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On Monday, November 22, 2010, Bread for the World Institute released its 2011 Hunger Report, “Our Common Interest: Ending Hunger and Malnutrition.”

The report details the current response to the 2007-2008 food and fuel crises and makes recommendations for reducing hunger and malnutrition.  Some of these recommendations include: embracing a comprehensive approach that empowers women, emphasizes nutrition, and focuses on smallholder farmers; having the U.S. government adopt operational standards for country-led development; and having Congress rewrite the 1961 Foreign Assistance Act.

Click here to read the report in its entirety: http://www.hungerreport.org/2011/report/chapters

Contributed by GCNF Delegate, Anna Tallant, Food Security & Social Safety Nets Coordination Consultant, World Food Programme, Swaziland

I began my international career in 2006 as a Volunteer Services Overseas (VSO) volunteer for the World Food Programme in Lilongwe, Malawi.  After two years as a volunteer intern for the School Feeding Programme (since renamed the School Meals Programme), I was hired as a local consultant. As a Public Health Nutritionist by training, I was able to use the series of short-term consultancies that followed to get more involved with Nutrition Programming while also continuing to provide technical assistance to the Ministry of Education to finalise the School Health and Nutrition Strategic Plan, among other tasks.  I remained with the programme until July 2010, when I made the decision that it was time to move on and try something new.  An opportunity arose with WFP in Swaziland to focus on establishing a Food and Nutrition Security Forum with the Ministry of Agriculture.  I never seem to stick just to my terms of reference, and in the four months since arriving I have also been involved with proposal writing, drafting the next Development Project, developing a UN Disaster Preparedness Note, and now I am working with the Ministries of Education and Agriculture to include School Meals as a safety net programme within Swaziland’s Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) Investment Plan.

In a way it is quite comforting being back working in the familiar territory of school meals.   Not everything is as familiar here, though, as the environment is very different.  Take, for example, the policy backdrop.  In Malawi, a dedicated team comprised of Government, development partners and NGOs worked hard to establish the School Health and Nutrition Programme and develop the Strategy and Guidelines as key tools to improve the health and nutrition of the nation’s learners in a standardised and sustainable way.  In Swaziland, however, no such strategy exists yet, although a revision of the Education Policy is currently being drafted which includes school meals within the chapter of schools as centres of care and support.  In terms of leadership of school meals, though, the Ministry of Education in Swaziland has taken the implementation of this programme completely under their own wing and is providing food to nearly all Primary and Secondary schools across the country, without any assistance from partners (although in the past WFP implemented emergency school feeding during lean periods).  While the Ministry of Education in Malawi provides overall leadership, they rely on partners (predominantly WFP and the NGO Mary’s Meals) to fund and implement the programme on their behalf.  This comes down to the third major difference between the two countries: funding.  The Government of Malawi has so far been unable to allocate a budget line for School Health and Nutrition activities and school meals, whereas in Swaziland the Ministry of Education annually provides a substantial budget to this activity. 

The role of WFP in these environments is different and therefore my work has also changed quite substantially.  I am no longer involved with the day-to-day running of the programme, working with partners on how best to align and integrate with other health and nutrition activities or providing technical assistance to the Government to establish their own National School Meals programme.  Here in Swaziland, I am working with the Ministry of Education on integrating school meals into policy documents and on how to standardise and improve the programme while integrating it into the wider CAADP framework.  Different, yet in many ways the experience in both countries has so far proven the same:  Rewarding and fulfilling, yet at times rather challenging!

Mary Kate Harrison was recognized as the 2010 SNA Outstanding Director of the Year at the Global Child Nutrition Foundation’s (GCNF) annual A Possible Dream Gala, Monday, March 7, 2011, at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium during SNA’s Legislative Action Conference.  As General Manager of Hillsborough County’s Student Nutrition Services Program in Tampa, Florida, Harrison leads one of the largest school food service departments in the country, with an $84 million budget and more than 2,200 employees who serve 235,000 meals a day. She has implemented a number of initiatives such as a free breakfast program for all children, an integrated technology system that connects all department functions, an extensive training program for all employees, a “Healthy Meals Express” marketing campaign, and the elimination of reduced price meals.

Harrison has discussed finding a healthy balance when feeding children on “Oprah” and the American Health Network.  On behalf of child nutrition programs, she has testified at US Senate Agricultural Committee Hearings, appeared as an SNA spokesperson on CBS Evening News, NBC’S Dateline, and Fox and Friends.  In addition, a number of journals and trade magazines have featured many of the program’s initiatives.  In 2001, Harrison won the FAME Golden Star Award, as Director of the Year, and the Silver Plate Award presented by the International Food Manufacturer’s Association.

Harrison has also led the fight to end child hunger through her efforts to raise awareness of global childhood hunger and financially through a county-wide fundraising drive in the Hillsborough County School District.  Nearly 60 elementary, middle, and high schools, and the School Nutrition Services office participated in a highly successful fundraising campaign that raised over $9,000 on behalf of GCNF’s work to help build sustainable, country-owned and operated school feeding programs in developing countries.

A registered dietician with degrees from the University of Montevallo and Florida State University, Harrison has served as President of the Florida School Nutrition Association and has been active with the American School Nutrition Association, serving as chairman of the Public Policy Committee, Secretary/Treasurer, and spokesperson.  She also serves on the executive board of the National Frozen and Refrigerated Food Associations and the Tampa Bay Meals on Wheels board. Harrison received her Ph.D. in Food Management from Iowa State University.

Dr. Emmanuel Ohene Afoakwa, Senior Lecturer, Department of Nutrition and Food Science, University of Ghana, and GCNF Board member, announces the publication of a new study in the International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition.  The study, “Effect of Spontaneous Fermentation and Amylase Rich Flour (ARF) on the Nutritive Value, Functional and Viscoelastic Properties of Cowpea-Fortified Nixtamalized Maize,” intends to help the global infant food industry understand how alternative cereal-based infant foods can help reduce bulk density while still yielding a high nutritive value.

Click here to read an abstract of this new study: http://works.bepress.com/emmanueloheneafoakwa/103/

Contact: Alexis Steines

asteines@schoolnutrition.org

301-686-3075

SENATOR RICHARD LUGAR TO RECEIVE 2011 GENE WHITE LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD FOR CHILD NUTRITION

National Harbor, Md., December 16, 2010 – The Global Child Nutrition Foundation (GCNF) will present the 2011 Gene White Lifetime Achievement Award for Child Nutrition to U.S. Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, former chair of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee, and a champion of domestic and international nutrition and anti-hunger causes.

The Gene White Lifetime Achievement Award for Child Nutrition is presented each year to an individual whose work has contributed toward helping the world’s poorest children receive adequate nutrition, thrive and reach their full potential.  Past recipients have included Senators Bob Dole and George McGovern, former Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman and former United Nations World Food Programme Executive Director Catherine Bertini.

Sen. Lugar, the ninth recipient of the award, will receive the honor at GCNF’s annual A Possible Dream Gala, on Monday, March 7, 2011, at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium, Washington, DC.

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