FAO School Food & Nutrition Initiatives in Africa Mauricio Mireles, Dia Sanou, Mawuli Sablah and Mohamed Ag Bendech ADFNS 7, 27 October 2016 - Accra, Ghana

Improving Child Nutrition Remains a Priority Priority of nutrition and improving diets by the Second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2) Rome Declaration on Nutrition and Framework for Action adopted by the Conference Post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Zero Hunger Challenge (ZHC) UN Decade for Action on Nutrition : 70eme Session de AGNU FAO and WHO to lead the implementation in partnership with WFP, FIDA, and UNICEF Teach them healthy eating habits now and you’ll perpetuate a healthy lifestyle for them and put them on autopilot on their way to lasting wellness. Another huge reason why nutrition is so important for children is because they simply don’t know enough on their own to naturally choose to eat well. Unfortunately, the foods and snacks that taste the best are usually the worst for our bodies, This will also help to set them up for a life of proper eating and nutrition, almost certainly helping them to live longer. Countless studies show that what someone learns as a child is then perpetuated throughout their life.

Importance of School Feeding Providing nutritionally balanced school meals with complementary nutrition education and health measures can improve school performance, nutrition literacy as well as employment and income in later life. Policy Brief by Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition

Growing momentum for School Feeding 66 million children attend primary school hungry; 23 millions are in Africa alone; CAADP endorsed school feeding in 2003; 2005 World Summit recommended the expansion of local school meal programmes, using Homegrown foods where possible; The African Union Heads of States proclaimed March 1st as African Day of School Feeding. Why is School Nutrition important? As a supporting effort to the school environment, school nutrition plays a significant role in bettering the health of students. The School Nutrition Program ensures that participating students receive foods that are based on nutritional standards, limits certain nutrients for sale, and provides nutrition materials and professional growth opportunities to school nutrition staff. The Food Service is often the lead in establishing systems to implement the federally required Wellness School Policies. As advocates who support families, ensuring that students participate in available nutrition programs is critically important to student growth and development.

School Food and Nutrition From School Feeding to School Food and Nutrition

Challenges with School Feeding to HGSF No exit strategies from externally supported projects and for transitioning to nationally owned programme; SF programmes are yet to be anchored on national budgetary allocations in most African countries; Cost-effectiveness of using schools as an entry point for achieving nutrition goals remains a challenge.

FAO’s School Food and Nutrition Framework Congruency with SFN components Food systems based FNE strategy (incl. learning tools) National/local capacity development Technical support on FNE M&E Development of guidance materials Agriculture Congruency-Proper Planning & Coordination Multi-sectoral Coordination Mechanism Training & Capacity Development Strong Community Engagement

From School Feeding to School Food and Nutrition

Core elements of FAO School Food & Nutrition Policy and legal frameworks for sustainable and comprehensive school food and nutrition programs; Behavioral based food and nutrition education and training (Learning School Gardens); Support to local production and linking local farmers to school feeding programs; Nutrition and health supporting environment (hand washing, personal hygiene, food safety, physical activity, etc.);

FAO School Food and Nutrition Experiences in Africa

In Africa Ghana, Nigeria and Kenya are arguably the leading countries in Sub-Saharan region that run extensive home grown school feeding programme with substantial national resources in alignment with the CAADP Framework for Africa’s Food.

PAA Africa -Purchase from Africans for Africa programme Innovative partnership spanning five African countries is providing important lessons on how governments can procure food for public institutions, such as schools, directly from small-scale family farmers. PAA Africa implemented by Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique, Niger and Senegal with technical leadership and expertise from FAO and the World Food Programme (WFP).

Malawi SFN Country Project Review of Strategic SHN Plan and Implementation Guidelines, Signatories (MoEST, MoAFS, MoH); Supporting the decentralization of the program; Implementation & coordination mechanisms at district level; Inclusion of Nutrition Education in the primary curriculum; Linking local procurement to school feeding (PAA Africa) Development of regionalized school meal menus based on local agricultural mapping+ seasonality calendar and cost assessment;

Sao Tome and Principe SFN Country Project Development of regulatory framework to clarify how to execute what law: Law Nº 4/2012 established; Development of strategic and operation guidelines to support the implementation; Activating district level councils to promote the decentralization; Current school meals modality mostly through imports, no mechanism in place to create linkages with family farming; thus Development of regionalized school meal menus based on local agricultural mapping+ seasonality calendar and cost assessment;

SFN African Survey Purpose: Provide a regional perspective on the state of the art of national school food and nutrition related programs in Africa” Identify the main result areas, needs, challenges and opportunities in the delivery of SFN programmes in Africa, with particular reference to the nutrition, education and agriculture linkages;

Eastern Africa assessment of Good Practices for Mainstreaming School Feeding and Nutrition Education Document policy experiences, legal and institutional arrangements, implementation modalities and good practices for up-scaling for food systems based school food and nutrition programmes; Document the way agriculture and nutrition education is addressed in primary and secondary school curricula and how it is linked to school feeding; Develop a sub-regional programme and institutionalize an integrated nutrition sensitive and local farmers’ friendly School feeding programme in Eastern Africa.

East Africa Sub regional SFNP NEXT SETPS East Africa Sub regional SFNP Pilot implementation in selected schools Road map for institutionalization of SFN Advocacy and Action OUTCOME Local farmer friendly and nutrition sensitive School Food and Nutrition Programme (SFNP) Multisector & multistakeholder engagement & coordination NEEDS Legislation and Policy Reform Local farmer friendly procurement Implementation modalities Behavioral based Food & Nutrition Education CURRENT STATUS Linkages and coordination mechanism Legal & Policy framework Procurement mechanisms Implementation framework Nutrition Education Assessment of Gaps, Challenges, Opportunities and Good Practices for Mainstreaming SF & NE in Schools in Eastern Africa

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