Nestlé Healthy Kids Programme
The Nestlé Healthy Kids Programme has been developed with a focus to provide nutrition education to adolescents. Our objective is to create and raise awareness regarding good nutritional practices, cooking methods to enhance the nutritional content of foods and physical fitness among students in village schools. Education is a powerful tool for ensuring that children understand the value of nutrition and physical activity, and continue leading healthy lives as they grow older.
The Nestlé Healthy Kids Programme was launched in India on 7th April 2010, at a Government school in the village Pattikalyana, Samalkha. It is based on a multi-partnership approach in collaboration with six leading regional universities. This enables joint development and regional customisation of the content for local school children.
Our partners include:
- College of Home Science, Punjab Agricultural University
- College of Home Science, Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar
- Goa College of Home Science, Goa University
- College of Home Science, CSK Himachal Pradesh Agricultural University, Palampur
- National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal
- Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Science, Karnataka (Bangalore)
The programme is conducted in communities around our factories, through two hour sessions spread across six weeks, ensuring sustained nutrition training of 12 hours for each student.
Prior to the launch of the programme, a survey and pilot study was undertaken in Nestlé’s communities around Moga in partnership with Punjab Agricultural University (PAU). The pilot project covered 1,369 students in the Moga region from May 2009 to December 2009. Once the pilot was successfully completed, the key learnings were used to further fine-tune the final programme.
Since 2009, over 46500 students have successfully participated in the Programme. During 2012, we Company also collaborated with the Embassy of Switzerland to organise nutrition awareness workshops for schools in Delhi, reaching out to over 1,650 students.
In 2014, Nestlé India partnered with Magic Bus India Foundation on the lines of the Nestlé Healthy Kids Global Programme that focuses on providing nutrition and health awareness to adolescents.
Since 2014, 50,000 students have been covered in 5 metros- Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai through government schools. Magic Bus, which works on breaking the poverty cycle, one child at a time, will create a curriculum based on Sports for Development (S4D) approach, imparting knowledge about nutrition and a healthy, active lifestyle.
Going forward in 2016, the programe will reach out to additional 50000 students in schools and 25000 in communities across 8 states.
““The importance of early learning of nutrition related knowledge, attitudes and behavior for future health is widely recognized.”
Dr. Neelam Grewal, Dean, College of Home Science,
Punjab Agricultural University
“Nutrition means adequate intake of calorie in our daily diet along with balanced quantity of carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals, micronutrients, water and crude fibre.”
Dr. B. S. Bisht, Former Vice Chancellor, G. B. Pant University
“It is imperative that adolescent girls be armed with sound knowledge of Nutrition and Health so as to take care of their own health and of the family.”
Rajal Shinkre, Principal, College of Home Science, Goa University
“Healthy citizens make a nation great and strong. Nutritional awareness and providing need based nutrition, therefore, are of paramount importance to improve health standards.”
Dr. Sumati Rekha Malhotra, Dean cum Principal Investigator, College of Home Science, CSK Himachal Pradesh Agricultural University, Palampur