A champion in the fight against malnutrition in Africa, the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Akinwumi Adesina, has commended the Government of Kenya under President William Ruto for its commitment to school feeding. During his visit to the country on March 18, 2025, he acknowledged and supported groundbreaking initiatives such as ‘Food For Education’, which aims to revolutionise school feeding programmes in Kenya and feed 1 million Kenyan children every day by 2027.
The President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Akinwumi Adesina, a champion in the fight against malnutrition in Africa, has praised the Government of Kenya under President William Ruto for its commitment to school feeding. He recognises and supports groundbreaking initiatives such as ‘Food For Education’, which aims to revolutionise school feeding programmes in Kenya, where, according to the World Bank, 7 out of 10 children can’t concentrate in class due to hunger and malnutrition. The programme has provided nutritious meals to more than 100 million children and currently feeds 500,000 young people every day in 1,263 schools across Kenya.
“Hunger is costing us far more than we realize. Hunger strips our children of their dignity, swallowing their potential while it drains up to 16.5% of Africa’s annual GDP. Globally, the same hunger robs us of opportunity. In just 25 years from now, by 2050, one in four people in the global workforce will be African, and those are the children at risk right now. This is a fight for our collective future. School feeding programs offer a proven solution”.
Wawira Njiru, Founder and Executive Director, Food For Education – Kenya
Founded by Wawira Njiru in 2010, this organisation of over 4200 staff aims to feed 1 million Kenyan children every day by 2027, and millions more across Africa. A vision backed by the AfDB, which has forged a number of partnerships across Africa to reduce malnutrition and stunting on the continent by 40% by 2025.
“We have to accelerate domestic resource mobilization for school feeding programs in Africa. We have to get the treasury departments, the ministries of finance, to understand that investing in nutrition, it’s not an expenditure item, it’s an investment that will make the economies grow in the future. Therefore, treasury departments, ministries of finance, should be allocating more resources to children’s educations”.
Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank – Nigeria
While urging the mainstreaming and advocacy of good nutrition for all, the President of the African Development Bank noted that governments should invest in education to realise a sustainable future for the African continent. In recognition of the Bank’s role in Kenya’s sustainable economic growth, Dr Akinwumi Adesina was recently awarded the Chief of the Order of the Golden Heart (C.G.H.), Kenya’s highest national honour.