Kids with ‘smart’ yellow wristbands fill classrooms for hot lunch in Nairobi

Yellow tap-to-eat wristbands guarantee a nutritious hot lunch, and that’s all it has taken to achieve a 20 per cent rise in Nairobi’s public school enrolment and a decline in truancy—or hungry kids who just stay home.

A project of Governor Johnson Sakaja called Dishi na County is implemented by Food for Education, or Food4Education (F4E), a nonprofit social enterprise. Since it started in 2023, it has brought hope, especially to slums where children are now not just eager to go to school, but never want to miss a day or lunch.

On the menu: rice, beans, vegetables—hot, balanced, and reliable.

For AWK, this meal isn’t just lunch. It’s the reason she can stay focused in class, the reason her mother no longer worries whether she’ll go hungry throughout the day.

The yellow band is for tapping by a Food for Education official in the serving line and Sh5 is deducted from the child’s digital wallet to pay for a meal. The total cost per meal is Sh45, parents contribute Sh5, the county Sh25 and Food4Education Sh15.

Vulnerable learners, who cannot afford Sh5, get meals at no cost; the French government helps finance their food.

Some eat the whole portion while others ask to carry some home for their younger siblings and family members, knowing there isn't enough food at home. 

Learners in the many nonpublic slum schools do not benefit; they either go without food or the management buys, prepares and serves meals, sometimes a mid-morning snack of uji and bread and a hot lunch. If they are lucky.

The public schools initiative currently feeds more than 300,000 learners daily in Nairobi alone. It started small.

“We began in 2012 feeding just 25 children,” Shalom Ndiku, director of Public Affairs at Food For Education, says.

“Today, we serve more than 500,000 children a day across 12 counties, four in partnership with county governments—and we aim to reach one million school children a day by 2027.”

Ndiku said Food For Education has built a network of 150 centralised mega kitchens, each capable of producing as many as 60,000 meals a day.

Through partnerships with the county governments of Nairobi, Mombasa, Murang’a and Embu, as well as numerous MPs countrywide, the organisation delivers hot, nutritious meals directly to schools—often in underserved, food-insecure communities.

The positive impact is undeniable.

“We’ve recorded a 20 per cent increase in school enrolment and a 10 per cent rise in daily attendance where feeding programmes run consistently,” he says.

“For many children, a hot meal is the difference between showing up or staying home.”

More than half (54 per cent) of schoolgoing children in supported counties benefit from these programmes, making it one of the largest school feeding efforts in East Africa.

The data collected from wristbands records not only enrolment and attendance but also the type of food preferred and whether boys or girls eat most.

Data also show which schools run meals on schedule, and the information cycles back to the school administration to improve and fill in any gaps. 

"We crunch the numbers to show which genders liked which meals, the trends in schools and the time when students come to school in full capacity,” Nkidu says.

“During exam period, attendance tends to be full.”

The smart wristbands track meals, improving accountability and logistics.

The aim is to influence public policy so the school feeding programme is cascaded to all public schools and entrenched in policy.

Beyond Nairobi, the organisation is piloting hot porridge provision in Embu—targeting early childhood development learners. It is also preparing to scale up operations in Bungoma, where the need is high.

Each meal is prepared according to strict nutritional standards, ensuring children receive the calories, proteins and nutrients they need to grow and learn.

At its core, the feeding programme movement is about dignity and equal opportunity.

“This isn’t charity,” Ndiku says.

 “It’s about giving every child—rich or poor—equal shot at learning and thriving.”

As Kenya moves toward universal education access, initiatives such as Dishi Na County are proving that feeding learners isn’t a luxury—it’s a necessity. It’s a strategy for academic success, social equity and long-term national growth.

At Mukuru Kwa Njenga, Amina wipes her plate clean, her eyes already drifting toward the blackboard.

Today, she’s not just full—she’s focused. Her future feels a little closer, a little more possible.

And it all began with a hot plate of food.

Instant analysis

Dishi Na County proves that a hot meal can be as powerful as a textbook — boosting school attendance, enrolment and focus. It’s not just a feeding programme; it’s an equaliser in Kenya’s education system.