Who We Are

Partners in sustainable school meals

Our story began with a simple but urgent need: children were arriving at school too hungry to learn.

Feeding Futures was founded by Vanessa Bennett and Peterson Githinji after seeing first-hand how hunger was affecting children’s education, health and opportunity in rural Kenya. What began as a response to immediate need has grown into a long-term model that helps school communities create self-sustaining meal programmes through partnership, training and local ownership.

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Feeding Futures began with an unlikely friendship between Vanessa Bennett in the UK and Peterson Githinji in Kenya.

Our Story

Peterson was the Head Teacher of a rural school in Kenya and Vanessa was the mother of three young children thousands of miles away in the UK, having worked in Medical Physics in the NHS and previously for a small consultancy with Ministries of Health in Sub-Saharan Africa. When talking with Peterson, Vanessa heard how children at his school often went hungry because parents could not feed them adequately. Some children even fainted at school from hunger.

  • Three years later in 2010, with a little money from family and friends, Vanessa and Peterson eventually found a way to start feeding the children in his school and Feeding Futures began.

    Two years in, they realised they could not continue feeding several hundred children indefinitely. Vitally, they also understood that it was more valuable and dignified for parents if they could be helped to provide for their own children.

    Feeding Futures needed to find a way to make school meals self-sustaining.

  • As Feeding Futures became more familiar with the area of school feeding programmes, we realised that whether a programme was run by a huge NGO or a tiny charity, none had a model which was self-sustaining for communities.

    With so many children going hungry at school, even in areas of Kenya where agriculture can be practised, Feeding Futures became dedicated to developing a model for sustainable school meals.

    This meant looking beyond the immediate provision of food and asking a deeper question: how could school communities be equipped to provide meals for their own children long term?

  • One of the first steps towards this was employing an agronomist as our first member of staff, offering training to parents on how to get more from their land.

    Feeding Futures has spent years testing and refining its approach, working with three communities and wanting to be absolutely sure that the model is robust, transferable and genuinely sustainable.

    It took over a decade, but Feeding Futures finally had irrefutable evidence that the model works.

    Through school kitchens, water-harvesting systems, food storage, school farms, agriculture training and community partnership, Feeding Futures now supports schools to feed children today while helping families build the skills and systems needed to continue those meals into the future.

Work With Us

Meet Our Team

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Vanessa Bennett

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Co Founder
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Peterson Githinji

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Co Founder, Executive Chair (Kenya)

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Trustee and Treasurer

Colin Clark

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Trustee

Michael Askwith

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Chair of Trustees

Joanne Kondabéka

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Trustee, Growth & Partnerships Lead

Jon Bennetts

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Trustee in Kenya

Gemima Kema

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Trustee in Kenya

Andrew Njenga

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Trustee, Safeguarding Lead

Ethel Sibanda

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Dave brings experience in education, project leadership, property management and community development, with a particular interest in practical projects that create lasting change.

Over the years, Dave has supported young people through education and sport, led volunteer programmes and contributed to heritage projects across the Portsmouth area. His interest in the environment and the natural world continues to shape both his personal life and the projects he supports.

Dave is married to Nikki and has a daughter, Becca. As a family, they enjoy travelling, hiking and spending time outdoors.

Trustee

Dave Berry

Nderitu Nyaga

Development Support and Livestock Consultant

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Office Manager, Nakuru, Kenya

Pauline Wangari

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Communications Manager

Ruth Lancey

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