A major international collaboration between the US based anti hunger organization Share Our Strength and India focused humanitarian groups is aiming to scale up school nutrition programs across India and several developing countries. The initiative is based on a shared belief among global leaders that child hunger is a solvable issue if governments, private organizations, and civil society work together in coordination.
The initiative was highlighted during a “Purposeful Private Dinner” held in Washington, where philanthropists, chefs, entrepreneurs, and social sector leaders gathered to explore solutions for reducing morning hunger among school going children. The event was jointly organized by Share Our Strength and One World One Family Mission, creating a platform for dialogue on large scale nutrition support systems.
Speaking at the gathering, Billy Shore, founder and executive chair of Share Our Strength, said the organization’s work in India has expanded significantly over recent years. He shared that around 600,000 children in India have already benefited from its programs, which have delivered an estimated 30 million meals. He added that the organization has moved beyond small scale funding to building broader partnerships through advocacy, food sector engagement, and institutional cooperation.
Shore explained that India was chosen as a key focus area because of its strong government supported school meal framework, a rapidly growing food and culinary ecosystem, and a strong economic environment that allows scalable social impact programs. These conditions, he noted, make India an important region for expanding nutrition initiatives.
The Washington meeting also included Sri Madhusudan Sai, founder of One World One Family Mission, along with Indian restaurant co founder Rahul Vinod and award winning chef Erik Bruner Yang. Sai emphasized that ending hunger requires collective responsibility, where governments, businesses, and individuals all contribute rather than relying on a single entity.
He described hunger and inequality as outcomes of human behavior and called for consistent “incremental good,” encouraging small but continuous improvements that build long term impact. He also urged stronger cooperation with Indian state governments to expand school meal coverage across regions.
One World One Family Mission currently runs integrated nutrition, healthcare, and education programs across 100 countries. Its Annapoorna Breakfast Programme provides free morning meals to over 10 million school children across India, covering more than 150,000 schools in 25 states and four union territories.
Share Our Strength, established in 1984 during the Ethiopian famine, is widely recognized in the United States for its No Kid Hungry campaign, which focuses on expanding access to school meals. The organization is now planning to launch a new international initiative called Strength Global to extend its impact beyond the United States.
The partnership reflects growing cooperation between India and the United States in the fields of philanthropy, nutrition, and social development, especially as child food insecurity continues to remain a global challenge despite economic progress in many regions.
