SCHOOL MEALS COALITION - A VISIONARY GLOBAL MOVEMENT
As the world aims to recover from Covid-19, restoring school meals programs is an urgent priority. These programs transform lives and serve as platforms for improving health, education and building sustainable food systems globally.
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“A healthy meal for every child, every day”
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This is the crucial commitment made by the global School Meals Coalition, an emerging initiative of governments and civil society partners to restore school food programs to pre-pandemic levels and to ensure every child has the opportunity to receive a healthy, nutritious meal in school by 2030. The global School Meals Coalition will be formally launched in September 2021 during the Food Systems Summit, and this can be an interesting opportunity for Canada to prioritize school food programs.
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“We hope the Canadian government will join with Finland, France, Senegal, Guatemala, the United States, Russia and 30 other Countries and 38 partners who have all joined the School Meals Coalition'' said Debbie Field, Coordinator of the Coalition for Healthy School Food. “It is awe-inspiring to see the international consensus that school food programs are an essential service for the health and well-being of children and youth and we urge our government to add their voice.”
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Despite jurisdictional complexities, federal governments all over the world work with other levels of government to support school food programs. The Canadian government took the first step in joining the other G7 countries and most countries in the world through their Budget 2019 commitment to develop a School Food Program for Canada. Now, signing this global declaration would align with many of the federal government’s policy priorities, including Canada’s Sustainable Development Goal commitments, Food Policy for Canada, Healthy Eating Strategy, and Canada’s 2019 Food Guide.
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The Coalition for Healthy School Food has joined the global School Meals Coalition. As a member of this global Coalition, we will be representing the interests of our Canadian member and endorser organizations; however, local or provincial NGOs who are interested in adding their voice to the global Coalition may also choose to do so.
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The Coalition for Healthy School Food is also calling on all those advocating for school food programs in Canada to join this visionary global movement. Your organization can do so by signing this declaration of support and sending it along with high-resolution logos of your organization to declarations@schoolmealscoalition.org.
