A
NARRATIVE VALUE
Certainty
●●● high
ABCDEFG
There is no confirmed −; independently verified + decide the position (A). No unreachable strike-through.= non-additive meter
As of: 2026-Q4Status: ActiveCeiling reason: No confirmed −
History2026-Q4AHistory grows each quarter
Mary's Meals: Come to school, and there will be food. The letter is A; certainty is high. Unconfirmed concerns are placed under “Watching.” (As of 2026-Q4; estimate based on public information.)
Main narrative
In 1992 Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow was farming salmon in a small Scottish village when he saw reports of the war in Bosnia and drove a Land Rover of supplies there with his brother. The donations that followed outgrew the family shed, and in time he gave up the business.
The turning point came in Malawi in 2002. Visiting during a famine, he met a mother dying of AIDS and her six children. The eldest, Edward, was 14. Asked what he hoped for in life, he said: 'I would like to have enough food to eat and to be able to go to school one day.' If children can eat at school, children come to school — and the work narrowed to that single point. From around 200 children in Malawi in 2003, the meals now reach more than three million children every school day in 16 countries, at a cost of £19.15 per child per year. Parents in each community take turns cooking, and ingredients are bought locally wherever possible.
One person’s story (N1)
+ A single story
Malawi, 2002. Visiting during a famine, Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow met a mother dying of AIDS and her six children. The eldest, Edward, was 14. Asked what he hoped for in life, he answered: 'I would like to have enough food to eat and to be able to go to school one day.' School feeding began from those words; from around 200 children in Malawi in 2003 it now reaches more than three million children every school day in 16 countries. Source type: program-official (founder's account) and independent (major media)
Source nature: Mary's Meals / America Magazine / T2 program-official and major media. Positive effects are not used to offset negatives.
Positive / negative effects
+ effects
- The positive side of this assessment rests on the single story (N1) above and its source. A per-item ledger of positive effects has not yet been compiled for this organization.T2 program-official and major media
Watching (unconfirmed; not counted in the assessment)- Donation-dependent funding
- continuity of supply in conflict and disaster areas
Looking ahead (not included in the assessment)- Continuing to expand to more countries and schools.
A second look
A meal supports enrolment and attendance, but does little on its own about the quality of teaching or the poverty of the household. How should the premise of 'for as long as funding lasts' be handled, and what of the burden carried by volunteer cooks?
Sources
+N1Mary's Meals / America Magazine｜Our story / Interview: The most common myths about childhood hunger｜2025｜🔗
How to read this assessment
A Independently verified +, with no confirmed −
B Leans +, with independent backing
C Mixed. A confirmed − sets the ceiling, or much is unverified
D A serious confirmed − sets the ceiling
E A serious − reaches the core of the organization
F Serious and systemic, with little redeeming +
G Only extreme cases
Out of scope An entity whose core purpose is illegal
On hold Independent evidence is scarce on both + and −
- Reachable upper bound (ceiling): a confirmed − sets the ceiling, and independently verified + decide the position within it. + do not cancel out −.
- The weight of evidence is not symmetric: only confirmed − are counted; the volume of disputes or allegations goes under “Watching.” + are counted from independent evidence, while an organization’s own PR is treated as “reference.”
- Size is not value: scale is not used in the assessment. Matters that stay within money or competition—investors, shareholders, sanctions, trade secrets—are also excluded.
- The letter (assessment) and certainty (how reliable the information is) are separate axes.
This is a translation; the Japanese version is authoritative. The assessments here are generated automatically by AI based on published criteria. The operator does not alter individual results. Because they are AI-generated they may contain errors, and they are opinion and commentary, not statements of fact. Where evidence is insufficient, the entry is marked “On hold.” Requests for correction are accepted via the form.
Terms: Narrative Value = an assessment (A–G) of the distance between the narrative an organization tells and its reality / Ceiling meter = a visualization of the reachable upper bound / Watching = unconfirmed matters not counted / Protected stakeholders = people, animals, nature, and future generations. | Generated by: AI | As of: 2026-Q4 | Back to top