Dubai Cares, a UAE-based global philanthropic organisation, has lunched a Ramadan food campaign, to provide nutritious meals to students across Sub-Saharan Africa.
The first phase of 'Feed a Child, Build a Kitchen' will begin in Kenya’s Embu County, where each kitchen will provide 76,000 nutritious meals every year to 400 early learners aged 3 to 6 across 21 rural schools. Beyond nutrition, each kitchen will also create an estimated 164 local jobs.
The feeding campaign provides children with nutritious food sourced from local farms and prepared in planet-friendly community kitchens.
Beyond feeding children, the campaign also creates dignified jobs for local community members, including mothers and supports farmers’ livelihoods.
Meals are prepared by the mothers of the students the campaign supports, giving them dignified jobs in climate-friendly community kitchens built with sustainability in mind. Ingredients are sourced from local smallholder farms, creating steady demand for farmers and strengthening local food systems. The meals are then delivered to schools by local riders, generating more employment within the community.
Through this farm-to-fork model, each kitchen does much more than provide food, it creates jobs, empowers women, supports local livelihoods and builds a sustainable ecosystem that strengthens families and communities while reducing carbon emissions over the long term.
Data indicates that more than 90% of children across Africa lack access to a basic nutritious diet, and more than half do not eat at recommended frequencies. In Kenya alone, 60% of children suffer from inadequate nutrition.