On September 7, in Guatemala City, JICA agreed on the implementation framework of a technical cooperation project with Guatemala's Ministry of Education and signed the Record of Discussions (R/D). The signing was exchanged between the Minister of Education and the Chief Representative of the JICA Guatemala Office.
The project will develop operational guidelines for school meals, build monitoring systems, train personnel, and strengthen nutrition education. It aims to improve the capacity to run the school feeding system and deliver nutrition education, in response to the country's important challenge of child nutrition.
Starting with two departments, the project will set up school meal management and food education, and lay the foundation for expanding the guidelines and tools to other schools and departments. By sharing Japan's experience in school meals and food education, it is expected to contribute to the healthy growth of children across Latin America.
Key points
- Developing school meal guidelines, food education guides and follow-up tools so the system takes root
- Starting in two departments, with a view to laying the groundwork for national rollout
- Putting Japan's school meal and food education experience to work for children's health in Latin America
Why This News Deserves Attention
School meals are a daily opportunity for children to get proper nutrition, and they support learning and health. What stands out here is that the cooperation builds the system and the people to keep school meals running, rather than only delivering food.
That Japan's school meal and food education know-how can help communities abroad makes international cooperation feel closer to home.
Editor's comment
School lunch is something we take for granted, so it is encouraging to see that knowledge put to use across the ocean.
The long-term effort of preparing guidelines and tools and then spreading them to more schools is a useful model. We will keep following the progress through JICA's announcements. Please take a look at the original release as well.