“The event brought together Ukrainian and European high-ranking officials, specialists and public activists to work together to strengthen school feeding programs not only in Europe, but also beyond its borders. ”, — write: www.president.gov.ua
The first European regional summit is being held in Kyiv on November 12-13 as part of the School Meals Coalition. The event brought together Ukrainian and European high-ranking officials, specialists and public activists to work together to strengthen school feeding programs not only in Europe, but also beyond its borders.
The summit was opened by the Prime Minister of Ukraine, Denys Shmyhal. He emphasized that reform in the field of school meals is important, because it is a key element of the country’s recovery and development strategy after the war.
“1.8 million high school students are provided with food. About half of them eat free hot breakfasts or lunches thanks to the funds provided by the state. From this school year, free hot meals are available to all elementary school students. This year, the government allocated 2 billion hryvnias to the places,” the Prime Minister said.
Olena Zelenska noted that the summit was an important stage on Ukraine’s path to integration into international initiatives for the development of school meals, as well as for the implementation of the corresponding reform that she initiated.
During the event, the first lady together with the Minister of Education and Science Oksen Lisov and the Minister of Health Viktor Lyashko presented the reform of school meals.
“Food is a significant component of success in education and life. Therefore, first of all, we gathered many different institutions at one table at the same time: the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education and Science, the Ministry of Economy, representatives of public organizations, including experts in the field of nutrition, chefs, doctors, nutritionists, nutritionists – and began to act, step one step at a time,” said Olena Zelenska.
She reminded that 2019 began with the audit of half a thousand schools. He showed that in 52% of establishments in villages and 40% in cities, there are no necessary premises and equipment for normal cooking, and sugar, fats, bread and semi-finished products prevailed over vegetables, fruits, fish and dairy products.
Based on the results of the work of hundreds of people from the state and public sectors and relevant efforts, in August 2020, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the Action Plan for reforming the school food system. It became a road map for the reform – how to teach children to choose healthy food, modernize outdated food blocks, provide financing for this process and training for cooks.
“Today, I am proud of the fact that, despite the war, standards and regulations were updated, old kitchens and dining rooms are being modernized, and the first kitchen factory was built. Hundreds of chefs and managers are improving their qualifications. High-quality and healthy food appears even where students have not had access to hot lunches for years,” the first lady said.
The Minister of Education and Science, Oksen Lisovyi, presented four strategic goals of the school nutrition reform: strengthening the capacity of communities, modernizing the infrastructure of school canteens, developing personnel potential, and communicating healthy nutrition.
The Minister of Health, Viktor Lyashko, spoke, in particular, about the new sanitary regulations and the government’s decree, which establish the standards of nutrition in schools. In addition, he reminded that the communities have developed their own strategies for the implementation of the reform on the ground. Now it is implemented by the cascade method for each specific school and kindergarten.
The main topic discussed at the summit was the provision of high-quality food for schoolchildren both in Europe and in Ukraine. Particular attention was paid to how a balanced meal in schools has a positive effect not only on the academic performance of students, but also on their well-being.
It was also about the implementation of school feeding programs at the local level. Participants discussed what role local authorities can play in this process. In addition, an important focus of the discussion is the development of staff working in school canteens and the need to train specialists who can prepare modern, healthy and tasty meals for children.
In total, about 500 people from different countries of the world took part in the summit, including representatives of the UN World Food Program, the WHO Office in Ukraine, UNICEF, the UN Development Program (UNDP) and the World Bank, as well as the governments and embassies of more than 20 countries, including Norway , Finland, Lithuania, Croatia, Slovenia, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Slovakia, Austria, Brazil, Spain, Moldova, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Czech Republic, Montenegro, Sweden, France, Bulgaria, and the EU.
Reference.
The School Feeding Coalition is a global partnership of governments, international organizations, civil society and the private sector dedicated to providing all children with healthy, nutritious and consistent school meals. The goal of the Coalition is to expand school meal programs, improve student health and academic performance, and support local economies by purchasing products from small farmers. In addition, the Coalition aims to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, including ending hunger by 2030.
