Wawira Njiru, CEO of Kenyan non-profit Food for Education, speaking on World Food Day, has called on African and world leaders to invest in school feeding programs to feed the future of all of Africa.
Ahead of a visit to Washington where she will meet with officials from the World Bank and pointing to data in the World Bank’s recent Africa Pulse report, Wawira Njiru called for urgent investment in the school feeding revolution to ensure children across Africa stay in school to get the education they and the continent will need in the future.
Speaking ahead of her visit to the World Bank, Wawira Njiru said: “We know that hungry kids can’t learn, and as an organization we are changing that one meal at a time. Through our work we’re investing in children’s future, and the future of Kenya and all of Africa. But we cannot do it alone.
“Food for Education has a unique and replicable model that currently feeds over 450,000 children a day in Kenya, but that is barely 0.2% of all the children facing malnutrition in Africa.
“If we are serious about investing in our continent, we urgently need to invest in the education of our children because they are the human capital of all our futures.
“The only way to do that is to keep them in school to make sure they learn. By far the best way to do that is to feed them a daily hot, nutritious meal everyday in school through programs like ours.
“So today on World Food Day I’m calling on leaders in Africa and around the world to commit today to invest in our children by backing programs like Food for Education and by doing so ensure our children have the skills necessary for their success and the success of Africa.”
The most recent Africa Pulse report from the World bank argued that “addressing education and skills gaps, among other investment and policy priorities, could help accelerate growth to end poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa.”
The report also stated that currently:
- 90% of 10 year olds in Sub-Saharan Africa are unable to read simple text.
- 7 in 10 children in Sub-Saharan Africa are not benefiting from pre-primary education.
- Fewer than 1.5% of 15 to 24 year-olds are enrolled in formal vocational education programs, compared to roughly 10% in high-income countries.
- Climate change is creating an agricultural crisis which is “fueling malnutrition, with more than 45 million children in Eastern and Southern Africa at risk of health issues, displacement, and educational setbacks”.
Food for Education recently announced that in the next stage of its growth it will aim to feed 3 million African children daily by 2030, by tripling the number of children served in Kenya and by expanding its network into two more African countries.
Their three-pronged strategy will see them feed 1 million children daily in Kenya by partnering with county governments along with the national government to provide affordable, nutritious meals for children and their families.
This will come alongside work with two additional African countries to feed 2 million more children daily. They seek to do this by leveraging their experience and expertise in linking local supply chains (small shareholder farmers and aggregators) and employing parents and communities in all operations. They are currently in the process of securing partners in their target countries.
Food for Education will also share their knowledge base through a Center of Excellence which aims to teach others who want to start and scale school feeding in their communities.
