From Kenya to Zambia: Startup wins role in school meals overhaul

Zambia’s Permanent Secretary for Education Services Dr Kelvin Mambwe (second right) exchanges a memorandum of understanding with Food4Education CEO Wawira Njiru (second left) on a partnership to strengthen Zambia’s school feeding programme. Also pictured are Lillian Kapusana (first right) and Brian Kayongo (first left). [Courtesy]

A Kenyan startup will help strengthen Zambia's national school feeding programme after securing a four-year partnership to improve systems serving millions of schoolchildren.

 The four-year agreement, signed on Sunday between Food4Education and Zambia's Ministry of Education, builds on discussions that began in August 2024 and a Zambian delegation's visit to Kenya earlier this year to study decentralised and centralised school kitchen models.

 Under the agreement, the Nairobi-based startup will provide technical support and infrastructure planning while the Zambian government retains full responsibility for financing and implementing the programme.

 Food4Education runs school feeding programmes in Kenya, including Nairobi County's Dishi na County initiative. Its advisory role in Zambia will also cover digital systems for managing school meals and institutional kitchen planning.

 Food4Education Founder and Chief Executive Officer Wawira Njiru said the agreement reflects growing cooperation among African countries to strengthen public services.

 "Zambia is doing something that the continent needs to see. It is putting its own treasury and the weight of several ministries behind its own children," noted Njiru.

 The agreement comes as Zambia expands school meals following the introduction of its Free Education Policy in 2022, which brought an estimated two million additional learners into public schools and increased demand for the programme.

 Food4Education will advise the Zambian government on policy coordination, programme design, digital systems, budgeting and infrastructure as the country works to expand school meal coverage from 4.6 million children in 8,193 schools to 5.6 million learners by the end of 2026.

 Permanent Secretary for Education Services Dr Kelvin Mambwe described universal school feeding as a strategic national investment.

 "Universal school feeding is an investment in our children's futures and our nation's economic growth. This partnership with Food4Education helps us strengthen the systems that turn this investment into long-term returns for Zambia," observed Mambwe.