【April Dream】 "Meals and Education for Every Child in Malawi"

Our organization supports "April Dream," an initiative that encourages people to share their dreams on April 1st. This press release represents the dream of the NPO "Seibo Japan."

We want to create a society where children in Malawi can sit in classrooms filled with "hope" rather than hunger. 2026 will be the year we evolve that hope into a sustainable system.

Beyond 3.4 million meals—Aiming to establish a "self-reliant school feeding model" in Malawi. NPO Seibo: Moving toward a sustainable model that simultaneously generates nutrition, education, and employment in 2026.

The Republic of Malawi, located in southeastern Africa, is one of the countries with the highest poverty rates in the world. Despite primary education being free, many children miss school or drop out due to hunger and malnutrition. It is reported that approximately 36% of children under the age of five suffer from stunted growth, and malnutrition has a significant impact on their future academic performance and employment opportunities.

NPO Seibo has been addressing this issue through "school lunches." In 2025, we provided 3,358,613 meals to approximately 20,000 children across 55 schools in Malawi.

Providing school lunches has led to an average annual attendance rate of 96%, and some schools have seen a significant improvement in pass rates for advancement exams, demonstrating tangible educational results. The school lunch is not just a bowl of porridge; it has become a "reason" for children to keep attending school.

In 2026, Seibo will take a step further. We will bring "Seibo Mills," a school lunch ingredient factory currently under construction in Malawi, into full operation to establish a system for local production of school lunch ingredients. This will significantly reduce raw material procurement costs (expected reduction of up to approximately 80%) and create a mechanism to generate operating funds by selling the surplus.

This is a transition to a "self-reliant school feeding model" that does not depend solely on donations. It will also lead to the creation of local jobs, simultaneously realizing educational support and the revitalization of the local economy.

On the other hand, the business environment is by no means easy. Rising global coffee prices, as well as increases in exchange rates and transportation costs, are also affecting the product sales that support our activities.

Our goal for 2026 is to provide 3.8 million meals annually, expand to 22,000 supported children, and further increase the self-reliance of local operating costs. Delivering school lunches leads not only to improved nutrition but also to higher attendance rates, better academic performance, and expanded future income opportunities. Ultimately, this is an initiative aimed at breaking the cycle of poverty.

Concrete results produced by school lunches In 2025, Seibo provided school lunches to approximately 20,000 children at 55 schools in Malawi. As a result, the following outcomes have been confirmed: *Detailed 2025 activity report: https://www.seibojapan.or.jp/annual-report-for-2025/

[Initial Outcomes (Short-term)] - Improvement in nutritional status - Average attendance rate of 96% - Achieved an attendance rate of 90% or higher in 8 out of 10 months of the year

[Intermediate Outcomes (Educational)] - Improved learning participation due to higher attendance - Improvement in advancement exam pass rates from 50% to 90% in some schools - Increased psychological and economic peace of mind for parents

Impact on long-term social structure Seibo's long-term vision for school lunches is based on the following logic: Improved nutrition → Higher attendance → Better academic performance → Expanded career options → Breaking the cycle of poverty → Improved national education levels → Sustainable economic growth School lunches are an investment in the human resources who will carry the nation's future and form the foundation for human capital development.

The next generation in Japan supports the future of Malawi's human capital In Japan, we connected with approximately 50 educational institutions in 2025 to expand our activities. Japanese high school and university students learned about the concrete effects of school lunches and the potential of Africa, and they became involved in our activities by experiencing the social business we conduct using Malawian coffee and tea.

We will continue to open on-demand courses so that many schools can participate through classes and extracurricular activities, and we will advance our activities so that the next generation in Japan can connect with the future of Africa through Malawi.

*On-demand course details: https://www.seibojapan.or.jp/moodle-moot-japan-2026/ *Network of educational institutions as of 2025: https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1Zq39YF_gSAtFbgt4PG8fWURyz_KsI4E&ll=33.87713270229857%2C134.5216891&z=5

Journey with supporting companies Tablecross Inc. has been supporting Seibo's school lunch program since February 2021. Through donations from sales on their service, ByFood.com, they have been connecting Japanese food with school lunches in Malawi. We hope to reach out to many others who are interested in getting involved in SDGs initiatives with keywords like food, education, and children, and make this a year where we can have an impact on Malawi together. *Proposal for companies: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IlMJ8YiXd4DYhJEL36_AUmx85zVb6E8W/view