By Joyce Ojanji
With Kenya being recognized globally for its efforts in school feeding, the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) and its partners have launched a research initiative to boost home-grown school feeding.
Working in collaboration with the Government of Kenya and with grant support from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the other partners include Tegemeo Institute of Agricultural Policy and Development of Egerton University, and Tanager.
The SusTainable, Inclusive and Equitable Procurement in Home Grown School Feeding Programmes project in Kenya (STEP– School Feeding) will amplify efforts to ensure school-going children have access to nutritious, healthy, and sustainable diets through the local food ecosystems across four counties in Kenya, namely, Embu, Isiolo, Makueni, and Nairobi.
The 1 million CAD $ project, which will run for three years till 2027, is part of IDRC Global School Food Catalyzing Climate Resilient, Inclusive, and Sustainable Procurement initiative (CRISP), which is implemented to catalyze effective home-grown school feeding in Kenya.
Dr. Edidah Lubega Ampaire, Senior Program Specialist at IDRC, noted that the project is well aligned with local needs and priorities, particularly those involved in food production, sourcing, processing, distribution and preparation of school meals.
“The use of locally sourced home-grown school food is encouraged to drive climate resilience, sustainability, inclusivity, and gender equality towards more sustainable and thriving communities and food systems, “she said.
According to Dr. Canisius Kanangire, Executive Director of AATF, AATF is proud to be part of the larger global climate-resilient, inclusive, and sustainable procurement school feeding program, which has set out to use locally procured school food to enhance climate resilience, inclusivity, and gender equity.
This, he said, will build on more sustainable and thriving communities and food systems while complementing the existing key players already involved in school feeding initiatives across the country.
Dr. Kanangire noted that AATF will leverage its rich 20-year history of effectively delivering innovative technologies to smallholder farmers across Africa, along with its new strategic focus on Nutrition-Sensitive Agriculture, to enhance the effectiveness of the school feeding initiative.
“Through this project, AATF will work to position smallholder farmers at the centre of homegrown school feeding in Kenya, ensuring school meals are prepared using locally available, nutritious, diverse ingredients produced sustainably through the integration of agro-ecological practices,’’ he added.
On his part, Davis Ndambo, Assistant Director, Partnerships and Resource Mobilization, National Council for Nomadic Education in Kenya (NACONEK) said: ‘’The advancement of universal meals coverage as per the Operational Plan for School Meals Programme (SMP) Scale-up 2024-2030 is no longer a pipe dream; but a reality that everyone should be proud of.’’
He noted that the goal of the School Meal Coalition is to ensure that every child can receive a nutritious meal in school by 2030, with a focus on the most vulnerable learners.
The Operational Plan for SMP Scale-up 2024-2030 was developed by the Kenyan Ministry of Education, through NACONEK, in collaboration with the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and The Rockefeller Foundation to achieve Universal School Feeding in Kenya by 2030, scaling up from the 2.6 million beneficiaries to over 10 million by 2030.
Maureen Munjua, Tanager Kenya Representative, said that this initiative looks to catalyse and provide evidence for stakeholders within the sector that are already implementing or designing scope-fitting programs to ensure that they are responsive to the different stakeholders as well as their needs and roles.
Munjua noted that the project will emphasize gender equity responsiveness in all the components of local food systems (production, processing, distribution and consumption), which will be linked to the existing Home-Grown School Feeding Programs.
“We can build local economies while empowering women and youth in the achievement of food and nutritional security for our school-going children,” she said
Dr. Lilian Kirimi, Research Fellow, Tegemeo Institute of Agricultural Policy and Development- Egerton University, pointed out the importance of an enabling environment that promotes robust and gender- responsive Home-Grown School Feeding Programs (HGSFPs), supported by sustainable local food production and distribution systems. The project will conduct policy analysis to inform efforts for developing an enabling policy environment for HGSFP in Kenya.
School feeding initiatives in Kenya started in the 1980s, then popularly known as School Meal Programs (SMPs) ,with donations and support from the World Food Program and other humanitarian organizations. In 2009, the SMPs were transitioned into Home Grown School Feeding Programs (HGSFPs) as a sustainable and integrated alternative to the long-term management of school feeding.
The STEP – School Feeding Project is an applied research initiative focusing on Home-Grown School Feeding Programmes by designing and piloting scalable, innovative, viable, and inclusive Systems for Sourcing Foods for Schools for school feeding initiatives in Kenya. Through this study, the project aims to identify existing gaps and highlight opportunities for scaling the Systems for Sourcing Foods for Schools to policy decision-makers in government and other agencies involved in home-grown school feeding programmes.
