United Nations officials say China has a key role to play in South-South cooperation, including building more sustainable school feeding programs in developing countries amid post-pandemic economic challenges, climate change and rising food prices. He said there was.
“The Chinese government has introduced good nutritional guidelines, innovations in areas such as fortification to combat anemia, and an effective monitoring framework for school meals,” said Carmen Burbano, director of school meals and social protection services. Mr. De Lara said. The United Nations World Food Program during a visit to China in March.
“What China has done here is impressive, and the scale of what it has achieved is very important for other countries to learn from,” she said.
Ms. Burbano has maintained strong ties to and passion for China since her first visit to the country in 2009. Her first visit coincided with the publication of Rethinking School Lunch, which she co-authored and which later became one of her books on education. We relied on China's nutrition improvement program.
Since 2018, WFP China has been working with local governments to provide pre-school nutrition to left-behind children and low-income households in rural China, including Hunan, Gansu, Sichuan and Guangxi. We have implemented pilot initiatives to improve the situation.
Burbano said the huge investments the Chinese government has made in recent years to ensure child nutrition are particularly important.
“Every time I visit China, I see that chefs are being trained, school infrastructure is being strengthened, and foods like rice and soy sauce are being fortified,” she said.
In 2022, China joined the School Lunch Alliance, a platform to restore school lunch programs that collapsed after the COVID-19 pandemic. Currently, China is working with other governments to reinstate school meals around the world.
In Rwanda, the government has fulfilled its commitment to introduce universal school meals in 2021, according to a WFP report. In 2020, the country provided school meals to 400,000 children, and by 2022 that number will increase to 4 million. In Benin, President Patrice Tallon announced a national budget commitment of $270 million in 2022 to expand the national school feeding program.
“As the international community increasingly focuses on school feeding, it is essential that we help low-income countries build more sustainable school feeding programs,” she said.
school lunch
Low-income countries lag behind the rest of the world in feeding their children. According to a WFP report, around 61% of children in high-income countries receive school meals, compared to just 18% in low-income countries.
According to the WFP report, “The Global School Feeding Situation 2022'', although there has been an overall recovery, school meal coverage rates in low-income countries are still 4 percentage points below pre-pandemic levels. Shown in statistics. By 2022, the amount of international financial aid these schools received has decreased from approximately $267 million to $214 million.
Burbano said she witnessed poverty and realized what an unequal society meant while growing up in Quito, Ecuador.
“For students from poorer families, meals at school are likely to be the most important part of the day,” she says. “Just the fact that there are meals available at school can be a reason enough for parents to send their sons, and especially their daughters, to school.”
Fortunately, Burbano's mother, a former chef, understood that a nutritious diet and education are the foundations of a good future. Burbano said her mother's teachings shaped her life. “As I came of age, I combined these two things with her: embracing the importance of education and proper nutrition in nurturing the dreams of children in all countries.”
This is an investment not only in children and families, but also in the economies of both rural and urban communities. In fragile countries, school feeding programs support peacebuilding efforts and build trust in states, she said.
A Harvard University study found that for every dollar invested, $9 is returned in the form of economic benefits such as health, education, and social protection. In areas where school meals are available, enrollment increases by 9 percent and anemia among girls decreases. Studies showed a 20 percent increase.
“I would like to see more sustainable food systems that connect small farmers with schools and children,” Burbano said. “All schools will have access to clean energy for cooking, and women will have access to more jobs through such a system.”
In the case of Xiangxi Tujia-Miao Autonomous Prefecture in central China's Hunan province, the nutrition improvement program launched by WFP China is part of rural revitalization efforts to benefit local farmers and build agricultural supply chains.
Over the years, Burbano has visited many schools in western China and has had the opportunity to provide meals to children as part of the program.
“It was a great experience for the children to eat what they received at school, such as fortified rice, vegetables, eggs, and different soups. They found the meals delicious and nutritious,” she said.
“I was happy to see that what I strongly believed in and what had shaped my own life was being put into practice here in China.”
Quan Hung Ying Contributed to this story.
The author can be contacted at houchenchen@chinadaily.com.cn.