PROCESSES

ABSTRACT

PROGRAM

The Global Child Nutrition Foundation, GCNF,

aims to improve the cooperation of local
government, businesses, and educators around
the world, and their combined role in eradicating
child hunger. GCNF offers a global platform for
connecting school meal leaders with resources for
sustainable initiatives. For example, their Industry
Engagement Initiative aims to increase support for
home-grown school feeding program to allow
local food sources to nourish school children while

The nutritional problem we are addressing is

childrens access to proper nutrition in schools.
This program is distributed to children all
throughout the world, primarily focusing on third
world countries. This program is led by the
government of the nation as well as the help from
their implementing partners and companies. The
GCNF provides the space, support, and their own
experts to government officials and others to create
new strategies for this program all while attempting
to spend the least amount of money as possible 2.

improving their local market2.

NUTRITIONAL PROBLEM
Global Child Nutrition Foundation (GCNF)
expands opportunities for the worlds children to
receive adequate nutrition for learning and
achieving their potential by providing locally
sourced school meals. The goal of this policy is
that children everywhere will eventually have
school meals that fully nourish children in hopes of
helping them meet their health guidelines as they
grow physically and intellectually. The program
also has the goal of using this program to expand
further into the childs home by helping their whole
family thrive. By serving as a cultural and
technical translator, GCNF helps people connect
across sectors to engage in a mutually beneficial
exchange of inquiry and knowledge, generate
action, and co-create partnerships that provide all
with a return on their investment2.

GCNF was established in the United States in 2006 by

the School Nutrition Association (SNA), which is
responsible for school feeding practitioners. The SNA
had been holding annual forums since 1997; however,
the creation of GCNF occurred when the SNA realized
the growing need for school meal programs in
developing countries. Upon the success of the first few
forums held by the GCNF, with the administrative
support of the SNA, it became independent in 2013.
GCNF still sees delegates from several countries every
year at the annual forum, and continues to work
towards sustainable school meal programs2.

TRANSLATION

CONTEXT
The GCNF hosts a forum each year wherein
delegates from countries such as Ghana, Zambia,
and South Africa gather to discuss policy
implementation around the world. From this forum,
each country in attendance brings back a plan for
successful, sustainable school meal programs that
benefit local economies. Additionally, they accept
donations from the community at large for the
continuation of their role in global child hunger 2.

The two programs that the policy is translated into are SEE
Change and Industry Engagement Initiative. SEE change
(Status and Economic Enhancement Change for Women and
Girls) is a program that aims to improve the lives of women
and girls in West Africa by creating jobs within the school meal
supply chain for those undereducated and unemployed. The
Industry Engagement Initiative focuses on improving
collaboration between the public, private, and international
sectors responsible for providing the school meal programs 2.

EVALUATION
The GCNF is a network organization that hosts an
annual forum of delegates from developing
countries to discuss recommendations for policy
development and share strategies for how to best
implement school feeding programs. Evaluation of
the programs created by the GCNF is ongoing and
goals are reassessed each year2.
Rebecca Raig, Anne Bowen, Katie Reilly, Cara Wethington

CONCLUSIONS/
RECOMMENDATIONS
The GCNF brings countries together to work towards
ending child hunger. They work alongside governments to
achieve this goal. Many developing countries participate
in their school feeding programs. The foundation design
could be improved by expanding to influencing political
policy for participating countries. As of now, the foundation
limits itself to providing expert advice to governments. The
GCNF has the ability to put more resources towards
research and program development in order to make a
quantitative impact on reducing global hunger 2.

QUIZ
-What percentage of the worlds population suffers
from malnutrition1?
-How many children benefit from school feeding
programs3?
-How can you get involved in the fight against
world hunger?

References
1.

Five Facts from the Global Nutrition Report (2014). Retreived from
https://ciff.org/news/five-facts-global-nutrition-report/

2.

GCNF programs (2016). Retreived from http://gcnf.org/

3.

School Meals | WFP | United Nations World Food Programme - Fighting Hunger Worldwide. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://www.wfp.org/school-meals