School Nutrition Education Programmes In The Pacific Islands Scoping Review And Capacity Needs Assessment

The School Nutrition Education Programme (SNEP) is an intervention to educate school students on nutrition and food preparation with the aim of influencing healthy nutrition choice and practice at an age when life time behaviour habits are developing and in the wider community. FAO defines School Food Nutrition Education as consisting of coherent educational strategies and learning activities, with environmental supports, which help schoolchildren and their communities to achieve sustainable improvements in their diets and in food- and lifestyle-related behaviours, perceptions, skills and knowledge; and to build the capacity to change, to adapt to external change and to act as agents of change. This publication is the scopy study and capacity needs assessment and final report for the SNEP project.

School-based food and nutrition education (SFNE) helps schoolchildren and the school community to achieve lasting improvements in their food practices and outlooks; build the capacity to change and to adapt to external change; and pass on their learning to others. SFNE has also an important role in complementing efforts that are being made globally to improve food environments, and in empowering children and adolescents to become active participants in shaping the food system to be better able to deliver healthy and sustainable diets. Despite increasing interest for SFNE, the evidence that supports it and its potential, much of traditional SFNE, particularly in LMICs, is largely underfunded, not delivering results, and disconnected from other key interventions that aim to support the food, nutrition, environment, and education nexus. SFNE is under-resourced, with capacity development opportunities lacking throughout the school system.This White Paper is the first document of its kind, and it is based on the evidence, professional expertise, and field experience, lessons learned, and documented challenges of SFNE work in a variety of contexts. It presents the case for raising the profile and transforming the vision and learning model of SFNE. This document is directed firstly to a technical audience working in governmental organizations that deal with schoolchildren and adolescents and is also of interest to researchers, technical advisors, decision-makers, donors and investors, civil society, and UN organizations.

Despite the lack of literature and inconsistencies in research aims and methods, it is evident that dietary intake has been shifting from traditional food consumption patterns to diets that are heavily reliant on imported and increasingly processed foods in Fiji. Availability of food items varies depending on location, however there is evidence of food environments with high availability of energy dense, nutrient poor foods, in both rural and urban locations. Food environments around vulnerable populations, for example schools, are of concern, with 80 percent of the outlets surveyed within 400 m school zones selling sugar-sweetened beverages. While the process of developing policies that support a healthy diet is enabled by Fiji’s whole-of-government commitment to improving food nutrition security, there are competing priorities and points of incoherence that deter this, particularly relating to economic growth. A range of specific policy measures have been introduced in Fiji by different government sectors that influence all facets of the food system. However, capacities required to develop and deliver policies are limited across government, primarily by the allocation of resources and technical expertise. This reduces the effectiveness of existing policy measures to support healthy diets, and the progression of new measures. A range of gaps and opportunities exist among the policy measures identified, and entry points lie throughout the food system and associated policy environment to improve dietary behaviour in Fiji.

This report presents the outcomes of a scoping review conducted to identify and map existing evidence on the effects of school food and nutrition policies on health-related outcomes in children of school age as part of the initial preparation for undertaking the guideline development process by the WHO Nutrition Guidance Expert Advisory Group (NUGAG) Subgroup on Policy Actions. In order to align with WHO’s Nutrition-friendly Schools Initiative (NFSI) framework, school-based food and nutrition interventions were assessed in terms of the impacts in four key policy areas, namely – the school community, the school curriculum, the school food and nutrition environment, and school nutrition and health services.

Globally, the food system and the relationship of the individual to that system, continues to change and grow in complexity. Eating is an everyday event that is part of everyone’s lives. There are many commentaries on the nature of these changes to what, where and how we eat and their socio-cultural, environmental, educational, economic and health consequences. Among this discussion, the term "food literacy" has emerged to acknowledge the broad role food and eating play in our lives and the empowerment that comes from meeting food needs well. In this book, contributors from Australia, China, United Kingdom and North America provide a review of international research on food literacy and how this can be applied in schools, health care settings and public education and communication at the individual, group and population level. These varying perspectives will give the reader an introduction to this emerging concept. The book gathers current insights and provides a platform for discussion to further understanding and application in this field. It stimulates the reader to conceptualise what food literacy means to their practice and to critically review its potential contribution to a range of outcomes.

Setting nutrition guidelines and standards has been recommended internationally to ensure that school meals are in line with children’s nutrition needs and adequate to their context. This report provides a descriptive overview of the situation of school meal nutrition guidelines and standards in 33 low and middle-income countries as reported through a global survey. The report identifies key aspects to consider for stakeholders who are planning to develop or update their guidelines and standards in the context of school meal programmes.