First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska took part in a working session on coordinating communications for the School Nutrition Reform. The event brought together representatives of the Ministry of Education and Science, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry for Communities and Territories Development, and international organizations supporting the implementation of the reform, as well as around 2,000 representatives of territorial communities, regional military administrations, central executive authorities, state institutions, local self-government bodies, and communication teams involved in the reform’s implementation.
“All these years of defending the country, we have continued the School Nutrition Reform, renovating kitchens, food units, and menus not only to feed children here and now. The reform also pursues a longer-term goal – we want children to leave school with a lifelong habit of healthy eating,” Olena Zelenska emphasized.
The reform team proposed that communities organize festivals, workshops, tastings, lectures, competitions, and thematic quests to promote healthy eating and raise awareness of the reform. In addition, integrating the topic of healthy nutrition into lessons, extracurricular activities, and thematic days will help explain complex issues in an accessible way.
“Recently, I attended a festival in the Khmelnytskyi region held at a local culinary hub. Parents, children, and teachers learned together how to cook traditional dishes, particularly buckwheat patties. It was warm and informal. And it is clear that knowledge gained in such an atmosphere, in an engaging, almost game-like form, will stay with a child for a long time. I hope what was heard today will inspire schools and communities to come up with their own ideas,” said the President’s wife.
Participants in the working session also observed how monitoring of school kitchen modernization projects eligible for state subvention works, based on the example of a joint project of the EU Anti-Corruption Initiative in Ukraine and the School Nutrition Reform team.