The objective is to improve people’s health and quality of life, and to take care of nature through education in schools.
The project, led by the Presidency and Public Health and managed by LocalEurope, will be developed together with 33 other institutions from 12 EU countries.
Valencia – By Ehab Soltan
The European Commission has confirmed the participation of the Generalitat in the SchoolFood4Change (SF4C) project. It is a transformative project that aims, through education in nutrition and sustainability, that the boys and girls of the schools of the Valencian Community eat healthier, with the aim of maintaining a good state of health, and also do it in a more environmentally friendly way.
The project, which is part of the Horizon 2020 program, brings together the participation of the Generalitat with 33 other institutions from 12 countries of the European Union and has a global budget of about 12 million euros, of which more than 300,000 are have been granted to the Valencian Community.
SF4C will last 4 years and will impact more than 600,000 schoolchildren in 3,000 schools in Europe since, through the European Green Deal, it is intended to promote programs, actions and projects that give a tangible and effective response, which allows achieving its main objectives: to promote the economy, improve people’s health and quality of life and take care of nature.
For this reason, under the direction of ICLEI, SF4C is developed within the strategy ‘From farm to fork’ (‘Farm to Fork’), aimed at accelerating the transition towards a sustainable food system that should have a neutral environmental impact or positive within a framework of sustainability and circular economy, as well as ensuring food security, nutrition and public health, ensuring that all people have access to sufficient, safe, nutritious and sustainable food. Key to this is the process of health education and the implementation of good eating habits in the pediatric population.
For this, approximately 180 publicly owned primary education centers that have a school cafeteria service in the three provinces of the Valencian Community will be determined, in order to implement a series of measures to achieve the objectives set. In addition, subtle transversal measures will be promoted that affect all educational centers in the Valencian territory, in order to achieve small changes, but sustained over time.
This recognition for the Generalitat, and a great opportunity for Valencian boys and girls, is an incentive for the General Directorate of Public Health and Additions and a stimulus to continue working on projects that are able to focus on prevention and health promotion through a healthy and sustainable diet that is available to the entire population.
