Title: Food Aid & Promotion of Healthy Nutrition Programme; a project implemented by PROLEPSIS Institute and funded by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation.
Member Involved: PROLEPSIS; Institute of Preventive Medicine, Environmental & Occupational Health, Greece
Website: http://www.prolepsis.gr/new/en/
Contact Name: Pania Karnaki
Context: The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child recently expressed their “deep concern about the right to life, survival and development of children and adolescents whose families are quickly losing their livelihoods and access to state-funded social services, including healthcare and social security.” According to a recent report released by the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights more and more children in the EU and Greece in particular are at risk of poverty and social exclusion due to the economic crisis. Unicef released a report in 2012 highlighting the alarming rates of child poverty and malnutrition in Greece, listing cases of reported incidents of students fainting at schools. Considered by some as a great contradiction to the above facts, obesity continues to grow in Greece both among adults and in children toping among European Union member states. However, this is another side to the same problem, a consequence of the crisis which has led many families to opt for less healthy nutritional choices due to low prices of unhealthy, high-calories processed foods.
Greek secondary education system does not provide students with meals even in day-long primary schools. Privately owned canteens offer light snacks for a fee. State regulation governs the types of foods allowed to be purchased in school canteens although this regulation is not strictly followed or enforced.
As a response to food insecurity and nutritional problems observed among children in Greece attributed to the on-going and long-term economic crisis, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation is funding a large-scale programme to provide daily healthy meals to students of underprivileged areas across the country. The programme targets public school students throughout the country in areas that have been hit hardest by the economic crisis. Meals are distributed to all students to avoid stigmatisation and discrimination. The project was piloted for 3 months in 34 schools, with the participation of 6,272 students. Within two years it grew to 163 schools and a total of 25,349 students. Currently the programme covers 401 schools and 61,290 students. However, current needs still exceed capacity to provide aid, and there are more than 500 pending applications from schools that account for more than 70,000 students.
The specific objectives of the programme are:
- To ensure effective and efficient provision of healthy, high-quality food to as many students as possible who are at risk of food insecurity and/or hunger throughout the country.
- To encourage healthy nutritional practices knowledge and attitudes among students, through educational programmes.
- To encourage parents to make healthy choices through actions aimed at raising awareness and providing dietary and nutritional information on how to prepare healthy meals for their children.
Aim:
- Making the case to policy makers and public services in Greece that the food aid programme in schools has the potential to reduce health inequalities.
- To explore opportunities for private organisations to support actions for equity, particularly in a time of economic crisis.
- To explore the best arguments to promote the uptake of the case study example and of similar initiatives through evidence based recommendations.
- To explore how the government can “learn” from the case study and similar initiatives, with a view to supporting interventions that help promote health equity.
Research Method:
- Interviews with key people at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation and other organisations and companies supporting the programme or wishing to support the programme.
- Interviews with key policy makers.
- Create a pack comprising a policy brief for the private sector and one for policy makers. Policy briefs should follow good practice examples of knowledge transfer and translation, making use of personal stories, arguments that should convince, a jigsaw of evidence (qualitative and quantitative), photos or diagrams, and essential information to persuade and promote action.
- Organise an event where the private sector and key policy makers (those identified who have the power to initiative or sustain change) come together to discuss the main findings of the case study, and to provide clear feedback on whether the materials and approach would work. The research report and the policy briefs should be updated based on this feedback.
Expected Outcome:
- Identify who the key policy makers are at the local and regional level who need to be influenced to make policies that can affect health inequalities.
- Identify what drives the private sector to support initiatives such as the food aid programme and what are barriers to their involvement.
- Identify what the best arguments are for convincing private and public actors to take action.
- Identify how to turn evidence into concrete and appropriate action recommendations and arguments.
- Provide private organisations with examples of how they can promote and influence equity especially during the financial crisis.
- Provide appropriate material to put the case forward; right arguments for the right people; focus on communication.
- Bring all the findings together to help educate and spread learning to key stakeholders.
