Muranga County Porridge Pilot Program

It is estimated that over 200 million children under 5 years of age in developing countries are not realising their development potential due to two issues: chronic malnutrition and poverty. Recent evidence shows that integrated nutrition in early childhood development (ECD) programs is known to have benefits that extend to improved child development and nutrition, playing a crucial mitigating role in curbing long-term effects associated with malnutrition. In Kenya, 51% of the population is food insecure, 46% live in extreme poverty, and children in the 0-5 years bracket account for 14% of the population. With hunger deemed to be today’s most pressing global humanitarian issue, we urgently need to implement solutions that protect our children from this socio-economic issue.

Murang’a County, in rural central Kenya, plays a crucial role in the country’s food and nutrition security, with the agricultural sector contributing for 57% of the county’s employment. Despite being one of the key national food baskets, an estimated 23% of Murang’a’s total population is considered food poor, and 19% of

the county’s population of children under 5 exhibits stunted growth. With approximately 41,000 children enrolled across 35 wards in Murang’a’s public ECD centres, the need to invest in nutrition interventions is more important now more than ever before. These are the county’s most vulnerable children, most likely to come from low-income households where parents are doing their best to feed them.

The Fortified Whole Grain Alliance supported Food for Education’s pilot program in Murang’a County, serving whole grain fortified porridge to over 20,000 early childhood development (ECD) learners in partnership with the Murang’a County Government. Utilizing an adapted centralised kitchen model, Food for Education rolled-out a 2-month porridge pilot that ultimately fed 20,000 children in ECD centres in 8 wards in each of Murang’a’s sub-counties and tested real-time cooking and delivery conditions. Upon successful completion, the pilot scaled up to feed all 37,000 ECD learners in Murang’a County in January 2023.

The project involved three key components: cooking, distribution, and feeding. Upon the successful completion of the project at the end of November 2022, the children involved in the project enjoyed porridge cooked with whole grain flour fortified with essential micronutrients.