Unilever said in a statement that its brands Royco is donating 600,000 school meals in Kenya and rallying people to pledge their support for building a world with zero hunger.

“Royco’s partnership with the WFP is an initiative that will help us give children access to nutritious food and the potential for a healthier life,” said Marc Engel, Unilever CEO for East Africa & Emerging Markets.

The meals will be delivered through WFP’s “Home Grown School Meals Programme” aimed at improving the lives of families, communities and farmers.

Unilever’s partnership with WFP will also support smallholder farmers in Kenya with expertise to improve crop quality and yields.

WFP Country Representative in Kenya Ronald Sibanda said the partnership with Unilever will have an immediate impact on the lives of children and on communities in Kenya.

“An educated workforce is critical for development of any country and a regular nutritious meal at school acts as a magnet to get children into the classroom, and helps keep them in school, “ Sibanda said.

The UN food agency has been responding to food insecurity in Kenya through three separate initiatives—school meals, food assistance to refugees, and food or cash for people working on resilience projects that prevent soil erosion and rehabilitate farmland.

WFP, which has been working with the private sector and governments, said it is building the capacity in developing countries to produce home-grown solutions to hunger, such as the highly nutritious supplementary food products for children.

The UN agency said it’s rapidly increasing the number of children and new mothers who receive new nutritionally enhanced food products.

Statistics show that around one in nine people in the world—many of them children—do not receive enough food and nutrition to lead a healthy life and build strong futures.

Along with providing the right nutrition, WFP school meals act as a powerful incentive to children who don’t attend lessons into school.

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