GOOD NUTRITION PROGRAMME IN RUSSIA: over 350'000 children in 5’000 schools are involved in the programme
Nestlé Russia has always understood the importance of good nutrition in keeping good health and developing good nutritional habits for children. This is why in 1998 the Company took a decision to create and implement a special educational programme for children and teenagers, called the “Good nutrition programme”.
The content of this programme was developed in collaboration with and approved by the Institute for Developmental Physiology of the Russian Academy of Education and the Federal Institute of Nutrition, Russian Academy of Sciences. The project is supported by the Russian Ministry of Education as well as regional Departments of Education.
The main goal of this programme is to instill a basic understanding of nutritional culture among children, parents and teachers, and provide practical experience. The programme takes into account the differences in household income levels by focusing on traditional but healthy local food choices.
Currently, the programme is being carried out in 31 regions of Russia, with 3 more regions planned in 2011. Annually, over 350'000 children in 5’000 schools are involved in the programme, and in total it has helped more than 3 million children from 30’000 schools to learn about good nutrition.
| Period |
No. of regions involved |
No. of children involved |
No. of schools involved |
| 1999 |
1 |
20,000 |
350 |
| 1999-2000 |
15 |
160,000 |
3,000 |
| 2000-2001 |
17 |
180,000 |
3,000 |
| 2001-2002 |
21 |
220,000 |
3,500 |
| 2002-2003 |
23 |
230,000 |
3,800 |
| 2003-2004 |
27 |
250,000 |
3,800 |
| 2004-2005 |
27 |
260,000 |
4,000 |
| 2005-2006 |
27 |
265,000 |
4,000 |
| 2006-2007 |
27 |
270,000 |
4,500 |
| 2007-2008 |
27 |
320,000 |
4,500 |
| 2008-2009 |
27 |
350,000 |
5,000 |
| 2009-2010 |
27 |
350,000 |
5,000 |
| 2010-2011 |
31 |
400,000 |
5,200 |
The programme is a combination of three modules intended for children of 3 different age groups: Conversation about Good Nutrition” - 6-8 years old, “Two weeks in a Health Summer Camp” - 9-11 years old, “Good Nutrition Formula” - 12-14 years old.
Each module consists of a set of materials:
- Brightly coloured working books for school children with educational material, many interactive exercises and pictures, stickers and a big board game, which can be used at school or at home.
- Teacher’s pedagogic books.
The programme can be adapted to different types of educational institutions. “Good Nutrition Programme” can be easily integrated into the school curriculum. Currently, the project runs not only in schools, but also in kindergartens, centres of additional education, and clubs. The number of working hours and lesson structure is determined by the teacher, the average number of hours being 40 hours/school year/child.
During the programme, teachers receive a special training and are invited to a training seminar to learn about the programme’s aim, targets and methodology, before the launch of the programme in a region. .
Different events and activities are conducted within the Good Nutrition Programme: 3 annual contests – for teachers, kids and families (photo contest), National conference “Bringing up healthy generation” in Moscow, Regional seminars and workshops in all regions, series of Contests of Teachers’ best practice.
Nestlé Russia’s “Good Nutrition Programme” is unique, as no other such programme presently exists in the country and is the only programme in the country which conforms to the Russian National Programme “School Nutrition”.
The programme has contributed significantly into instilling nutritional culture among children. Due to the successful work of the programme, the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation is now recommending its regional bodies to use the expertise of the programme in their work.
The Good Nutrition Programme is part of a larger global commitment by Nestlé, called the Nestlé Healthy Kids Global Programme. Its objective is to raise nutrition, health and wellness awareness among school-age children around the world. Nestlé believes that education is the most powerful tool to ensure that children understand the value of nutrition and physical activity for their health throughout the course of their lives.
