Brasília, Brazil, July 8th, 2024 – Showing how school gardens can contribute to the improvement of school meal programmes on different continents and identify good practices in management, design, and implementation. These are the main objectives of the document ‘Good practices in school gardens and school meals: Africa, Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean’.
The publication was written jointly by the World Food Programme (WFP) Centre of Excellence Against Hunger Brazil, the National Fund for Education Development (FNDE), the Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC), and the Brazil-FAO International School Meals Cooperation Programme, implemented by ABC, FNDE, and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
The document presents successful experiences and innovations from Armenia, Benin, Brazil (two), El Salvador, and Saint Lucia. On its introduction, the publication highlights how school gardens play a fundamental role in school meal programmes, as they function as a strategic tool for food and nutrition education, creating healthy and sustainable eating habits for students and the entire school community. In addition to food and nutrition education tools, school meal programmes can be complemented by the food produced in the gardens.
The publication also highlights that, although they are used in various contexts in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Asia, examples of school gardens that have become effective pedagogical tools and sources of inputs for school meal programmes in a perennial way are uncommon.
It also emphasizes that school gardens have proven to be a teaching and knowledge-building methodology that introduces students to the basic foundations of food and nature, while enriching the school curriculum through integration of practical activities.
“In many cases, there is little institutionalisation and resource flow for projects involving the development of school gardens. However, there are successful examples around the world, with countries that have achieved integration and articulation of gardens and orchards with school meal programmes.”, the publication states.
In this sense, the document contributes to generating knowledge and exchanging successful experiences on the subject by shedding light on actions executed in different contexts, disseminating good practices in the implementation of gardens that can serve as a reference for public managers in other countries.
The full publication is available at this link.