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Kenyan nutritionist and social entrepreneur Wawira Njiru has been named the 2026 recipient of the German Africa Prize for turning school feeding into a model for food security, job creation and local economic development.
Kenyan social innovator and nutritionist Wawira Njiru has been named the recipient of the 2026 German Africa Prize, one of Germany’s most prominent awards recognising outstanding contributions to global development from abroad.
Njiru, founder and CEO of the social enterprise Food4Education (F4E), is being honoured for an approach that goes beyond feeding hungry schoolchildren. Her model links school meals with local farming, employment, technology and economic development, creating what the German Africa Foundation describes as an African response to a global challenge.
What began in 2012 as an effort to provide meals to just 25 schoolchildren has grown into a nationwide operation reaching more than 660,000 children at over 1,900 schools in Kenya. F4E says it has served more than 200 million meals.
The organisation sources about 80 per cent of its food from smallholder farmers, providing them with a reliable market, while its operations employ more than 6,000 people, most of them women and young people. The organisation’s digital Tap2Eat system allows families to contribute towards meals while helping coordinate procurement and distribution.
The jury, chaired by Deutsche Welle’s Africa programmes director Claus Stäcker, said Njiru had demonstrated that school feeding could become “economic infrastructure” by reaching children while strengthening the local economy.
That argument is particularly relevant as food systems face pressure from international conflicts, climate volatility and fragile global supply chains. F4E is now sharing its experience beyond Kenya, including through cooperation with the Zambian government on strengthening its nationally led school-feeding system.
For Njiru, the recognition reflects a broader shift in thinking about development in Africa: from seeing school meals primarily as welfare to treating them as an investment in children, farmers, workers and local economies.
The prize will be formally presented to Njiru on 4 November 2026 at the Allianz Forum in Berlin by Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development Reem Alabali Radovan.
The German Africa Prize has been awarded annually by the German Africa Foundation (DAS) since 1993. It recognises individuals from African countries whose work has made an exceptional contribution to areas including democracy, peace, human rights, sustainable development, research, innovation and social development. Winners are selected by an independent 20-member jury, with the award traditionally presented by a senior German political figure.
The recent list of laureates illustrates the breadth of the prize. In 2024, it went to Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, the then mayor of Freetown, Sierra Leone, for her work on citizen participation, women’s empowerment and climate-resilient urban development. Last year, the award went to Zimbabwean human-rights and democracy activist Namatai Kwekweza, recognised for her courageous advocacy for the rule of law and democratic renewal.
Vivian Asamoah
