Kenya to benefit from Sh6.5 billion funding to tackle hunger in schools

In a bid to help put an end to hunger and malnutrition among school-going children in African countries, the regional lender, African Development Bank (AfDB), has approved the establishment of a new funding kitty.

Dubbed ‘End School-Age Hunger Fund (ESAH)’ with an initial $50 million (Sh6.5 billion) commitment, the kitty seeks to bolster school meal programmes in targeted African countries, including Kenya.

This by expanding existing initiatives and creating new ones so that more children in the region have access to nutritious food while attending school, simultaneously boosting rural economies through agricultural productivity.

“The Fund will support activities that contribute directly to school food initiatives within the continent, ensuring the provision of nutritious meals to children while promoting the development of small and medium-sized enterprises that provide services related to these programmes,” the lender said.

“Where appropriate, it is expected to provide essential technical assistance to governments, encouraging them to prioritise nutritious school feeding programmes as a vital mechanism for enhancing socio-economic development, ensuring student retention in schools, and improving learning outcomes and social protection.”

The approval of the kitty follows the lender’s visit to Kenya’s Food4Education programme in March, an initiative intended to end classroom hunger by serving nearly half a million students daily in the country.

According to a recent survey, nearly one-third of children in the country suffer from chronic malnutrition, with devastating consequences for their cognitive development and academic performance.

Additionally, the World Food Programme estimates that 1.6 million school-aged children in Kenya are food insecure, leading to absenteeism and poor educational outcomes.

Wawira Njiru, the founder and CEO of Food4Education, notes that these are not mere statistics, as they represent real lives and threatened futures.

She, therefore, reiterates the importance of school feeding programmes, terming them an investment in Kenya’s future.

“By purchasing produce from local farmers, these programmes create demand for agricultural products, boosting rural economies,” Njiru said.

“They also integrate women and smallholder farmers into supply chains, creating jobs and enhancing socioeconomic conditions.”

She adds that at Food4Education, for instance, nearly 80 percent of the 4,000 employees are women, and 70 percent of frontline staff are parents of the nearly half a million children served daily.

Nevertheless, she reckons that Kenya urgently requires the institutionalisation of school meals.

“We believe that through a policy and legal framework mightily backed by sustainable public financing, it is possible. Without such structures, hunger shall persist as a barrier to education and opportunity for the millions of children who shall form our future society imminently.”

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Beth Dunford, AfDB Group’s Vice President for Agriculture, Human and Social Development, said the End School-Age Hunger Fund will work to secure a five-year commitment from the targeted countries, which is the standard implementation period for the Bank's investment projects.

“The implementation period is long enough to establish a solid proof of concept to ensure the continuation of the initiative beyond the initial funding phase,” Dunford said.