Kenya’s School Meals Programme Showcases Systems-Finance Solutions at UN Headquarters
In New York this week, government leaders, development partners, and innovators gathered at the Joint Meeting of the UN General Assembly’s Second Committee and ECOSOC, focused on “Reimagining Public–Investor Partnerships: Systems Finance for Inclusive Sustainability Transformations.”
Amid the discussions on how to move from fragmented projects to coordinated investments, one story stood out – Kenya’s climate-friendly Home-Grown School Feeding Programme, presented by the UN Resident Coordinator as a vivid example of systems finance in action through collaboration between WFP, FAO and IFAD, enabled by the Food Systems Window of the Joint SDG Fund, steered by the Fund Secretariat and the UN Food Systems Coordination Hub.
A School Meals Revolution Driving Broader Transformation
Kenya’s national school feeding initiative has evolved from a social safety net into a cornerstone of climate resilience and rural development. By sourcing food from local smallholders, promoting nutritious and drought-tolerant crops, and introducing clean-energy cooking solutions, the programme is creating stable rural markets, empowering women and youth, and improving children’s learning and nutrition outcomes – all through a single, coherent policy framework.
The UN Resident Coordinator in Kenya, Stephen Jackson, highlighted that this approach “shows what systems finance can achieve when national leadership, coherent policies, and diverse forms of capital work together for a shared goal.”
The programme is now seen as a model for integrating food, education, and climate policy – and for how predictable public procurement can stimulate local economies and attract investment.
The Hub and the Food Systems Window: Turning Ideas into Investment
Efforts like Kenya’s are supported through the Food Systems Transformation Window of the Joint SDG Fund, coordinated by the UN Food Systems Coordination Hub in collaboration with the Fund Secretariat. Working through the UN system agencies in countries, the Window provides catalytic finance and technical assistance that enable UN Country Teams, governments and other partners to design and operationalize integrated investment frameworks – connecting public budgets, development finance, and private capital around nationally defined priorities.
The Hub helps translate ambition into action by guiding these partnerships, strengthening coordination, and ensuring that food systems transformation is embedded in national development planning. Through this approach, countries can move from isolated projects to long-term, system-wide investment platforms that connect food, climate, and economic outcomes.
From Fragmentation to Coherence
The discussion in New York highlighted that while global capital is abundant, it often struggles to reach where it matters most. “The challenge is not a lack of finance,” the Resident Coordinator noted, “but a lack of coordination and confidence.” That is precisely where the UN Food Systems Coordination Hub adds value – by helping governments and UN Country Teams build the integrated platforms and investment pathways that give investors the clarity and trust they need to engage at scale.
Complementing this, Anastassia Nefedova (speaking from a private-sector innovation lens) echoed the same urgency: siloed funding models cannot meet interconnected challenges. She called for orchestrating capital around shared system goals, rather than funding fragmented solutions.
Together, these perspectives made a strong argument for the added value of the Hub and the Window: enabling governments to convene actors, align strategies, and unlock new resources where none existed before.
A Blueprint of What Works
Kenya’s experience demonstrates the tangible value of this model. Thanks to the collective efforts of WFP (lead), FAO, and IFAD under the Resident Coordinator’s leadership, and with engagement from a wide range of partners – including private-sector enterprises, philanthropic foundations (Novo Nordisk, Rockefeller), bilateral partners (Germany, France, China), and public–private investors through Italy’s Mattei Plan – the programme has become a living example of systems finance in action. Its success rests on four interlinked pillars that show how coordination and investment come together in practice:- Anchors investment in national priorities, backed by a strong domestic commitment – Kenya has ringfenced national budget allocations for school feeding and set an ambitious goal to expand coverage from 2.6 million to 10 million children by 2030, ensuring sustained public financing and policy leadership.
- Connects sectors and actors, linking education, agriculture, energy, and climate strategies in a single effort.
- Catalyses new partnerships and financing, leveraging modest seed funds into far greater commitments from across the ecosystem.
- Strengthens UN coordination and coherence, turning multilateral support into a platform for national delivery.
From Vision to Scale
The story from Kenya underscored a larger shift taking place across the UN system: countries are no longer approaching food, climate, and economic transformation as separate agendas, but as one interconnected pathway.
The UN Food Systems Coordination Hub, working with the Joint SDG Fund Secretariat, is helping governments make that shift real – translating national priorities into investable systems solutions that attract capital, accelerate SDG progress, and drive tangible change across economies and communities.
