PG-HGSF case study: Improving Procurement Tools for Smallholder Farmer Inclusion in Kenya

The PG-HGSF project announces the publication of the new case study in its learning series. This study, Improving Procurement Tools for Smallholder Farmer Inclusion in Kenya by Eliana Vera, Eliud Nkunja and Joseph Omollo, discusses building the capacity of public procurers to engage smallholder farmers in school feeding procurement through the development and roll-out of procurement tools.

The Kenya Home Grown School Meals programme ensures that 813,000 school children receive a nutritious meal each school day, while potentially supporting growth of local economies by purchasing food valued at 17 million USD per year from smallholder farmers. At the same time, the programme is charged with safeguarding public funds through open and transparent procurement processes. However, the existing procurement regulations, processes and tools did not fully support the inclusion of smallholder farmers, promote transparency, or ensure schools get value for the funds spent. To address this challenge, we piloted specific tools to explore how the procurement process could remove obstacles to smallholder participation in the public procurement of foodstuffs. This case study describes the experiences and lessons learned in piloting modifications to existing procurement tools and processes, proposing new tools, and training stakeholders to use these tools to buy food for the school meals programme at four schools in Narok County, Kenya.

Learn more about the Procurement Governance for Home Grown School Feeding (PG-HGSF) project and download Improving Procurement Tools for Smallholder Farmer Inclusion in Kenya.