GCNF is continuing work to help develop a sustainable school feeding program in Deyang. This part of the Sichuan Province, China, is the recovery staging area for the May, 2008 earthquake. The Deyang Education Bureau is requesting a nutrition-based school feeding program that could be used as a model there and perhaps replicated in other parts of China. A nutrition-based school feeding program is especially significant in this earthquake-devastated area where a nutrition-based school feeding program is viewed by teachers and parents as essential for community recovery. With support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, GCNF is assessing needs and options for developing this model program.
In July 2009, GCNF Board member and Child Nutrition Program Consultant Stan Garnett attended a Deyang School Feeding Program Workshop in Beijing, China. Garnett was accompanied by Dr. Yibo Wood, representing the USDA Food and Nutrition Service. This Workshop brought together a group of government and civic organizations, the World Food Programme, UNESCO, and industries that offered support for the Deyang School Feeding Project.
This workshop was a follow-up to an April, 2009 mission Garnett took with GCNF President Gene White. On that visit Garnett and White, visited tent schools and school dormitories (now upgraded to prefab buildings), toured local markets, and met with local school officials to determine needs and options for establishing an expanded school feeding program. They later joined representatives of the USDA/Agricultural Trade office for meetings in Deyang, Chendu, and Beijing.
In October 2009, USDA brought members of the Deyang Education Bureau and the Beijing Municipal Education Commission to Washington, DC for meetings with USDA officials. Their trip included visits to two school feeding programs in Virginia for first-hand observation of school feeding programs in the United States. GCNF’s Program Director, Paul Alberghine spoke to the delegation about GCNF programs. Cathy Schuchart, School Nutrition Association’s Staff Vice President of Child Nutrition and Policy, spoke about SNA programs. The group returned to China with ideas and energy to move ahead with school feeding in Deyang.
No Responses