Sustainable Nutrition, Sustainable Learning: Updates from the Baguio Nutrition Program
By Anna Mercer
Community collaboration is making the nutrition program at Baguio Elementary succeed. Cacao farmers in Davao, Philippines recognized the needs of students and have partnered to provide a sustainable source of funding for school lunches. The farmers planted and manage a group of cacao trees for the school, whose fruits will be harvested and sold. These profits will fund the nutrition program for years to come, providing kindergarten students the ability to learn and grow.
From the beginning of this program, sustainability has been on the community’s minds. Generous donors Elsie Larsen and Emma Chapman, founders of the blog A Beautiful Mess, launched the program with their contributions. As the program becomes more and more sustainable, funding will come from the cacao trees, ensuring that the school will be able to support the program by itself.
Sustainability doesn’t just mean in food production—it also means sustaining program results. After children graduate kindergarten, they continue to be monitored to ensure they maintain UN benchmarks for height and weight. Shawn Askinosie, founder of Chocolate University, traveled to the Philippines in January to connect with farmer partners and visit Baguio Elementary (read his origin update here). Since our update about the program last fall, students have been meeting their nutrition benchmarks and achieving great things in school.
“One of the cool things about this program is that even after children “graduate“ kindergarten, our local team monitors the children to make sure that they don’t fall through the cracks of height and weight measurements,” writes Shawn. We have found that there are sometimes two or three children who continue with significant malnutrition for one reason or another and so they follow them along until the measurements are normal.”
Nutrition is critical to learning, especially for kindergarten students. According to teachers at the school, the children in this program are getting better sleep and are able to focus during lessons. The teachers report that students enjoy their lunches and look forward to seeing what’s on the menu.
The nutrition program at Baguio is not the first of its kind. This is the sixth school lunch program that Chocolate University has helped start; two in Tanzania and four in the Philippines. There are so many people that make this program possible—farmers, teachers, donors, and parents and volunteers. From cultivating the cacao trees to preparing and serving meals, this program is brought to life by dedicated community members. They are making a measurable difference in the lives of these kindergarteners.
To support the Baguio nutrition program as it works towards sustainability, click below.
