Expanding opportunities for the world's children to receive adequate nutrition for learning and achieving their potential.
From May 20-24, 2013, the Global Child Nutrition Foundation (GCNF) and the World Food Programme (WFP) Centre for Excellence hosted the 15th annual Global Child Nutrition Forum in Costa do Sauípe, Brazil. The conference’s theme, “School Feeding as a National Investment: How to Achieve It” gathered roughly 300 people from 41 countries, of which 21 were Ministers from the education and agriculture sectors. This was the first year the Forum was held in Latin America, following four consecutive years of being held in Africa.
To view the conference’s official communiqué, please click here.
To view the conference’s presentations, please click here.
The purpose of the Global Forum is to assist these leaders in starting or expanding school feeding programs linked to local farm production. The delegates represent countries developing new programs, or seeking to improve existing school feeding programs. Upon returning home they serve as resources in their countries and often for neighboring nations developing school feeding programs. The Global Forum program provides:
During the workshop portion of the Forum, country leaders are guided through the GCNF-produced, School Feeding Toolkit. The Toolkit, now in its third edition, includes goal setting, diagnosis of key issues that influence program development, needs assessment, and worksheets. The country leaders prepare country-specific plans for developing their school feeding programs and when they return home they begin the work of implementing the plan they developed during the Forum.
The School Feeding Toolkit is a planning instrument that assists countries, through ongoing review and revisions, to meet changing country needs. Its purpose is to help country leaders and stakeholders establish sustainable school feeding programs that respond to local needs, cultures, and traditions. Thus, rather than a prescriptive guide, the Toolkit serves as a flexible instrument to help leaders work together in developing programs that respond to country needs.
