Kenya’s Home-Grown School Feeding Programmes (HGSFPs) have played a vital role in improving school attendance, academic performance and child nutrition since the 1980s. While government-led policies have supported their implementation, challenges still exist — most notably the exclusion of marginalized regions and local smallholder farmers from the supply chain—particularly women and youth—due to barriers such as limited land ownership, capital, and market access. Meanwhile, inadequate school infrastructure such as poor storage and kitchen facilities often leads to food spoilage and wastage. Corruption, delayed payments, and reliance on imported food ingredients for nutritionally limited food choices also restrict the nutritional diversity needed for healthy child development.
Despite these challenges, HGSFPs present an opportunity to drive demand for diverse, indigenous, and nutrient-dense foods, transforming school meals into powerful tools for improved nutrition and dietary diversity for children. Tackling these gaps through inclusive procurement reforms that incorporate agroecologically produced foods is essential for making school feeding programs inclusive, sustainable, and impactful.
Market Solution
The SusTainable, Inclusive and Equitable Procurement in Home Grown School Feeding Programmes (STEP– School Feeding) is an action- research initiative that seeks to to promote healthy and sustainable diets in schools, increase incomes, and strengthen the resilience of local food system stakeholders — particularly women and youth — by designing and piloting scalable innovative, viable and inclusive procurement systems for school feedingacross four counties in Kenya —Embu, Isiolo, Makueni and Nairobi. STEP is funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and led by the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) in collaboration with Tanager, Tegemeo Institute of Agricultural Policy and Development, and the Government of Kenya.
As part of the implementing consortium, Tanager will lead research focused on integrating gender and social inclusion across all levels of the food system—production, processing, distribution, and consumption—within Kenya’s Home-Grown School Feeding Programmes. This data-driven approach aims to inform policies that not only scale school feeding, but also ensure it is inclusive and equitable.
Market Impact
- Evidence gathered from research will support the co-creation, design, and piloting of innovative, viable, and inclusive procurement models in two counties to address identified gaps in HGSFPs.
- Research outcomes will contribute to the development of HGSFPs that create sustainable markets for nutrient-rich food crops produced by smallholder farmers and value chain actors using agro-ecology practices and gender and social inclusion (GESI) responsive approaches.
- The research will provide evidence-based policy recommendations to inform decision-makers in creating a functional enabling environment, ensuring the success of a robust, GESI responsive HGSFP supported by sustainable food production and distribution systems.
Resources
STEP Fact Sheet (English, 8.5 x 11 inches)
