During the first Summit on the Rights of the Child in Rome on February 3rd, Mary’s Meals founder and CEO, Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow, made a compelling case to world leaders. He emphasized that providing a daily school meal to the neediest children in the world’s lowest-income countries would cost just over US$3 billion a year.
“There is no good reason why we cannot deliver on this promise to the world’s poorest children… Hope should be a right for all children,” he stressed.
The summit drew in prominent world leaders such as Queen Rania of Jordan, Megawati Sukarnoputri, former president of Indonesia, Al Gore, former US vice president, and Mario Draghi, Italian economist and EU advisor.
MacFarlane-Barrow began her address by sharing Edward’s story – a hungry 14-year-old boy in Malawi who expressed his desire for enough food to eat and attend school. This encounter in 2002 sparked the Mary’s Meals school feeding programs, which now serve over 2.5 million children daily in 16 of the world’s poorest countries.
After a day of discussions, political leaders and representatives from various countries and religions signed a Final Declaration acknowledging the widespread violation of children’s rights. They highlighted the importance of global commitment, greater responsibility from nations, and emphasized the need for children to have a ‘Right to Hope’.
“I am immensely grateful to have been part of this event and to Pope Francis and the organizers for including Mary’s Meals. It is an honor to represent the Mary’s Meals family and advocate for the children we feed. This summit has opened doors for us and generated significant interest in our work,” said MacFarlane-Barrow.
After hearing from Mary’s Meals founder and other participants, Pope Francis pledged to continue supporting and promoting the cause. He announced plans to prepare an Apostolic Exhortation dedicated to children’s rights.
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About Mary’s Meals Foundation, Spain:
Mary’s Meals Foundation Spain is a subsidiary of the Scottish organization Mary’s Meals International. Mary’s Meals was honored with the 2023 Princess of Asturias Award for Concord. For more information, visit www.marysmeals.es.
