Founder and Executive Director of the school feeding programme Food for Education Wawira Njiru has received an award in UK.
Njiru received the award from the Skoll Foundation in the UK.
Njiru and her team were named among the 2024's recipients of the Foundation's Social Innovator Award.
Acknowledging the fete, Njiru appreciated her parents for being part of her journey.
"Grateful that I got to share this moment, receiving the Skoll Foundation award with my parents who made the trip all the way from Nairobi to Oxford, England," she said in a tweet on Monday.
"We also had part of our Food4Education team. My parents have been so foundational in my work, teaching me values of service as a child and none of the work we do would be possible without our team. So, so grateful," Njiru added.
She noted that the award acknowledges the outstanding impact of their blueprint model and efforts to mainstream school feeding programmes ensuring that no child has to learn on an empty stomach.
Food for Education started in 2012 in Ruiru, giving lunch to 25 children with the support of a donor.
In 2021, the initiative partnered with Dagoretti South Constituency Development Fund.
The area MP, John Kiarie, partnered with Food for Education to establish a feeding programme for the children in Dagoretti South, reaching over 12,000 children.
Under the programme, the meals were subsidised by a donor and the CDF. Parents paid Sh15 daily.
In 2023, Njiru won a tender floated by Nairobi City county under Governor Johnson Sakaja to prepare and distribute the meals to the schoolchildren, along the same model as the one rolled out by KJ.
Children pay Sh5 for the meal and the county has declared it "the most affordable [lunch meal] in Kenya."
The cost of the meal per child is Sh40. The county pays Sh25 and a donor pays Sh10 for every child.
Nairobi's programme is called Dishi na County.
It is a way of fulfilling the pledge Sakaja made on the campaign trail, to address urban poverty.
On Monday, Njiru said through the Dishi na County partnership in Nairobi County, they have delivered over 12 million meals.
"The Dishi na County partnership in Nairobi County has delivered the Food4Education quality of school meals at an incredibly subsidized cost for parents because of the contribution by the county. Over 12 million meals delivered and the impact stories by parents and students have been incredible," she said.
For Food for Education, every meal served ensures Nairobi children can learn and grow.
In April 2023, the programme had seven kitchens and was feeding some 140,000 children.
"Started by feeding 25 children but now currently feeding 140,000 children everyday across all our seven kitchens," the programme said through its X account.
Niru's school lunch initiative is also being rolled out in Murang’a and Mombasa where it has partnered with the county governments. It is also in Kisumu with support from some donors.
