A food lifeline for over a hundred thousand of Kenya's most vulnerable children is set to be severed, as the international charity Mary's Meals confirms it will cease its two-decade-long school feeding programme in Turkana County by the end of 2025. The decision places the futures of 117,039 children in Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) centres in jeopardy and raises urgent questions about the readiness of county and national governments to fill the void.

The withdrawal impacts a total of 183,639 learners who have relied on the daily meals, a critical incentive for school attendance in a region ravaged by drought and food insecurity. For many children, the meal provided by Mary's Meals is the only one they might have in a day, directly linking the programme to classroom enrollment and concentration.

In a statement, Mary’s Meals International explained the “difficult decision” was prompted by positive developments from local authorities. “We remain encouraged by the progress the Turkana County Government and the National Council for Nomadic Education in Kenya have made recently, and are set to make in the future, to ensure that children receive food in their place of education,” noted Chief Programmes Officer Erin Pratley.

A Staggering Financial Gap Emerges

The departure leaves a significant financial and logistical vacuum. Based on the charity's 2024 global average cost of feeding a child for a school year (CAD 31.70), the gap for Turkana's ECDE learners alone is estimated to be over KES 585 million annually. This figure does not include the thousands of primary school children who were also part of the programme. The pullout will also lead to the loss of 68 local jobs at the organisation's Lodwar office.

The news contradicts earlier statements from the Turkana County Government. In October 2025, Deputy Governor Dr. John Erus dismissed reports of the charity's exit as “mere rumours,” assuring the public that the school feeding programme would remain intact. The county administration has yet to release a detailed plan on how it will specifically cover the 793 ECDE centres left exposed by the withdrawal.

Parents on the ground are expressing deep anxiety. “We have faced delayed food distribution by both county and national governments. This has affected vulnerable learners who attend school mainly because there is no food at home. Mary’s Meals Kenya reliably filled that gap,” said James Ekitela, a parent in Lokichar. He warned of a looming “crisis,” pointing out that before the charity’s streamlined operations, food distribution was often uncoordinated, with some schools receiving aid from multiple partners while others went hungry.

Uncertain Transition and Mounting Pressure

To cushion the blow, Mary's Meals has pledged a one-time food distribution to cover the first school term of 2026. The organisation is also in discussions with the Catholic Diocese of Lodwar to take over the feeding programmes in some of the affected ECDE centres.

Rev. Fr. Joseph Eyangan Ebenyo, the Vicar General of the Diocese, confirmed the talks and stated that plans are underway to potentially begin their support in January 2026. However, it remains unclear how many of the 793 centres the Diocese, which already runs a vast and under-resourced network of social programmes, can realistically absorb. Not all centres currently supported by the charity will be transferred.

The responsibility now shifts squarely to the Turkana County government and the National Council for Nomadic Education in Kenya (NACONEK). While NACONEK runs a national school meals programme, parents in Turkana have already cited delays in its implementation. With the county facing rising malnutrition, the withdrawal of a consistent and reliable partner puts immense pressure on public institutions to prove their capacity.

For the children of Turkana, the end of a meal could mean the end of their education, threatening to reverse years of progress in one of Kenya's most challenging environments. The question now is not if the government can provide, but if it can do so reliably, every single school day, for the child whose future depends on it.