WFP, FAO and School Meals Coalition kick off ‘Healthy school meals I prepare’

Next to making sure more and more school meals are available to the most vulnerable children around the world, it is vital to ensure quality standards are met to make the meals as nutritious (and tasty!) as possible.

So the World Food Programme (WFP) and the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) have joined forces to develop a set of nutrition guidelines. 

These will be adaptable to different contexts and will provide consistency while complementing nutrition education programmes and other school policies. The aim is to ensure that the nutrition needs of schoolchildren worldwide are prioritized during these difficult times. 

One activity alongside the guideline creation is the ‘Healthy School Meals I prepare’ campaign – aimed to provide a better understanding of how the guidelines can be practically applied to not only make the meals nutritious but also appealing to children. 

Together with the School Meals Coalition – which is comprised of governments, NGOs, academic and UN agencies – WFP and FAO are calling on cooks, caterers, chefs, kitchen volunteers and anyone who works in school food services, to share with us their creative ways and ideas to incorporate nutrition guidelines into food that is liked by the children in their schools.

Through this campaign, we want to highlight the important role everyone working in school foodservice is playing to ensure that children in school eat healthy AND delicious meals – and how this shapes the children’s health and education (and, down the line, thevery direction of the countries they are growing up in).

For anyone wanting to learn more about how to participate in this campaign, please follow this link for further information and instructions.

The most original submissions received prior to the 31 August deadline will be showcased on Junior World Food Day on 5 October.

Submissions received after that date will considered for informing joint publications and possibly featured on the social media channels of FAO, WFP and the School Meals Coalition. The deadline for that is 31 December. Try it? It's a chance to inspire millions of people all over the world.

FAO and WFP’s ‘School food nutrition guidelines and standards for safeguarding children and adolescents’ right to food’ is supported by the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) of Germany. 

Learn more about school feeding and WFP