Nairobi — Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja on Thursday restated his commitment to a county-wide school feeding programme in keeping with his promise during the campaign.
Sakaja spoke when he hosted Her Royal Highness Princess Sarah Zeid of Jordan who made a courtesy call visit to the governor at his City Hall office.
The governor said the programme will target public schools who are heavily impacted by urban poverty which a major disruption in school attendance.
Sakaja welcomed the partnership by World Food Programme (WFP) under Princess Sarah in supporting the feeding programme and increased nutrition in the country adding the initiative is a welcome gesture and Nairobi County will be seeking to partner with like minded individuals.
"We have been piloting the project in a few schools in Nairobi and have seen attendance in school has gone up by 100 per cent while performance has also improved by over 60% in the schools we have partnered with," the Governor said.
Princess Sarah said she is focused on increasing nutrition for urban residence which in effect also increases output and plays a major role in wealth creation.
She added that WFP will be willing to partner with Nairobi county in proving technical support for the school feeding programme.
"Such kind of initiatives are an important safety net that help in fighting hunger and increase nutrition amongst our population," Princess Sara added.
The Governor said he has also had a discussion with the the President-Elect William Ruto on the school feeding programme and he got assurances that the national government will roll out a national school feeding programme once the new administration has been sworn in.
"The national government under Kenya Kwanza will undertake to finance and roll out the feeding programme countrywide and will depend on Nairobi County for learning lessons," Sakaja added.
General Badi, Director General Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) added that his office has managed to improve health services in Nairobi by setting up 8 new health facilities in Nairobi and renovating about 10 more to ensure residents receive efficient and quality health service.
NMS are in the process of handing over all the health center's and other projects to the new Nairobi county administration led by Sakaja.
Princess Sara expressed her gratitude to government of Kenya for being part of a global initiative where governments have taken the step-in feedings its own people through fascial allocation specific to feeding school going children and increase nutrition and fighting the high mortality rate around the globe.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
"I am happy that Kenya just signed the global initiative where governments are owning up the initiative and focusing on feeding its population," she added.
Sajaka also said that his administration is looking at leveraging on technology to provide solutions to some of the issues affecting Nairobi residents.
"We are going to set up a hacker centre in Nairobi which will be open to all young people who we shall partner with in offering solutions to some of our issues," he added.
Princess Sarah Zeid is WFP's global ambassador for nutrition and maternal health and is in the country to visit some of the health and nutrition projects in Nairobi.
The visit is an opportunity for the princess to experience first hand impact of the draught and advocate for additional funding from global partners.
