School feeding project begins training with tutors for teacher training
Representatives of Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and the Dominican Republic will participate in the activities
Paulo Beraldo
Brasília, March 24, 2023 – The project Consolidation of School Feeding Programmes in Latin America and the Caribbean, carried out within the framework of the Brazil-FAO International Cooperation Programme, begins training actions with professionals from different countries on March 30. The action aims to train teachers at national level.
The regional project is developed by the Brazilian Cooperation Agency of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (ABC/MRE), the National Fund for Educational Development of the Ministry of Education (FNDE/MEC) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
According to Najla Veloso, coordinator of the school feeding project of the Brazil-FAO Cooperation, teacher training plays a key role in contributing to the development of healthy eating habits, to improve student learning and to promote healthy life in the school population.
The activity has three general objectives: first, to guide the focal points of Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay and Peru, who have requested technical assistance on the implementation of a training process for teachers in school feeding. The second is to share El Salvador’s experience in teacher training on a national scale, considering positive aspects and challenges. Finally, support the process of training national facilitators or focal points of the countries so that each one of them can start a training process for teaching staff in their countries.
To carry out the process, virtual meetings will be organized. They serve as preparation for a face-to-face meeting in Panama. With these initial conversations it will be possible to learn about the particular interests of the countries, fostering dialogues, reflections and successful experiences of other countries with similar processes for implementation and adaptation in each of the countries.
The first meeting will take place on March 30, virtually. The second will be face-to-face, in Panama, between April 10 and 14. The third and fourth meeting will be in virtual mode, with a date yet to be defined in the months of May and June.
Face-to-face event
In Panama, the event will have representatives of the Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC/MRE) and the National Fund for Educational Development (FNDE/MEC), as well as professionals from FAO. This event will discuss important points about the organization of the course for teachers.
There will also be a presentation on the importance of school feeding programmes, on the Sustainable Schools methodology and how this policy can contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
There will also be a presentation on the experience of El Salvador and good practices from other countries in the region on the process of training teachers in food and nutrition education. In this talk, topics such as institutional articulation, the preparation of a technical proposal with materials to use, the methodological design, the main achievements, the lessons learned and the challenges in the process implemented by this country will be discussed. Every day there will be moments for dialogues and exchange of experiences among the participating countries.
