Sakaja to represent Kenya at Global School Meals Coalition Summit in Paris

Nairobi governor Johnson Sakaja is attending the inaugural meeting of the Global School Meals Coalition (GSMC) in Paris, France on October 18 and 19.

The administrator is currently on a five-day working tour in the French capital and will be representing President William Ruto at the summit.

Dr Ruto was invited by France’s President Emmanuel Macron but could not make it due to prior commitments, according to Head of Public Service Felix Koskei. He chose Governor Sakaja to represent him.

Sakaja’s schedule will also see him hold discussions on school feeding programs.

"The biggest impact we have is not pegged on data or numbers, it is that the children know that somebody cares about them," the governor said on Tuesday at a meeting with students.

The decision comes after Sakaja's launch of the "Dishi Na County" school feeding program in Nairobi on August 27.

The feeding program aims at providing nutritious meals to pupils in public Primary Schools and Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) centres with a particular focus on children from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

According to Sakaja, the central objective of the initiative is to alleviate the financial burdens faced by vulnerable parents while ensuring that students remain in school.

The governor reiterated that the program will have a positive impact on school enrolment and transition rates to higher learning institutions across Nairobi's 17 sub-counties.

The GSMC, initiated in 2021 with the support of France and Finland, is dedicated to the goal of providing school meals to every child across the globe by 2030, with the aim of supporting their educational development and overall well-being.