NAIROBI, KENYA — Nairobi County’s flagship school feeding initiative, Dishi na County, has reached a major milestone by providing daily hot meals to more than 316,000 public primary and ECDE school children across the capital.
Initiated under Governor Johnson Sakaja’s administration, the programme addresses chronic hunger among school-aged children while boosting classroom attendance, concentration, and academic retention.
Meals are prepared and delivered daily across 230 public primary schools in Nairobi.
The operation relies on 17 central mega-kitchens—one situated in each sub-county—to prepare fresh meals every morning.
Parents pay a subsidized rate of Ksh5 per child per day via digital payment tokens. For ultra-vulnerable families unable to pay, the county absorbs the full cost to ensure no child is turned away.
According to County Hall reports, primary school enrollment has spiked by over 40% in participating schools since the launch, sharply reducing chronic absenteeism.
“Before Dishi na County, one in four children in Nairobi attended school on an empty stomach,” said Governor Johnson Sakaja during an address on the programme’s progress. “Today, that narrative has completely shifted. We are not just feeding children; we are keeping them in class, improving learning outcomes, and easing the burden on hard-pressed parents.”
Building on the success of the 17 central kitchens, City Hall is mapping plans to extend the feeding programme to thousands of learners in informal schools (community and non-formal centers) in Nairobi’s informal settlements.
To fund the next growth phase, Governor Sakaja has formally called on the national government and the Ministry of Education to honor matching-fund commitments to help scale the infrastructure and sustain operations long-term.
