Japan and WFP strengthen health and education in Somalia

The contribution will enable WFP to provide home-grown school meals through value vouchers, allowing schools to procure a variety of foods such as cereals, fresh produce and animal protein from local retailers and farmer cooperatives — boosting livelihoods and local markets while improving children’s nutrition.

“School meals keep children in school, even during crises. In 2025, retention rates in WFP-supported schools reached 98 percent, and amid the current hunger emergency, these meals are often the only reliable source of food for thousands,” said Hameed Nuru, WFP’s Representative and Country Director in Somalia. “With Japan’s support, children in Somalia continue to receive the nutrition they need to learn and thrive, and we are deeply grateful for this commitment.”

One in three Somalis, or an estimated six million people, faces crisis-level hunger or worse (IPC3+). Nearly two million face emergency hunger (IPC4), as drought, insecurity, falling humanitarian funding, and the ripple effects of the conflict in the Middle East deepen the crisis. 

Funding shortfalls have cut WFP’s school meals coverage from a high of nearly 200,000 students in 2023, to just over 120,000 today, as more than 4.5 million children remain out of school. 

The Government of Japan has been a steadfast partner of WFP in Somalia, contributing USD 37 million since 2021 to support emergency relief, nutrition, school meals and livelihoods initiatives across the country.

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The United Nations World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian organization saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.

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