School nutrition reform partners meeting was held in Bucha
At the first «Kitchen Factory», located in Bucha (Kyiv region), a partnership meeting on the reform of school meals was held.
At the initiative of First Lady Olena Zelenska interested stakeholders discussed the goals of school nutrition reform, scaling up the best cases and initiatives to strengthen the interaction of the state with international partners in this direction.
«This reform is about children and for children, for their health today and for the health of Ukrainians in the future. We started it before the invasion, intending to form healthy eating habits for an entire generation. But during the full-scale war, it became more important, because it became a form of protection for our children, and care for their present, overshadowed by Russian aggression. We must create the best conditions for them to have the strength to learn, plan for the future and implement their plans», – First Lady Olena Zelenska said.
The DECIDE Swiss-Ukrainian Project has been providing expert and organizational support for school nutrition reform, since 2021. During this time, the DECIDE team did the following:
✔ developed the School Nutrition Reform Strategy
✔ organized dozens of strategic and expert sessions, national research and surveys of all reform participants, involved more than 50 partner organizations and leading experts in the development of the Strategy;
✔ at the request of and in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Science, developed a Dashboard of the needs of territorial communities for the implementation of the reform. The dashboard displays information about more than 8,000 schools.
And also, in the framework of the DECIDE Project, it was made the following:
✔ conducted trainings for education managers from communities on school catering, procurement and HACCP, as well as the development of healthy eating habits;
✔ supported the development of the Know websitein which there are more than 100 analytical materials and 14 videos. Currently, the portal covers more than 500,000 users;
✔ last year alone, within the framework of the DECIDE Summer Clubs initiative «We Are at Home in Ukraine» he promoted healthy nutrition among more than 17,000 children in 18 regions of Ukraine.
Immediately after the development of the Strategy, the DECIDE Project team, in partnership with the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, studied the needs of communities, developed a dashboard, and then included elements of school nutrition reform in almost all of its initiatives and areas.
«Currently, we are piloting various areas of reform in territorial communities, in particular in the Chernihiv community, we are completing a comprehensive audit of the school catering system, as well as updating the catering unit of school No. 13 in Chernihiv, where children study from two destroyed schools nearby», – Project Manager of DECIDE Valentyna Poltorak added.
Training for community leaders, heads of departments and departments of education, including the organization of school meals, will begin soon. And this year we will present a profile online course for heads of educational institutions.
A new direction of the Project has also begun, aimed at strengthening the human resources potential of the reform. In particular, the DECIDE Project:
will support the creation of 3 culinary hubs, as well as provide advanced training for masters of industrial training in these hubs;
together with Cultfood, NGO and the National Catering Association, will train more than 100 trainers for culinary hubs in all regions of Ukraine;
will hold a competition of professional skills for students of vocational schools of culinary direction and students of grades 8-9 who are still choosing a future profession.
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