President William Ruto with Rockefeller Foundation President Rajiv Shah on the sidelines of the ongoing Mission 300 Africa Energy Summit in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania on January 28, 2025/PCS
President William Ruto met Tuesday Rockefeller Foundation President Rajiv Shah as he sought support towards scaling up the school feeding programme in the country.
The meeting between the two happened on the sidelines of the ongoing Mission 300 Africa Energy Summit in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
Highlighting the programme’s impact, Ruto noted that it has been instrumental in promoting improved health and learning outcomes.
This is in addition to ensuring increased school attendance, and strengthened local food systems.
“We aim to double the close to three million learners who benefit from the various programmes run by the National Government, counties, and other partners,” he said.
According to the Head of State, they discussed ways in which Kenya and the Foundation can work together to enhance the programme so that it benefits more vulnerable learners.
In 2023, the government signed a Sh1.7 billion Intergovernmental Partnership
Agreement to expand the school meals programme.
The aim was to provide meals for over 1.9 million learners in public schools.
The summit is hosted by the Tanzanian government, the African Union, the African Development Bank Group, and the World Bank Group.
It allows governments, private sector leaders, development partners, and civil society to advance the ambitious goal of providing electricity access to 300 million people by 2030 – known as Mission 300.
This target was announced by the African Development Bank Group and the World Bank Group in April 2024.
The Summit will highlight the urgent need for reliable, affordable, and sustainable energy to drive economic growth and unlock development across the continent.
Several countries are expected to unveil National Energy Compacts, outlining ambitious targets and key reforms tailored to their unique contexts.
Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organisation. It is based in New York City.
It is the second-oldest major philanthropic institution in America after the Carnegie Corporation and ranks as the 30th largest foundation globally by endowment, with assets of over $6.3 billion in 2022.
Since its inception, the foundation has donated billions of dollars to various causes, becoming the largest philanthropic enterprise in the world by the 1920s.
In 2020, the foundation pledged that it would divest from fossil fuels, notable since the endowment was largely funded by Standard Oil.