Federazione Italiana dello Scautismo

Eight projects from the National Organization of Italian Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (Federazione Italiana dello Scautismo) won the FAO WAGGGS Nutrition Award in 2003.
The two Girl Guiding/Girl Scouting associations in Italy (CNGEI and AGESCI) organised an umbrella project ’Eat with your Brain, Fight Hunger’, which became the national theme for Thinking Day 2003.

Guides and Scouts around the country were encouraged to choose an aspect of food and nutrition (e.g. malnutrition, obesity, healthy eating) to focus on and organise formal activities. Many groups decided to work on an international level and help to support a project in another Member Organization: projects were supported in Mexico, Paraguay, Ghana, Rwanda, Togo, El Salvador and the Philippines.

Within the various projects entitled ’Not only bread’, ’Feeding Minds, Fighting Hunger’ and ’Eat with your Brain, Fight Hunger’, troop members looked at healthy eating and the problems associated with it, especially in poorer countries. They considered different ways of facing food problems and different countries’ attitudes to food; they tasted different foods, played games and thought of ways to improve the divide of natural resources between developing and developed countries.

The projects involved a total of around 50,000 Brownies, Cubs, Guides and Scouts and up to 150,000 people from the local communities.

Seven young leaders evaluated the projects, selecting seven of the best projects from around Italy to put forward for the FAO/WAGGGS Nutrition award, in addition to the umbrella project organised by the National Organization. These were:

• AGESCI Messapia District
• AGESCI Roma 16 Veneto Regio
• CNGEI Roma (Brownies)
• CNGEI Torino
• CNGEI Firenze (Brownies)
• CNGEI Pisa