The UN Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and World Food Programme have launched a project to improve the diet of school-aged children with support from Germany's agriculture ministry (BMEL), FAO announced in a statement.
“Through this comprehensive toolkit and technical support to improve school meals, the broader school food environments and procurement processes from local food systems, FAO aims to support governments and institutions in providing healthier school food to children and adolescents, therefore marking a step forward towards ensuring their right to food,” said Nancy Aburto, deputy director of FAO's Food and Nutrition Division.
In many countries, school meals form a key part of children's daily diets and the FAO-WFP initiative will produce a new methodology to help government stakeholders and institutions develop and implement nutrition standards for healthier and higher quality school meals for children of all ages, the statement said.
The methodology and guidance package will be piloted in two countries, Cambodia and Ghana, the statement noted.
“School meals go far beyond the plate of food – they can impact education, nutrition, health, agriculture and food systems,” said Carmen Burbano, director of WFP's School-based Programmes Division.
“For these programmes to unfold their full potential we need to work on a next generation of school meal programmes – programmes that contribute to sustainable food systems and ensure that children receive healthy and nutritious meals.”
The project will also produce guidance for schools to implement hands-on food education strategies, including how to use school meal menus as learning materials in the classroom or how adolescents can use the standards to come up with nutritious meals.
The initiative will also restrict the marketing of sugary drinks at schools and 'community ownership will be promoted by mechanisms allowing students and parents to report non-compliance with nutrition standards.
A key part of the project will focus on helping parliaments enact legislation enshrining the new nutrition standards in law, by carrying out legislative studies and providing capacity development.
The project is in line with the commitment of support that five United Nations agencies have made towards the global School Meals Coalition and its aim to ensure that every child gets a daily, healthy meal in school by 2030.
It also contributes to the achievement of several Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), 3 (Good Health and Well-Being) and 4 (Quality Education), FAO noted.
