Following the recent consultation (16 October – 19 November) with Mary’s Meals Kenya Turkana staff, Mary’s Meals International confirms the proposed changes to the way its school feeding programmes are operated in Turkana
From 2026, the Mary’s Meals programme will be delivered through additional investment in its existing local partner, the Diocese of Lodwar, and programme delivery through Mary’s Meals Kenya will cease.
Since NACONEK took over school feeding in primary schools last year – a move welcomed by Mary’s Meals – the size of its programme in Turkana has decreased and is now focused on Early Childhood Development and Education centres (ECDEs) only.
Following review, Mary’s Meals International has concluded that building local capability through the Diocese is the best way forward.
As a result, the Mary’s Meals Kenya office in Lodwar will close towards the end of 2025 with the regrettable loss of 68 jobs.
The organisation has commenced talks (26 November) with the Diocese to confirm those ECDEs to be added to its Mary’s Meals school feeding programme.
The Rev. Fr. Joseph Eyangan Ebenyo, Vicar General, Diocese of Lodwar comments:
“We can confirm that Mary’s Meals International has approached us and we’re actively working on plans for the Diocese to take on feeding at a number of the schools that currently receive Mary’s Meals directly through the Mary’s Meals Kenya programme.
“We anticipate over the coming weeks we will be able to confirm those ECDEs which will transfer, so that we can put in place plans for daily school feeding from the start of the new academic year.”
Not all ECDEs in the current programme will transfer to the Diocese, such as feeding centres which offer no education and those schools receiving a significant amount of food from the County Government.
As a result of the consultation process, a number of revisions have been made based on feedback from staff.
Critically, in order to mitigate the effect on those communities that will no longer receive school feeding through the charity’s programme, Mary’s Meals International will provide a one-time food distribution to cover the first term of the new school year, giving the County Government, communities and schools time to make alternative arrangements for school feeding.
Mary’s Meals International Chief Programmes Officer Erin Pratley says:
“We recognise that this is a very difficult situation for staff and the communities they have served, and we thank everyone for the passion, commitment and loyalty they have shown to the programme over the years. We remain encouraged by the progress the Turkana County Government and the National Council for Nomadic Education in Kenya have made recently, and are set to make in the future, to ensure that children receive food in their place of education.”
