School Food and Nutrition

FAO

School Food and Nutrition

Boosting school-based policies and programmes for an enhanced impact on child nutrition, community development and local food system transformation

Year of publication 2020

Place of publication Rome, Italy ;

Pages 2p.

Author FAO

Publisher FAO ;

Product type Brochure, flyer, fact-sheet

Edition 1

Full item page

Synopsis (short abstract) Poor diets and malnutrition have adverse effects on children’s health, school performance and ability to learn, reducing their productivity and earning potential and, with it, their country’s human capital. Current food systems are not delivering healthy diets for all and are marked by critical inequities along the production-consumption continuum– from stark disparities in the distribution of inputs, services and opportunities among food supply chain actors (such as rural smallholder farmers), to restrictive access to nutritious foods in vulnerable groups (such as low-income children and women). School-based policies and programmes have been recognized globally as a means of addressing some of these interconnected issues, yet, despite commendable progress by many countries, there are persistent challenges that impair their success. For instance, synergies between food and agriculture, nutrition, education, social protection and other interventions implemented through schools are not fully realized. Impact is not usually measured and efforts are often small-scale or fragmented. FAO’s School Food and Nutrition (SFN) Framework is a direct response to the call for better nutrition and food system transformation in the context of the SDGs and the UN Decade of Action on Nutrition (2016–2025). The Framework is based on a holistic approach that seeks synergies between policy, programmatic and institutional actions along the school food environment, nutrition education, value chain development and local procurement of school food.

Language English

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FAO School Food and Nutrition Framework 2019

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The FAO School Food and Nutrition Framework aims to support governments and institutions in developing, transforming or strengthening their school policies, programmes and other initiatives for an enhanced and synergistic impact on diets, child and adolescent nutrition, community socioeconomic development and local food systems. The Framework represents a direct response to the international call for improving nutrition along the life cycle and for transforming food systems to be conducive of better diets, in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2) and the UN Decade of Action on Nutrition (2016-2025). It provides a holistic approach that capitalizes on complementary interventions and the most effective programmatic options to obtain benefits throughout the food, nutrition and education nexus, using the school setting as the center for development.
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The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) recognises that schools can make an important contribution in countries’ efforts to address food insecurity, poverty and tackle various forms of malnutrition. On top of the potential health, nutrition and education benefits with the latter being measured in terms of net enrolment rate, low dropout rates, better exam scores. Schools are ideal settings for food and nutrition programmes and services, because nutrition and education are closely linked and dietary, hygienic and exercise habits that affect nutritional status are formed during the school-age years. Many eating habits and behavioural patterns are developed during childhood and adolescent period. Schools can also be ideal for reaching large numbers of people, including youth, schools staff, families and communities. Children pass on the information that they received at school about good nutrition to their families and to the wider community. As children are widely perceived to be enthusiastic and able communicators both with their peers, families and wider community, if encouraged and appropriately informed, they can act as agents for change. As such, schools are great entry point for reaching into the community and promoting good nutrition, including proper hygiene and sanitation practices with life-long healthy habits. School food and nutrition interventions can include one or more of the following components: school gardens, school meals, school nutrition standards, school food and nutrition policies, food production linked to school food procurement, nutrition education in the school curriculum and improvements in water and sanitation, as well as other activities that contribute to improvements in school children's health and nutrition. Through all these complementary interventions pupils can improve their diets, develop healthier food practices and extend these to their families and communities.
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Stepping up school-based food and nutrition education
International Expert Consultation Report
2019

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School-based food and nutrition education (SFNE) represents a crucial opportunity to reach children, families and the broader school community in a regular and continuous way to foster lasting healthy food practices and capacities. The consultation on “Stepping up School-based Food and Nutrition Education: Exploring Challenges, Finding Solutions and Building Partnerships,” organised by FAO in collaboration with the United Arab Emirates University was the first specialized global meeting of its kind. It provided stakeholders from different fields of expertise working with school-based programmes a platform to discuss challenges and define priorities, competencies and educational innovations with the main focus on SFNE. Most importantly, the consultation launched a renewed vision, going beyond the integration of SFNE as stand-alone, disconnected and fragmented interventions and a largely academic requirement in schools. This report provides a description of the consultation, the results achieved and the recommendations agreed on by the experts.