The world is today commemorating the Day of the African child whose theme this year is “planning and budgeting for Children’s Rights: Progress since 2010.”
The theme focuses on assessing how African Union member states have integrated children’s rights into their national plans and budgets, and encourages further action to adopt a child rights-based approach.
The government has been actively involved in school feeding programs, with a national strategy aiming for universal coverage by 2030 and in expanding the School Meals Programme (SMP) to reach 10 million learners, up from the current 2.6 million.
Food4Education, a Kenyan nonprofit organization that provides nutritious, low-cost daily school meals to vulnerable children has called on African governments and global partners to push school feeding to the top of their budgets and agendas.
In partnership with Kenya’s government and local communities, Food4Education operates a network of high-efficiency kitchens using a hub-and-spoke model and last year opened Africa’s largest green-energy “Giga Kitchen,” a 3,000 m² facility that uses clean-burning briquettes and steam to cook 60,000 meals a day.
In commemoration of the African Child today Wawira Njiru, Founder and CEO of Food4Education said statistics show that about 90 million African children are enrolled in school and 50 million of them show up on an empty stomach each day and yet only 14 percent of global school feeding programs are located in Africa.
“The stakes are higher than ever and there is therefore a need for child malnutrition and socio-economic growth to go hand in hand and not as separate issues”, she noted.
“We know well-nourished children perform better in class, but when school feeding is locally rooted, we also create jobs, support smallholder farmers, and strengthen local economies. If we want to build a prosperous Africa for our children, this is where we start,” she added
Njiru further said that research shows that every Sh130 (1USD) invested in school meals can generate up to Sh2,600 (USD20) in social and economic returns.
In Kenya, Food4Education has helped draw children to more than 1,500 schools, increasing enrollment by over 20 percent in counties like Nairobi and Mombasa, while reducing absenteeism and improving academic performance by up to 30 percent in partner schools.
According to Njiru, 80 percent of African governments have budgets allocated for school feeding, yet across the continent, many operational challenges prevent implementation.
“Let national government policy include school feeding programs as a human capital investment as well as a health, nutrition and education priority and leverage accessible and widely adoptable technology to optimize, reduce cost, and collect data for informed growth such as Tap2Eat tool feed programme,” Njiru said.
“Tap2Eat” feeding program, uses Near Field Communication (NFC)-enabled wristbands for cashless payments for school meals. Parents can pre-pay for meals via M-Pesa, and children use the wristbands to “tap to eat” at school. This system streamlines the process, reduces waste, and provides data for efficient meal planning.
Shalom Ndiku, Head of Policy and Partnerships, believes the answer lies in integrated, African-led solutions like Food4Education’s saying that organization combines public funding, parent contributions, and philanthropic support, all rooted in local supply chains and green infrastructure.
“School feeding is infrastructure. It’s economic policy. It’s a climate solution. And most of all, it’s a matter of justice,” Ndiku says.
He added that “We have the world’s youngest population ready to grow, learn, and take on the leadership of our continent. We have the blueprint on how to make it work. Now we need bold government leadership to take it to every African child.”
As Africa reflects on 15 years of progress in children’s rights, the message is clear: no child can learn on an empty stomach.
Recently His Majesty King Letsie III of Lesotho, AU Champion for Nutrition and FAO Special Goodwill Ambassador for Nutrition, visited Food4Educaton in Nairobi and said, “Let us recognize that sustainable school feeding programs are not just an intervention, they are a commitment to human capital development, economic resilience, and food security.”
Food4Education began 13 years ago in a makeshift kitchen serving 25 children. Today, it delivers over 500,000 hot, nutritious meals every school day across Kenya, in partnership with local governments, smallholder farmers, and community stakeholders.
By sourcing ingredients from over 100 tons of locally grown food, 80% of it from smallholder farmers, Food4Education is also building supply chains that reinvest in rural economies.
By Wangari Ndirangu
