Kenya Steps Up Global Drive to Feed Children in Schools

Kenya has been named the fourth Co-Chair of the School Meals Coalition, joining Brazil, Finland and France in providing global leadership to an initiative aimed at ensuring children have access to healthy and nutritious meals at school. The announcement was made during the Third Ministerial Session of the Global School Meals Coalition held at the World Food Programme (WFP) headquarters in Rome on Wednesday, October 14th. Kenya was represented at the meeting by Cabinet Secretary for Education Julius Migos Ogamba, who said the country’s new leadership role builds on its previous contribution to the Coalition’s agenda. “Kenya is deeply honoured to officially join Brazil, Finland and France as the fourth Co-Chair of the School Meals Coalition,” said Mr. Ogamba, describing the appointment as a responsibility the country takes with a strong sense of commitment. Kenya previously hosted the Second Ministerial Meeting of the Coalition’s Task Force in Nairobi in 2024, where member states reviewed progress and identified priorities for accelerating collective action on school meals. Among the priorities identified in Nairobi were sustaining political commitment, expanding access to predictable and sustainable financing, improving the quality and reach of national school meals programmes, strengthening evidence and measurement, and increasing advocacy at all levels. According to World Food Programme, 466 million children currently receive school meals globally and while this is an enormous achievement, there remains numerous school age children that have not been reached.

Coverage has grown by about 80 million children since 2020, showing that governments are increasingly treating school meals as a national development priority, as documented by School Meals Coalition. The Coalition has continued to gain momentum, with more governments investing in national school meals programmes and increasing recognition of school feeding as a strategic public investment. Mr. Ogamba highlighted the wider benefits of school meals, noting that their impact extends beyond education to social protection, health and nutrition. He cited studies showing that every dollar invested in feeding a child can generate up to nine dollars in social and economic returns. However, he cautioned that significant challenges remain, with millions of children still unreached and countries facing financing and implementation constraints in delivering nutritious school meals. Kenya is exploring innovative approaches to financing its own School Meals Programme. These include a clean cooking programme aimed at exploring carbon financing opportunities, as well as a proposed debt-for-food conversion being developed with the WFP. The initiative could redirect savings from debt servicing towards long term investment in food security and resilience. As Co-Chair, Kenya says it will work with Brazil, Finland, France, Coalition members and partners to promote national ownership and sustainable financing, strengthen cooperation and ensure that African experiences and leadership remain central to the global school meals agenda. The Coalition’s overarching ambition is to see every child access a healthy and nutritious meal at school while enabling countries to develop strong, nationally owned school meals programmes.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Ministry of Education, Kenya.