Promoting healthy diets through school meals interventions

This is a hybrid event.

The Knowledge and Research for Nutrition project of the European Commission aims to provide improved knowledge and evidence for policy and programme design, management, and monitoring & evaluation in order to reach better nutrition outcomes.  The study on the Implementation of Comprehensive School Food and Nutrition Programmes at Policy and School Level in Kenya, with the full title of School Interventions: which Interventions are (or could be) implemented to promote nutritious diets of Adolescents living in urban Africa in the context of nutrition transition (SIAA)? addressed the pressing issue of high undernutrition rates alongside increasing overweight and obesity among adolescents in Kenya. Recognizing schools as critical settings for shaping dietary habits, the study aimed to identify effective interventions that could promote healthy diets and prevent nutritional issues in adolescents aged 14-18 years within urban environments in the country.

The dissemination of the study will contribute to better decision making and adequate policies on school interventions in the region and beyond and is particularly useful in the context of school meal projects.  The second half of the info point will therefore look briefly at the school meal projects being funded by the EU for the current MFF and provide a testimony of the challenges and opportunities in two countries that are benefiting from such programmes.  The need for nutritional value of meals delivered versus the challenges to deliver these on the ground will be discussed by WFP with a contribution from our EU Delegations. To finalise the discussion, World Vision will present their 'Menu for Recovery', and showcase how nutritious school meals are implemented through EU-funded projects, with a spotlight on Sudan.