School feeding programme

The government of Kenya is responsible for providing lunch time meals to all primary schools.  However, the programme has not yet reached all the schools. In addition, the relief is inconsistent, with a delay at the beginning of each term and provisions often running out before the end of term.
 
The DEC emergency funds help ActionAid Kenya to target schools that are not in the government feeding programme as well as filling in the gaps at the beginning and end of terms in other schools. 
 
Kongelai Primary is one of the schools that has benefited from ActionAid Kenya’s school feeding programme, having not had any government food delivered since September.
 
Fourteen year-old Martha Cherop is in standard four at Kongleai Primary School.  She is one of many children who was struggling to go to school and keep going throughout the day without food.
  
Martha said:  “I am happy that this week I have had a lunch time meal from school.  For the past week since school started, I have been staying hungry the whole day because we do not take lunch time meal in our home.  We only take supper and something light in the morning.
 
“I find learning easier when my stomach is taken care of”, Martha continued.
 
ActionAid’s school feeding programme helps keep the children in school who would otherwise drop out during the intense drought period.   Through the DEC appeal, ActionAid has been able to reach 19,707 children so far with school feeding programmes across 6 districts in Kenya: Isiolo, Makima, Sericho, Tangulbei, Kongelai and Narok and across all its programmes, ActionAid has reached 375,000 people.