How Kenya’s school meals program is feeding minds and building resilience

From One Principal’s Act of Kindness to a National Movement

In a school in Makueni County, Kenya, a principal knows the profound impact of a simple school meal. Every day, including weekends, he reaches into his pocket to ensure his students have something to eat at school. "It's not just about feeding them," he explains. "When they know there's a meal here, they choose to be here – studying, learning, staying on the right path."

This personal sacrifice made daily by one dedicated educator demonstrates what educators across Kenya have long known: a meal at school can transform not just a child's day but their entire future. Today, thanks to a partnership between the World Bank and the Government of Kenya, this spirit of individual heroism is scaling up into systematic support, reaching millions of vulnerable children. The National School Meals Program represents a crucial shift from individual deeds to a comprehensive national strategy recognizing food security as fundamental to educational success.

Scaling Impact in Challenging Times

The need has never been more urgent. Over 3 million vulnerable children in Kenya's arid and semi-arid regions face daily challenges in accessing adequate nutrition. Climate change amplifies these hardships, bringing more prolonged droughts and uncertain rainfall patterns, making these communities increasingly vulnerable. But the challenges run deeper than climate alone.

In urban informal settlements, families still reeling from the economic impact of COVID-19 struggle to provide regular meals for their children. Even with Kenya's commitment to free primary education, the hidden costs of schooling – including meals – can push education out of reach for many families. For girls, the challenges are especially stark. Social expectations often force them to choose between education and domestic responsibilities, while economic hardships can lead to early marriage and pregnancy, cutting short their educational journey.

The impact of missing school meals ripples through communities. When parents cannot afford the lunch levy, attendance becomes irregular. When students cannot concentrate due to hunger, learning suffers. When schools cannot maintain their feeding programs, dropout rates rise. Recent global food price increases and prolonged droughts have pushed the cost of each school meal from $1.23 to $2.50 per student per day.

A Comprehensive Response
The World Bank's support for Kenya's school meals has evolved from an emergency pandemic response into long-term investments in educational resilience – demonstrating that school meals are not just about nutrition but fundamental to educational access, equity, and resilience.

When COVID-19 threatened to reverse years of academic progress, especially for the most vulnerable students, the World Bank and the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) quickly mobilized $2 million through the GPE COVID-19 Learning Continuity Project to help sustain the National School Meals Program. This initial support focused on ensuring that preschool learners and early primary students in informal settlements and arid regions could continue receiving fortified meals, recognizing that school meals were more critical than ever as families faced widespread unemployment and income loss.

The five-year Kenya Primary Education Equity and Learning Program (PEELP) launched in 2022 ensures daily nutritious meals reach 2.6 million vulnerable learners, including over 121,000 refugee students, through $18.5 million in support.. The program provides fortified meals, both through centralized procurement in arid regions and direct cash transfers to schools in areas where food can be sourced locally, supporting both student nutrition and local markets. Most recently, an additional $21 million through the Secondary Education and Equity Quality Improvement Program (SEEQIP) will extend these meals and nutrition support to approximately 2.1 million more learners.

These programs offer critical support for families, easing the burden of school costs and encouraging parents to prioritize education for their children, especially for girls who might otherwise be forced to stay home.

Innovation for Sustainability
This initiative stands out for its forward-thinking approach to environmental sustainability, feeding children and safeguarding their environmental future. Building on the success of a Nairobi pilot supported by a Public-Private Partnership with Food4Education that already serves 250,000 learners, the program is now expanding its centralized kitchen model. Transitioning from firewood to eco-briquettes and clean fuels and using improved cookstoves, the program reduces emissions and explores carbon financing to support long-term sustainability.

Looking Forward
The Government of Kenya's commitment to developing a new School Meals and Nutrition Policy signals a long-term vision for program sustainability. This policy framework ensures that educators’ dedication can be transformed into lasting, systematic change that benefits generations of Kenyan students.

As climate change continues to challenge food security globally, Kenya's School Meals Program demonstrates how targeted interventions can simultaneously address immediate needs while building long-term resilience. The World Bank's support is helping transform a traditional school feeding program into a comprehensive initiative that tackles educational, social, and environmental challenges head-on.

For the students in Makueni and millions more across Kenya, this means they no longer must rely on the generosity of individual educators to receive a meal at school. Instead, they can count on a sustainable, nationwide program that recognizes what that principal knew all along – that sometimes, the path to a better future begins with a simple meal at school.