Malnutrition Rates Decrease by 85% in Just One Year at Seven Schools in Kenya

on December 4, 2024

In southwestern Kenya, seven schools are creating holistic, long-term solutions to food insecurity for their students and local community.

The seven schools participate in the Feed for Knowledge project, launched in 2022 by Rise Against Hunger and in-country partner Rural Family Hope. In a region where malnutrition rates are higher than the national average, this multi-faceted project addresses the root causes of hunger to reduce malnutrition in these communities.

Grounded in school feeding, the project provides farmers with sustainable agriculture training, establishes school gardens and supplies water tanks, in addition to serving students two nutritious meals daily comprised of local ingredients. These project components are improving the children’s nutrition — just in the project’s first year, the participating schools reported malnutrition rates decreased by 85%!

And that’s not all! Keep reading to hear from local students and school leaders on how the feeding program at Simbauti Primary School (one of the seven participating schools) improves nutritional status and supports bright futures for the children.

Charles Gisemba, a teacher in charge of the feeding program at Simbauti Primary School

As the teacher in charge of the feeding program at Simbauti Primary School, Charles explained that the school ensures the meals are highly nutritious. “We have vitamins, carbohydrates, bodybuilding — it’s a balanced diet,” he said. The meals are made of crops from the school gardens and local farmers, as well as food purchased locally with funds from Rise Against Hunger.

Eating rice, beans, kale, yogurt and more, the students receive adequate nutrition to support their health.

Judith, a grade 7 student at Simbauti Primary School

Judith, age 12, receives two school meals every day through the project. She has noticed a physical difference since eating the meals, explaining, “I like my school because they give us very nutritious food and that makes our bodies strong and our bones strong.”

In a song performed by Judith and her classmates, she also shared that, before the feeding program, many students did not attend school due to a lack of food. But she and her classmates sang, “Nowadays, we don’t have any absenteeism because the food is affordable. We don’t have any risk of healthy challenges.” With their nutritional needs met, Judith and her fellow students can attend school regularly and focus on their studies.

Graham, a grade 8 student at Simbauti Primary School

Graham is another recipient of the feeding program at Simbauti Primary School. He said, “I feel better [after eating the meals] because they are healthy foods, which are balanced diets and they give us health in our bodies.” With the meals providing Graham with the critical nutrition he needs to be healthy and thrive, he can focus on his studies — including mathematics, his favorite class — as he works toward his dream of becoming a doctor one day to help others.

Margret Mongeri, a cook at Simbauti Primary School

Working as a school cook for three years, Margret has seen firsthand how the Feed for Knowledge project has transformed Simbauti Primary School and its students. When she first started working at the school, she explained that many parents faced challenges in paying for food for their children to eat at school. This led to a lot of students missing school. Since the feeding program launched, more children are now attending school, and their overall health has improved. “I no longer see children miss school,” Margret said. “They report every time. And their skin a while back was bad, but now the food has helped them become very healthy. They are very healthy.”

With fewer malnutrition cases and improved health, the students at the schools participating in the Feed for Knowledge project can focus on their education, a crucial building block for their futures and for long-term impact in their communities. Watch the video below to learn more:

The Feed for Knowledge project holistically supports nutrition, education, agriculture, livelihoods and health — and YOU help make this impact possible. It starts with a meal, and it starts with you. Will you help us ensure children and families in Kenya and around the world have the nutrition they need? Donate today!

Strength, Stability And Hope

The gift that filled Nelly’s table.

“We were yielding very little, and the crops could not sustain us the whole year,” Nelly remembers. As a mother of seven and a farmer with two decades of experience, the stress of inconsistent yields was all-consuming. A poor harvest not only strained her family financially, but also limited their own meals to just two a day. Their story reflects that of many in their fishing and farming village near a lake in the Karonga district of northern Malawi. Here, heavy rainfall makes conventional farming methods nearly impossible. The entire village is, quite literally, saturated in food insecurity — a reality that leaves families struggling to survive season after season without a dependable source of nourishment.

In 2019, Nelly began participating in Harvesting Prosperity and Resilience, a sustainable agriculture project implemented by Rise Against Hunger in partnership with the Foundation for Community Support Services (FOCUS). The project works with 3,100 smallholder farmers in Malawi’s Karonga and Mzimba districts to strengthen food and nutrition security by improving production methods, nutrition practices and household income.

Just one year later, Nelly was ready to expand the variety of crops on her farm. What land once only produced maize began to flourish with sesame, cowpeas, rice and groundnuts during the rainy season (summer), as well as maize and vegetables during the dry season (winter). Through climate-smart agriculture training, she learned new techniques like manure making, pit planting and mulching, crop rotation and intercropping. Equipped with these tools, Nelly’s farm began to thrive.

After the 2023–2024 growing season, she sold enough produce to purchase an ox cart. Her harvests in 2024-2025 season yielded over 500 pounds of crops, including 22 bags of groundnuts, seven bags of maize, 12 tins of sesame and three bags of rice. With this surplus, she was able to invest in a motorbike, which she now uses to transport African doughnuts (mandasi) that she cooks and sells — creating yet another source of income for her family.

The transformation reaches far beyond her finances. Nelly now has the stability to provide for her husband and children. “I am able to eat different food types, pay school fees for my children and fulfill the visions that I have made with my family,” she beams. “I am now sleeping peacefully without any fears of food or paying school fees for the children.”

Her leadership has also grown. Today, Nelly serves as a leader in the Harvesting Prosperity and Resilience project, teaching other farmers in her district to adopt climate-resilient, labor-saving practices. By sharing her knowledge, she is multiplying her impact — empowering her neighbors to experience the same transformation she has achieved.

Across Nelly’s community, food and economic security are on the rise. Lombani, a government extension officer for the region, explains, “I can see the community is being transformed in the sense that in the area, there is food, income and nutrition security. Development is also happening at the household level.”

Nelly reflects on what it means to invest in holistic programs that address the root causes of hunger: “We are now healthy people. Children are going to school after eating their breakfast, having high yields and different types of crops due to conservation agriculture practices. With the support from the project, we have food, and we can access other food items from the market after selling our produce.”

This is the gift that fills: a future full of stability, strength and hope. It fills tables with food, families with security and communities with the resources to thrive. It’s an investment in futures rooted in resilience and hope.