Millennium Villages Blog

Pupils of Sagam enjoying their lunch under the shade

It is possible! That was the key message from Margaret Ndanyi, the Director of the school health, nutrition and meals Unit at the Kenya Ministry of Education, after touring schools in the Sauri Millennium Villages Project. She was there to experience firsthand the School Health, Nutrition and Meals programs supported by the Project in the Gem District of Nyanza Province, Western Kenya. Mrs. Ndanyi was part of a delegation of senior Ministry officials on a learning visit to projects such as the MVP, before they finalize the Ministry’s draft national strategy on school health, nutrition and meals.

Paul Mungai (back) enquiring about the program inside the kitchen at Sagam

At Sagam primary school, the kitchen store is stocked with enough maize and beans to last the whole term. In fact the maize will get well into next term. All the grain is contributed by the parents, which at first the delegation could not believe. The head teacher Peter Onyango Awuor explained how simple it is: “The parents agreed to contribute six kilos of maize and four kilos of beans per term for every child in the school.” This gesture has worked wonders and all the children at Sagam have lunch in school from the first to the last day of the term.

The vegetable garden at Gongo primary school

At Gongo, another primary institution, the school has initiated Income Generation and Learning Activities as a way of ensuring the school meals program is sustainable when the MVP exits from the area. Like Sagam, the parents have agreed to contribute enough maize and beans for the feeding program, while the MVP supports with cooking additives like oil, onions and tomatoes. The proceeds from the Activities, the head teacher Patrick Opala said, will support the purchase of cooking oil and other requirements for the school meals program. Indeed the upcoming poultry project in the school and the vegetable garden seem to have the potential for this.

Visiting the poultry at Gongo primary school

The headmistress at Nyamninia primary school, Millicent Okinyi, is confident that this program is sustainable, although she cautions that the underlying factor to success is the relationship between the school management committee, school administration and parents. Nyamninia is one of the three schools where the MVP intervention has stopped, and it is able to continue the lunch program on its own. She says it took time to mobilize the parents and make them embrace the idea. Today, she is not worried anymore as she is sure the parents would bring enough maize and beans for the program. The school maintains a very successful school garden, poultry and dairy cows which she says are key to the program sustainability. Milk from the cows is used to fortify the porridge given to children of the early childhood development program. The surplus is sold at the local market. Vegetable from the farm forms part of the pupils’ menu and surplus is also sold at the market. The MVP is currently installing a drip irrigation kit. This, she says, will solve the drought problem, and the school will have enough vegetables throughout the year.

According to Paul Mungai, an officer in charge of school feeding program at the Ministry of Education, what they saw in the MVP-supported schools is a testimony that home grown feeding programs can be a success. His parting words were “We’ll tell the world that it can be done. Let others learn from you that it is possible.” Mrs Ndanyi noted that what she saw at Nyamninia was a proof that environment, sanitation, nutrition and health can be integrated in a school set up. “It is actually a complete package,” she concluded.

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