Meal and Classroom is a project implemented by The Association for Values in Education and the Association of Private Schools, inspired by Edenred, allowing 50 primary, middle, high schools or kindergartens to get ready to improve the quality of the hot meals offered to children in school units.
In Romania, approximately 30% of children aged 7-9 are overweight, whereas between 15% and 20% of these are obese, according to a World Health Organisation report published in 2022.
Bucharest, 16 august 2023. By means of the “Meal and Classroom” programme, developed by The Association for Values in Education (AVE) and the Association of Private Schools (ASP România), in partnership with Edenred România, 50 public school headmasters will learn to develop their management and leadership skills and receive information and guidance intended to help them raise funds required to optimise hot meal catering solutions for schools.
To that end, AVE and the experts across its network will support for free the schools towards raising funds these will use to develop their logistical capacity, infrastructure, team or the nutritional quality of the meals they provide to the children.
As part of the programme, the enrolled schools will benefit from:
Support in enhancing the capacity to draw in resources, create teams and develop the infrastructure required to ensure quality nutrition for the children.
Enhancing the capacity to access public or European funding or funding granted by non-profit foundations.
Access to guidelines on children’s healthy nutrition, endorsed by nutritionists, physicians and the authorities.
“This programme is intended for schools, from any county, which can enrol by filling out the following form by August 24. We will have a procedure in place for reviewing the applications received and pay attention to the motivation of the schools wishing to enter the project. Schools can find out more information on the AVE website”, stated Andreea Nistor, AVE Managing Director.
As part of the programme, ASP România and Edenred will develop, in collaboration with professional cooks, physician nutrition specialists and health specialists, a set of Healthy Recipe Guidelines for schools. The Guidelines will become accessible to the entire network of state-owned and private pre-academic education establishments, and available online for free.
“Edenred’s initiative to support the emergence of healthy eating habits and a broader access of children in schools to a balanced nutrition by means of hot meals is a commitment made in the long run in the form of our new strategic path – EduFOOD. This endeavour adds up to the tradition of actions we dedicate to healthy diets via the FOOD Programme, a European model of public-private partnership, launched and coordinated by Edenred, active across 11 EU countries, Romania included. We believe that school can be a positive transformational setting, also in terms of children’s nutritional habits and are gladly able to bring a sustainable contribution to this community effort”, stated Dana Sîntejudean, Manager for the Europe Area, the Middle East and Hispanic America.
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About Edenred
Edenred is a market leader as a digital platform for services and payments and is the daily companion at the workplace, connecting 52 million users and 2 million partner sellers through 950,000 corporate clients across 45 countries.
Edenred provides payment solutions with specific end uses for food (food cards), incentives (gift cards, employee-centred platforms), mobility (multi-energy solutions, maintenance, road taxes, parking lots and transportation vouchers) and corporate payments (virtual payment cards).
In accordance with the group’s mission, ”Enrich connections. For good.”, these solutions increase the users’ well-being and spending power. They enhance the companies’ attractiveness and effectiveness and vitalise the labour market and the local economy. Furthermore, they favour access to healthier food, more sustainable products and soft mobility solutions.
The 10,000 employees of Edenred undertake to turn the world of work into a connected, safer, more effective and more responsible ecosystem every day.
In 2022, due to its global technological assets, the Group managed a business volume of approximately 38 billion Euro, achieved primarily by means of mobile applications, online platforms and cards.
Edenred is listed at the Euronext Paris Stock Exchange and included in the following indicators: CAC 40 ESG, CAC Next 20, CAC Large 60, Euronext 100, FTSE4Good and MSCI Europe.
The logos and other trade names mentioned and presented in this press release are registered marks of Edenred SE, of its subsidiaries or of third parties. They may not be used for commercial purposes without their owners’ prior written consent.
25 years in Romania
This year, Edenred celebrates 25 years of activity in Romania. During this period, the company has continuously adapted itself to address the consumers’ dynamic needs, technological progress and economic and social changes, becoming the main digital platform for services and payments in Romania, with 100% digital solutions for employees, companies, sellers and administration, connected under a symbiotic ecosystem. Edenred continues to be a responsible social player, promoting socially, economically and environmentally righteous solutions, thus placing the ESG principles at the core of its activities.
About The Association for Values in Education (AVE)
The Association for Values in Education (AVE) is a non-profit organisation whose main goal is to bring the educational system in Romania to Europe’s top 10 by 2035. AVE wishes to transform the educational system in Romania into one that promotes respect, honesty, team spirit and responsibility. Full details are available at www.ave-romania.ro.
About The Association of Private Schools (ASP)
The Association of Private Schools (ASP) is the associative structure of private educational establishments, with nationwide relevance and 306 members in total – kindergartens, primary, middle and high schools – set up in 2020 in order to represent and support privately funded pre-academic educational establishments in Romania. ASP promotes high quality standards in education and supports collaboration and exchanges of good practices among pre-academic schooling facilities. ASP’s main objective is to increase the performance and sustainability of schools in Romania so as to provide children with learning experiences based on academic performance and the development of abilities and skills for life. (www.asp-romania.ro)