With the participation of nine countries from Latin America and the Caribbean, the workshop “Strengthening the capacities of teachers in food and nutrition education for better nutrition” will take place from April 11 to 13, a joint effort of the International Cooperation Brazil- FAO, the organization’s representation in Panama and the Ministry of Education (Meduca).
The official opening of the event was in charge of the Minister of Education, Maruja Gorday de Villalobos; the assistant representative of FAO Panama, Erika Pinto; Plinio Pereira De Assis, from ABC/MRE; Deborah Bosco, from FNDE/MEC; and Najla Veloso, from the Brazil-FAO Cooperation.
The meeting promotes the training of teachers and strengthens local capacities to scale in the national territory in the planning and implementation of projects and actions of food and nutrition education (EAN), in the field of School Feeding Programs (PAE) and in the curriculum.
“In the workshop, 40 tutors or teachers strengthen the National School Nutrition and Health Program in the development and implementation of a second phase of the Study without Hunger program, which began with 272 educational centers and, for this year, covers 500 schools reaching 102 thousand students that make up the Beehive Plan, which is executed by the National Government”, explained Minister Gorday de Villalobos.
The collaboration of FAO in the project is extremely important, due to the promotion of technical, organizational and convening capacity, which seeks to reduce hunger in the world with an impact on school projects, as it is the most important place in the development of the human being, after the home.
He argued that teacher training plays a key role in contributing to the development of healthy eating habits, improves student learning and promotes a healthy lifestyle in the school population.
For his part, Pinto, from FAO-Panama, said that the workshop has the support of the Brazilian Cooperation Agency, with which they have been working together for more than 15 years on the Sustainable School program. He explained that part of the work of the FAO is to support the public policies of the countries, for this reason he accompanied and supported Meduca in the design of the Study without Hunger program.
Also participating in the activity were experts from the Brazil-FAO Cooperation and course tutors from the countries involved in this process in Chile, Colombia, El Salvador, Ecuador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru and the Dominican Republic; as well as representatives of the Brazilian Cooperation Agency of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (ABC/MRE) and the National Fund for Educational Development of the Ministry of Education (FNDE/MEC).
For Panama, there were collaborators from the national directorates of School Health and Nutrition, International Cooperation, Curriculum and Educational Technology, grade coordinator teachers and subjects related to school nutrition and health. Also representatives of other ministries and sectors related to these issues.
