Food4Education has surpassed the milestone of serving 200 million meals since its inception, underscoring the rapid scale and growing impact of its school feeding programme across Kenya.
Food4Education, a not-for-profit social enterprise providing affordable, nutritious meals to children in public primary schools
The milestone was announced during a capacity-building workshop that brought together more than 300 food and non-food vendors supporting the organisation’s operations across the country.
The convening forms part of Food4Education’s broader initiative to provide one million learners with meals daily by 2027 by strengthening its supply chain and deepening partnerships with local businesses and farmers.
Held at the Kenya Institute of Special Education (KISE), the event also came ahead of World Hunger Day on May 28, whose 2026 theme, “The End of Hunger is in Our Hands,” highlights the importance of community-led and sustainable solutions to hunger and malnutrition.
Food4Education said the milestone reflects the growing role school feeding programmes can play in advancing nutrition, education, and local economic development simultaneously.
Speaking during the event, Food4Education Founder and Chief Executive Officer Wawira Njiru commended the vendors for their contribution, emphasising the critical role they have played in the organisation’s growth and impact over the years.
Approximately 50 per cent of the farmers supplying the school feeding programme through local aggregators are women, underscoring the strong participation of women farmers in programme-linked agricultural value chains.
“School feeding is one of the most powerful investments any nation can make. When done well, it builds healthier children, stronger learners, more resilient communities, and fosters growing local economies. That is the opportunity in front of us, and it is one we can act on every single school day,” said Wawira.
She added, “Today, 635,000 meals will be cooked and served to children across Kenya, and that would not be possible without our suppliers and partners. Next year, we are looking at feeding one million children every single day, and that will require dedication and commitment from everyone in this ecosystem.”
Wawira noted that Food4Education’s work extends beyond feeding children to strengthening local economies through community-based sourcing and long-term vendor partnerships.
Over the past 15 months, the organisation has delivered 20,874 tonnes of food ingredients and 10.8 million fruits, with approximately 80 per cent of its food sourced from local smallholder farmers.
The school feeding programme sources vegetables locally through aggregators in more than 20 counties, creating a circular local food system in which income earned by farming households supports livelihoods.
In contrast, the same locally produced food is used to prepare meals for children attending nearby public schools.
“One of the strengths of Food4Education is that we source many of our supplies from the same communities where we serve meals. That means school feeding is not only improving nutrition and learning outcomes, but also creating economic opportunities for local farmers, traders, transporters, and businesses,” she said.
The programme’s economic footprint is also evident among vendors themselves. One ecobriquette supplier, now Food4Education’s primary fuel source, has scaled from delivering 18 tonnes to 4,320 tonnes, helping power the organisation’s clean cooking network.
A cabbage vendor has similarly expanded from supplying 0.5 tonnes to 350 tonnes annually, illustrating how consistent, locally-rooted demand from school feeding programmes can support the growth of Kenyan enterprises.
In the second half of 2025, Food4Education procured 703 metric tonnes of cabbage, 221 metric tonnes of carrots, and more than 2.1 million bananas, figures that demonstrate the scale at which school feeding can stimulate local agricultural markets and strengthen rural economies.
Reflecting on the organisation’s journey since its founding, Wawira recognised suppliers who have supported Food4Education from its earliest days in Ruiru, with the help of her mother.
“When I started Food4Education in 2012 with just 25 children, we used to pay suppliers in coins because that is how children paid for meals then. We have come a long way—from buying a few sacks of maize and beans in Githurai and loading them into my mother’s Nissan Caravan, to today, where trucks supply more than 180 kitchens across the country. That journey reflects the power of partnership, consistency, and a shared belief in our mission.”
The impact of Food4Education’s growth is also evident in the Jua Kali and artisan sector, where local manufacturers and informal enterprises have expanded their businesses by supplying essential equipment and services to the school feeding programme.
Speaking during the workshop, Peter Njuguna, an artisan who manufactures the steel containers used in Food4Education kitchens, shared his journey with the organisation since 2018, highlighting its impact on job creation.
“I started by supplying just 80 containers, but as Food4Education expanded, my business grew with it. Today, I have produced more than 3,000 containers, trained 20 people, created jobs for 25 workers over the years, and even built my own home — proof that as F4E grows, local suppliers grow too,” said Njuguna.
The suppliers and vendors convening forms part of Food4Education’s ongoing efforts to strengthen the supply ecosystem powering its school feeding programme as the organisation scales toward serving one million meals daily by 2027.
