FAO Armenia marks World Food Day. Vedi #1 secondary school staff and pupils host the first event of the week
Secondary school #1 in Vedi was crowded today. There were Armenian national dance and singing performances, and happy faces and high mood everywhere. This is how the first World Food Day 2018 event in Armenia unfolded today that will be followed by many more until Friday, 19 October.
One of the most celebrated days in the UN calendar, marking the founding of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), events are being organized by governments, the civil society, and FAO in over 150 countries across the world, including Armenia. There are meant to call for enhanced action to achieve Zero Hunger, which is the theme of this year.
The secondary school #1 in Vedi is benefiting from the Russian-funded FAO assistance aimed at strengthening food security and nutrition in selected countries of the Caucasus and Central Asia, including also Armenia. Previously, a greenhouse was built to cover the school’s needs for additional food supply. Also, the Vedi secondary school #1 is part of the national school feeding programme supported by the World Food Programme (WFP) since 2014.
Within the framework of the FAO-WFP joint event, a number of activities were organized for the schoolchildren as well as for their parents under the ZeroHunger theme. The results of a children’s drawing contest dedicated to ZeroHunger were announced, and the four winners received certificates and prizes. Beside this, a cooking master class took place run by a chief cook, presenting tips to parents on a healthy and nutritious diet, as well as different educational games for elementary classes were organized.
Emphasizing the importance of the day, the Assistant FAO Representative in Armenia Gayane Nasoyan mentioned: “This is an exceptional occasion to teach our children from the very first grades that every one of us should join efforts to fight against hunger and malnutrition and that achieving Zero Hunger worldwide will require people to work more closely together to improve everyone’s opportunities to live healthy, productive lives.”
The Head of the Food Safety Inspectorate Mr. Georgi Avetisyan, representatives from FAO, WFP, the National Institute of Health named after academician S. Avdalbekyan, the Russian Social and Industrial Foodservice Institute and other partners were participating.