{"id":49800,"date":"2026-11-03T07:48:06","date_gmt":"2026-11-03T05:48:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=49800"},"modified":"2026-11-03T07:48:06","modified_gmt":"2026-11-03T05:48:06","slug":"african-governments-urged-to-invest-in-sustainable-school-feeding-programmes","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/african-governments-urged-to-invest-in-sustainable-school-feeding-programmes\/","title":{"rendered":"African governments urged to invest in sustainable school feeding programmes"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"x_elementToProof\" data-olk-copy-source=\"MessageBody\">African governments are being urged to increase investment in sustainable school feeding programmes to tackle child hunger, improve learning outcomes and support local economies.<\/div>\n<div id=\"x_x_aboveBlackLine\">\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The call was made at the opening of the Global Child Nutrition Forum in Lusaka, Zambia.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The gathering has brought together government representatives and other stakeholders from around the world to explore practical ways of addressing hunger among schoolchildren.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Food insecurity, climate change and limited resources is placing pressure on food systems.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The focus is now increasingly on how governments can ensure that school feeding programmes are sustainable and reach more children.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Opening the forum, Global Child Nutrition Forum Executive Director Arlene Mitchell says decisions made by adults have far-reaching consequences for children, including those beyond their own communities and countries.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;As we think about what is happening around the world, it is clear that we cannot and we should not underestimate the impact on children of the actions we take as adults. Our actions have consequences for our own children, for the children in our own countries, and for children we have never met and never will.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Zambia&#8217;s Education Minister, Harry Kamboni, said the gathering provides an opportunity for countries to share experiences and identify practical solutions to challenges affecting school-feeding programmes.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;As countries continue to address the challenges relating to food insecurity, climate change, limited resources, and growing nutritional needs, this gathering provides an important opportunity to identify practical and sustainable solutions. And that&#8217;s what we are here for. As we commence our deliberation, we urge all delegates to engage effectively in the deliberation.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile an organisation called Food4Education, which serves around 700 000 meals daily in Kenya, is sharing its experience in helping governments strengthen their school feeding systems.<\/p><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The organisation has signed a memorandum of understanding with Zambia&#8217;s Ministry of Education to provide technical support to the country&#8217;s homegrown school meals programme. Food4Education&#8217;s Lead for Government Relations, Vincent Muiruri, says the aim is to strengthen existing government systems rather than establish parallel structures.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8211;Channel Africa\/ Lebogang Mabange&#8211;<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":23430,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[78,26],"class_list":["post-49800","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-featured","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"","published_date":"","news_description":"Call to increase investment in sustainable school feeding programmes","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/49800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/49800\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49802,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/49800\/revisions\/49802"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=49800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}