Webinar: The need for a whole school approach in school food and nutrition

The school food system is a fertile platform for innovations and scale up of interventions with potential to improve multiple sustainable development outcomes and increasingly recognized as an entry point for broader food system transformation. However, the actual impact of many interventions depends on their design, implementation and coherence with other policies and procedures of the school food system. Partners of the School Meals Coalition are working to support governments in improving the multiple outcomes of their school meal programmes and complementary interventions.

Two projects are advancing the integration of nutrition, environmental sustainability considerations, and systemic change within school food systems:

FAO and WFP are collaborating on a global project entitled School food nutrition guidelines and standards for safeguarding children and adolescents’ right to food. The project has developed a methodology for countries to design robust and holistic nutrition standards for school meals that go beyond the composition of meals, as well as complementary guidance focusing on key areas that can support their implementation and enhance their impact, including the implementation of sustainable procurement practices for school food.
SchoolFood4Change (SF4C) sees schools as catalysts for systemic and multi-actor change, including but not limited to school curricula. It involves training cooks, caterers and public procurers at city level and aims to create a true triple effect, impacting up to two million citizens in the 12 participating EU countries. The project develops innovative and tailored solutions, locally adaptable good practices for schools, school meal providers, responsible public authorities and policymakers.

Coordinators of both projects have come together for a series of webinars to disseminate good practices and lessons learned from countries around the world, to share guidance for improving multiple outcomes of school food systems, as well as to inspire other public institutions to provide more sustainable meals to different social groups and ages.

This webinar, the second of three, will focus on what is meant by a whole school approach to school food and nutrition from diverse perspectives, and why is it critical for impact. The webinar will be held in English and is targeted to school food and nutrition programme planners, technicians, policy advisors, researchers and international organizations providing support to governments and institutions in this area.

  Register here: https://fao.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_QF4mxK9QRkaLMxJ5SbxJNg

Interesting speakers:

• Anastasia Lundqvist, Communications and Visibility Focal Point at WWF Sweden;
• Peter Holtsberg, Senior Programme Policy Officer at WFP’s School Meals and Social Protection Service; 
• Leen Tyrions, Project Officer Good food at school in Antwerp at Rikolto;
• Fatima Hachem, Senior Nutrition Officer and Team Leader of the Nutrition Education and Consumer Awareness Group at FAO’s Food and Nutrition Division;
• Edwar Kim, FAO-WFP school food youth advocate;
• Vera Stöbel, Project Manager at City of Essen
•  Moderator – Cynthia Matare, Nutrition Education Specialist at FAO’s Food and Nutrition Division.