Healthy Kitchen Project, for healthy and nutritious food alternatives |
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16/07/2015
The Royal Health Awareness Society “ RHAS” proposed to pilot the
Healthy Kitchen Project in Madaba in collaboration with the WFP, who wish to
test a new modality for school feeding meals, particularly in poverty pocket
areas as part of their support to MoE’s school feeding program.
Through its school programs, RHAS realized that there is Lack of healthy
nutritional food items (meals) provided to public school students, Poor dietary
behaviours amongst school children, and available community based organizations
(CBOs) surrounding the schools that (with some support) are able to produce
nutritional food items (meals).
Healthy Kitchen Project is a project that aims to provide healthy and nutritious
food alternatives (meals) to school students, through linking schools to CBOs
that have productive kitchens, who in turn will provide these healthy meals to
surrounding schools.
The project aims to enhance the access of school children to nutritional, well
prepared food items using healthy ingredients and WFP school meals standards,
Raise health and nutrition awareness and healthier eating patterns through
providing comprehensive nutrition information and educational resources within
schools community, and Test a new model that WFP can present to MoE as a viable
alternative to the existing school feeding model (date bars and biscuits)
through conducting a comparative and comprehensive assessment of both models
The number of beneficiary schools stands at 10, with 2,300 students receiving
daily meals.
• Menu of three different meals developed jointly with WFP (studied nutritional
value):
- Pizza with vegetables & a fruit
- Cheese pastry, cucumber, & a fruit
- Pastry with mixed cheese & thyme, cucumber & a fruit
RHAS conduct an awareness campaign aimed at school students, teachers, and
parents to raise awareness of healthy diet and eating habits on Topics Include:
Food pyramid, Breakfast importance, Importance of drinking water, Healthy eating
plate, and hygiene related issues such as washing hands before eating.
RHAS is working with the 10 schools to implement basic health, hygiene and
cleanliness standards to become healthy schools in the long term.
RHAS plans to carry out a study to measure the effect of the program in order to
develop future plans.
The Healthy Kitchen program uses a holistic approach that engages local
communities and community-based organizations (CBO), which trickles down the
benefits by providing job opportunities for area residents and investing in
local suppliers used to procure raw material and equipment.