus ensures that school kitchens become safer and more sustainable, while its links to farmer cooperatives help communities build secure, locally rooted food supply chains. These efforts reinforce one another in practical, measurable ways: healthier children, stronger livelihoods, and greener, more resilient systems.
RERAS also aligns closely with Finland's wider engagement in Nepal's education sector. Finland continues to support the Government of Nepal's School Education Sector Plan, including its Mid‑Day Meal Programme, which seeks to reduce disparities and improve learning outcomes nationwide. At the same time, Finland, the EU, and Nepal collaborate through the Local Adaptation to Climate Change (LACC) project, which will work closely with RERAS in Karnali and Sudurpashchim to strengthen local governance and build resilience to climate impacts. Together, these initiatives promote an integrated approach to climate action, education, and inclusive development-an approach that recognizes that children's wellbeing and community resilience are deeply interconnected.
We are proud to start this new partnership through RERAS in Nepal, working hand in hand with local communities and partners. For Finland, this is more than a project, it is a commitment to children's futures and a shared vision of a world where no child learns on an empty stomach.
Puhakka is the Ambassador of Finland to Nepal
