Zambia, Food4Education ink four-year school feeding pact

By MUBITA KATETE

THE Government of Zambia has signed a four-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Food4Education Foundation Zambia to strengthen the country’s National School Feeding Programme, with officials describing the initiative as a key investment in education, nutrition and economic development.

The partnership, signed in Lusaka yesterday, will focus on policy coordination, programme design, digital innovation, financing, infrastructure development and institutional capacity to improve the delivery of school meals and learning outcomes.

Head of the Presidential Delivery Unit (PDU) Kusobile Kamwambi said the government’s education reforms have removed financial barriers that previously prevented many children from accessing education.

“Education is no longer only for the privileged, and the financial barrier that was there before is no longer there. We have seen more than 2.6 million learners come back into the education system, and the school feeding programme has moved from 9,000 beneficiaries in 2021 to over 5.6 million learners benefiting in 2026,” Ms Kamwambi said.

She said while government had made significant progress in expanding access to education, attention must now shift to improving implementation and service delivery.

“It shouldn’t take us six months to procure food. We’ve seen all the challenges that we are having with the procurement of food for schools. There are challenges in terms of data as well. We have to make sure that the food reaches the schools and is effectively utilised,” she said.

Office of the Vice President Permanent Secretary (Administration) Lillian M. Kapusana described the partnership as a significant milestone in government’s efforts to build a sustainable and nationally owned school feeding system.

She said the collaboration would strengthen existing government systems through technical assistance, innovation and institutional capacity building rather than creating parallel structures.

Mrs Kapusana said that Zambia also hopes to position itself as a regional leader in school feeding and child nutrition, particularly as the country prepares to host the Global Child Nutrition Forum later this year.

“This is what it looks like when a government decides that school feeding is not a peripheral programme but a central one. When you put the weight of several ministries behind your own children, you are making a different kind of commitment. You are saying that feeding a child is a strategic public investment, not a recurring cost,” Njiru said.