On February 9, 2023, a strategic session “School nutrition reform: strategic development during the war and post-war recovery of Ukraine” was held in Kyiv. Among the participants, there were the initiator of the reform, First Lady Olena Zelenska, the Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine Serhiy Shkarlet, the Minister of Health of Ukraine Viktor Liashko, as well as the Ambassador of the Swiss Confederation to Ukraine Claude Wild. The SSI “Institute of Educational Analytics” was represented at the event by Director Sergiy Londar (Doctor of Economics, Professor), First Deputy Director Andrii Lytvynchuk (PhD in Economics), Deputy Director for Scientific and Organizational Work Hanna Tereshchenko (PhD in Economics, Senior Researcher) and Deputy Director for Scientific-Project Work and IT Andrii Kyrianov.

The event was aimed at developing a draft Strategy for reforming the school nutrition system, which began in January last year and was interrupted by the russian invasion, as well as attracting foreign investment in the development and restoration of educational institutions. Among the participants, there were representatives of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, Ministry of Economy of Ukraine, Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, Ministry of Development of Communities and Territories of Ukraine, State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection, Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine,  ProZorro, other government agencies, NGOs, and international donors. They discussed the draft Strategy and developed a plan for further development of the reform with a focus on the restoration of educational institutions, social support and development of human resources.

Olena Zelenska opened the event and noted: “It is often said that the war took a year of life from each of the Ukrainians. In this case, we can say that the war has definitely taken a year of healthy nutrition from our children. If it weren’t for the Russian attack, we would probably be talking about achievements, growth and changes today. But. Our achievement is that despite the war and all the trials, we are still here and we are going to continue.”

During his speech, Sergiy Londar presented the functions of the SSI “Institute of Educational Analytics” regarding information and analytical support for education management to the participants. Andrii Lytvynchuk, together with his colleagues, experts of the Swiss-Ukrainian DECIDE project, Maria Drobot and Ksenia Plevako, spoke about the arrangement of school meals during the martial law and the creation of an interactive map of the needs of the educational institutions. In addition, the results of a survey on the most pressing problems of general secondary education institutions in organizing meals were presented.

The road map for the next stage of the school nutrition reform was also presented at the event, including the following four areas for further work:

• Arrangements for quality meals: procurement and financing.
• Restoration and modernization of the eating establishments: a comprehensive approach. Implementation and compliance with the HACCP system.
• Development of the personnel potential.
• Formation of a culture of healthy eating. Introduction of new standards and menus.

First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska resumed the event and thanked the representatives of the central executive authorities, state institutions, partner organizations of the reform, the organizers of the session, as well as the representatives of the donor organizations and the Embassy of Switzerland in Ukraine, personally Mr. Ambassador Claude Wild and the Ukrainian-Swiss DECIDE project for supporting the reform and organizational support of the strategic session.

Source: website of the Office of the President of Ukraine