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Mozambique School Lunch Initiative
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Our programs

Avança+ (Secondary & Girls' Education)

Avança+ means “advance further.” Most of our students are girls.

MSLI launched Avança+ in 2022 to support rural students through grades 7–12, when the risk of dropping out is highest.

Three teenage girls in white Avança+ T-shirts in front of a banner for the International Day of the Girl, the one in the middle smiling at the camera
Avança+ students at the International Day of the Girl.

297

rural students in secondary school this year, more than two-thirds of them girls.

2026

A smiling schoolgirl in a white shirt and a classmate inside a minibus
On the bus to secondary school.
The gap

Every village has a primary school. Secondary school is often very far away.

There are far fewer secondary schools, and they are far beyond walking distance for rural students. There's no public transport, and lodging in town costs money most families don't have.

Our school meals kept students in class through grade 9. Then we saw a huge drop-off. Avança+ closes that gap.

About thirty secondary students in white shirts and dark skirts or trousers line up in front of a white-and-blue minibus
Secondary school students boarding the MSLI school bus.
A holistic package of support

Four things keep a student in secondary school.

Our goal is to see students finish their education. That meant going beyond school meals.

  1. Transportation

    A free seat on one of our school buses, or a place at the boarding house, with boarding fees paid for.

  2. Nutrition

    Lunch for students on the buses, and three meals a day for those at the boarding house.

  3. Mentorship

    Avança+ mentors lead sessions on social-emotional skills and digital literacy, and offer tutoring.

  4. Health

    Mentors also run health sessions, so students have the knowledge to stay healthy and in school.

About fifteen secondary students in white shirts, with backpacks, at the open side door of a white-and-blue minibus
Students boarding our bus.
Teenage girls at long wooden tables in a dining hall, eating xima from white plates and laughing
Lunch at the boarding house.
A mentor in a white T-shirt sits on a desk before a green chalkboard, talking with about fifteen secondary students seated around the room
A mentoring or tutoring session.
Who it's for

Open to every student. Life-changing for girls.

Avança+ supports both boys and girls to stay in school. But the cost of dropping out falls hardest on girls, who face some of the world's highest rates of child marriage.

Seen from behind, about thirty teenage girls in white Avança+ T-shirts sit on school chairs in the shade, listening to a speaker
Avança+ students at an International Day of the Girl event (2026).
53%
of girls in Mozambique marry before age 18.
17%
marry before age 15.
1 in 10
girls has had a child before age 15.

National figures for Mozambique.

Keeping girls in school is one of the best ways to prevent child marriage. So we built Avança+ on the trust communities already have in our school meals, and kept following our students all the way through secondary school.

About twenty-five teenage girls and boys stand together smiling in front of a bright green school building with a corrugated roof
Avança+ students at an after-school session at MSLI's Center of Excellence.
Two facilitators in yellow T-shirts standing at the front of a classroom full of students in yellow and orange, writing at their desks
Avança+ students on a field trip to Eduardo Mondlane University in Maputo.
Seen from above, about forty young people in yellow and orange T-shirts sit on chairs in small circles across a grassy courtyard
Group discussions help Avança+ students set goals for their education.
A mentor's voice
An Avança+ mentor in a green MSLI polo shirt and a teenage girl stand arm in arm, smiling, on a sandy schoolyard
Tucha Rangel (right), an Avança+ mentor.

“My inspiration in the work I do comes from knowing that my work has changed the way adolescents and their parents think. They have become more focused on improving the future of their children's lives through education.”

— Tucha Rangel, Avança+ mentor

When one girl left school for an early marriage, the team found her and talked with her husband and her parents. She went back to school.

Help a student finish what she started.

US$150 supports a student in Avança+ for a year (2026).

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UNESCO (2026). Global Education Monitoring Report 2026, country case study: Mozambique.

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