Other FAO/WAGGGS Nutrition Award Winners
Girl Guides of Kuwait
The Girl Guides of Kuwait received the FAO/WAGGGS nutrition medal for their prject "environment in the Heart" during the Arab Regional Conference 2007. The initiative, which focused on protecting the land and marine and aerial environments against adverse human activity, ran from October 2005 to February 2007 and involved almost 800 people. The Ministry of Education and the Suad Al-Sayegh Intermediate School approved and named the project as part of the "Girl Guide Movement: New Opportunities and Challenges" plan. During the programme participants met with the Kuwaiti Society for Environment Protection, Kuwait University, the Fire Department, the Department of Civil Defense and experts in oil and the environment to discuss the possible effects of an environmental catastrophe. The Guides also met the Secretary of the Environmental Commission of Kuwait National Assembly.Pakistan Girl Guides Association, Punjab Branch
The Punjab Girl Guides have been running a project on the health and welfare of children in Samsani khui, Lahore since 1999. A survey was conducted in 2003 to ascertain how much effect the project had had. The results of the survey showed that before the project, children did not understand about the importance of eating a balanced and healthy diet. Through the project, they learned about the importance of drinking milk, eating nutritious food and boiling water before drinking. Mothers have also improved their diet as a result of the project, by including more vegetables, beans and rice and cutting down on too much oil and salt. The project also developed literacy and hygiene-practices in the region, and emphasised areas such as water purification, disposal of garbage, iodised salt and water testing. The project was supported by Girlguiding UK and has been widely recognised in Pakistan.The Singapore Girl Guides Association
For their Thinking Day Fundraising project, Girl Guides at a school in Singapore made the most nutritional cookies they could. They designed and made the packaging, sold the cookies and the money raised went to a convalescent home. This was a great opportunity for the girls to demonstrate their cookery skills, think about nutritional values of the food they were making and help people less fortunate than themselves. The girls all worked together as a team and hope to repeat the project next year.Latvia - Latvijas Skautu un Gaidu Centrala Orgnizacija
The project aimed to teach Guides and Scouts about Latvian eating traditions, following changes in the country and the move away from agriculture. Participants worked on a number of issues including: traditional food, junk food and health, home produced food, natural medicines, national festivities and food, and Scout camp food. Participants learned how certain foods are made and how ancient customs are observed. A camp cookery book was compiled. The project was run in partnership with Pfadfinder und Pfadfinderinnen Österreichs. Three Awards were given to three most outstanding groups.
Austria - Pfadfinder und Pfadfinderinnen Österreichs
The Association encouraged Guide and Scout troops all over Austria to implement innovative projects on food, nutrition and health. 43 projects took place and three were chosen as the most outstanding. These three projects have been awarded the FAO Award:
• Dornbirn - County Vorarlberg
• Trofaiach - County Styria
• Steyr I - County Upper Austria
Activities included growing vegetables, making juices, running a party for children on healthy food, and producing a video on nutrition.The activities were done in partnership with Latvijas Skautu un Gaidu Centrala Orgnizacija.
Chile - Grupo de Guías y Scouts “Nguen Mapu” de Pirque
The participants built organic orchards and a collective to improve the quality of food for rural families in the community. Pirque is a rural area and agriculture is the main activity. It is also an area with many social problems including alcohol and drug abuse, domestic violence and teenage pregnancies. All the beneficiaries were women, many of whom are single mothers or acting as head of the family.The Girl Guides Association New Zealand
The New Zealand Girl Guides Association was presented with the FAO/WAGGGS medal for their ‘Wipeout’ project on World Food Day 1998.The New Zealand Girl Guides ascertained that a priority area of concern is safe food handling and storage. The nutrition project produced information leaflets suggesting ways in which Girl Guides could gain practical training in safe food handling. Girl Guides were encouraged to visit food preparation areas in restaurants; to produce promotional material that can be displayed in public areas; and to design games on handling food safely among other activities. Girl Guides living in urban areas were given the opportunity to visit large hospital laboratories to look at items such as dishcloths and tea towels to check for bacteria. After their training, the Girl Guides were encouraged to relay their knowledge to their families and friends.
Uganda Girl Guides Association Nutrition Guide
The Uganda Girl Guides’ initiative is called a ‘Nutrition Guide’. It was funded in part by the Norwegian Guides and Scouts and the UK Guide Association. The project concentrated mainly on improving about 3000 Girl Guides’ understanding of the preparation of locally grown food stuffs. It was aimed at both rural and urban communities. The Girl Guides in the countryside also produced and distributed traditional recipe books to local communities which comprise low income earners and agricultural producers.