Wawira Njiru Honoured in Germany for Feeding 660,000 Kenyan Pupils

Kenyan nutritionist Wawira Njiru has been awarded the prestigious German Africa Prize for her work tackling child hunger through Food4Education.

Njiru founded Food4Education after starting a school feeding initiative that provided lunch to 25 children. The organisation now serves meals to more than 660,000 pupils across Kenya.

The programme also supports local economies by sourcing about 80 percent of its ingredients from smallholder farmers. It employs more than 6,000 people, most of them women and young people.

The German Africa Foundation has described the Food4Education model as a form of “economic infrastructure”, noting that its school meals support farmers, workers and communities as well as pupils.

Food4Education’s approach has also attracted interest from governments across Africa, which are exploring how the model could be adapted to their own countries. The initiative combines school feeding with support for local agriculture and employment.

Njiru will formally receive the German Africa Prize in Berlin on 4 November 2026. Germany’s Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, Reem Alabali Radovan, will present the award.

The recognition comes as other Kenyan innovators gain international support. Annick Gulenywa, the creator of Veira, an all-in-one platform designed to help small businesses manage their operations, secured funding through the Tony Elumelu Foundation’s 2025 Entrepreneurship Programme.