1 September 2017, El Salvador - 30 participants completed their training day on the blended Course on School Feeding Programmes with extensive knowledge and joint considerations on food and nutritional security in schools in El Salvador, based on the lessons learned in Brazil.

The closing ceremony was attended by officials from the Brazilian Embassy, the Technical Secretariat and Presidency Planning (SETEPLAN), the Ministry of Education (MINED), the Solidarity Fund for Health (FOSALUD), the Centre for Consumer Defense (CDC), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in El Salvador, and the National Centre for Agricultural and Forestry Technology "Enrique Álvarez Córdova" (CENTA).

This activity is part of the Project "Strengthening School Feeding Programmes in the framework of the Latin America and the Caribbean Free Hunger Initiative 2025", developed by the Programme of International Cooperation, and carried out by the Government of Brazil and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

The document “Advances, Challenges and Recommendations for the Sustainability of the School Feeding Programme in El Salvador", prepared by all the participants according to the knowledge acquired during the training, was presented at the end of the course.

The abovementioned comprises the efforts made to incorporate the principles, guidelines and strategies adopted by the Brazilian Government within the scope of the National School Feeding Programme, under which the participants jointly produced a document containing analyses and recommendations to the Salvadoran Government for the improvement of Nutritional and Food Security policies.

Marchelly Funes, a course participant from FOSALUD, presented the final document to the current Authorities: "For me it was very important, because we have to involve the Authorities of the different institutions, so that they can act on the issue. It was a challenge to standardize all the information, but the objective was to disclose all the challenges, advances, recommendations and conclusions derived from the El Salvador course in the subject of School Feeding Programmes," she said.

On her part, Andrea Rivera, a representative from the Embassy of Brazil, expressed her congratulations to the group for completing the course: “For Brazil, it is a matter of great pride that you are completing this course. We want this programme to become sustainable, so as to continue to benefit El Salvador's children," she said.

The professionals, all of which belong to Governmental institutions, private companies, academia and NGO's, took the course for a period of 12 weeks. During this one-day training day, much was learned about school feeding.

On the other hand, El Salvador's Assistant Programme Representative, Emilia González, highlighted the achievements of the School Feeding Programme, such as public purchases from family farming.

In addition, she expressed her gratitude to the Brazilian Cooperation for the development of the programme: "I thank the Cooperation, because without its technical and financial assistance, it would not have been possible to implement the programme and the courses that have allowed a great number of technicians and directors to be involved, and to adopt it as their own," she said.

The efforts made to ensure the feeding of students was one of the aspects acknowledged by the Manager of the School Feeding Programme (PASE), Leonardo Quiroa, who also highlighted the role of FAO in this initiative, as well as how, through the course, the experience of other countries was shared.

Thanks to this training activity, the participants had the opportunity to expand their knowledge of the School Feeding Programme. The Executive Director of the Centre for Consumer Protection (CDC), Danilo Pérez, also congratulated them on completing the course.

Examples of Brazil's experience were used in designing the Semi-Face-To-Face Course, as well as fora of reflection, discussions, lectures, working groups, practical exercises and the three face-to-face meetings for the promotion of exchanges of experiences and spaces for cooperation.

Participants also conducted a field visit to schools located in the departments of Sonsonate and La Libertad, in order to learn about the actions taken in the implementation of sustainable schools, strengthened menus, food and nutrition education, school gardens as a teaching resource, public purchases from family farming and the improvement of school infrastructure.