SCHOOL FEEDING PROGRAM

The drought crisis in Kenya from 2021 to 2024 was the worst in over 40 years, leading the government to declare it a national disaster. Meru County was particularly affected, with a significant increase in the number of people needing food assistance and many schools facing closure due to malnutrition.

In response, Ripples International (RI), in partnership with Kindernothilfe (KNH), launched the Drought Intervention Project in September 2022. This project supported 16 primary schools with wet feeding programs, benefiting 5,500 children and improving school attendance. Additionally, 130 vulnerable households received cash transfers, providing immediate relief and stimulating the local economy.

RI also implemented initiatives such as providing water storage tanks, distributing drought-resistant seeds, and organizing climate change adaptation meetings. The Grow Bag Initiative supported school kitchen gardens and vulnerable households, promoting long-term self-sufficiency.

Overall, the project significantly improved conditions in Meru County, demonstrating the power of collaboration in addressing human suffering and fostering community resilience.

Mweronkanga Primary School

Mweronkanga Primary school is a public school with over 400 learners. It is located in Tigania West Sub County, Meru County in a remote village. The residents are subsistence farmers in a semi-arid area characterized by large scale poverty. Families barely have a meal a day. In this drought crisis schooling is not a priority to most families, people are preoccupied with what to put on the table each day and everyone is involved including the children.

In the school feeding program in 2022-2023, the effect is tangible. The academic ratings in national exams have gone up. The head teacher attributes this to the support they are getting from Ripples International. Teachers are also noting that children now have more time to play over lunch hour since they don’t have to go home for lunch, that is never certain. Ripples International also does advocacy of children rights in the school.

‘’I am so grateful for the feeding program, more often it is my first meal for the day since we normally take supper alone.’
Learner, Mweronkanga

Luuria Primary School

The school feeding program began in the year 1974 with muddy classrooms but as the years passed by the classrooms have been upgraded to block classrooms although some of the classrooms are still dilapidated.

The school boosts of good performance, but due to drought the performance has significantly gone down.

The headteacher had stated that the majority of the learners went hungry because the little support from the parents in the school feeding program was no more. The learners hardly have enough to feed on, the land is bare. This led to absenteeism and school dropouts and thus negatively affected school performance.

RI intervened this situation and began a feeding program which has significantly improved performance and enrolment.

Ntani Primary School

Ntani primary school has 211 learners. In the last five years Ripples International’s school feeding program has helped the school to enroll back dropouts, plus newcomers, an increment of 27%. The academic ratings in national exams has consistently gone up.

The feeding program is being implemented in a community where children’s rights are scarcely upheld. RI runs a child rights outreach initiative addressing the main issues which are early marriages and teenage pregnancies that are forcing girls to drop out from school.