Impact Area
- Communities
- Community engagement
- Compliance
- Environmental sustainability
- Gender balance & diversity
- Individuals & Families
- Nutrition
- Planet
- Rural development
- Water
Nestlé in Côte d’Ivoire launched a pilot phase of the Healthy Kids Programme in October 2014 with an aim to teach children about the benefits of balanced diets and nutrition, increase their physical activity and encourage good hygiene.
About 17% of children aged under five were underweight between 2000-2009, according to the World Health Organization (see health profile on the regional site). Worryingly, this is nearly double United Nations’ Millennium Development Goal One target of 9% for 2015.
The WHO also stated that only a quarter of the population had access to improved sanitation in 2008, significantly below the MDG Goal Seven target of 60% for 2015.
Programme description
To address these issues, the pilot Nestlé Healthy Kids Programme was launched in Côte d’Ivoire for fourth grade-aged children to boost balanced diets and nutrition, enhance their physical activity and improve hygiene.
It also aims to impact teachers, school cooks, parents and families based at schools based near Nestlé’s operations. Currently, three of the participating pilot schools are part of the Nestlé Cocoa Plan.
Nestlé has teamed up with the Ministries of Education and Health by signing a memorandum of understanding to help increase nutrition awareness to children and their families.
The company works closely with the National Nutrition Programme, a national body that reports to the Ministry of Health and leads the development and coordination of the national nutrition policy and strategy.
Non-governmental organization Des Livres Pour Tous, private nutritionists, dieticians and teachers, have all contributed to the programme’s course materials.
These include children’s nutrition booklets, notebooks, banners and course guides for teachers.
The monitoring and evaluation framework, which has been set out by the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education, will take place after the pilot phase is completed.
It will measure the knowledge, attitude, behaviour and Body Mass Index of the participating schoolchildren.
Teachers, school staff, parents and families will also be monitored to measure the impact of the pilot programme.