Social challenge and reasons for project’s initiation

Immediacy of the social problem

People’s health is the most important factor of national development, and good nutrition is one of the key factors behind people’s health. Yet Russian people’s diet is very different from healthy eating standards, and diet-related diseases are the most prevalent ones, both among adults and among children. Some experts describe the current situation as critical.

Health promotion and education programs are regarded as one of the key mechanisms that can improve the situation.^[1] The earlier we start with this kind of programs, the easier it will be to develop good eating habits. 

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^[1] The WHO Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health

External reasons for project’s initiation

When the program was first designed and launched, the eating culture in Russian families was at a low level. This was evidenced by a study done by the Children’s Physiology Institute. Yet Russian schools did not have any programs educating children about good nutrition, as was confirmed in our meetings with Education Ministry officials.

Since we were going to use schools as a platform for our program, we had to come up with a new model, which would not only give children knowledge but also help them develop practical eating habits. Traditional approaches used in teaching children to read, write, etc., cannot achieve this goal. We needed a new model, which on the one hand could be easily integrated with the existing school system and use its resources, and on the other hand would effectively change children’s eating habits.  This is something that has never been done in Russian schools before.

Internal reasons for project’s initiation

Nestle is the global leader in the food industry^[2] and positions itself as an expert on healthy lifestyle. The Company’s Creating Shared Value approach is closely aligned with the UN’s sustainability principles. Nestle has made a decision to make a sizable contribution in a number of areas, including nutrition, namely, manufacturing food products which are good for consumers’ health, and making our products more affordable by introducing innovative technology and creating partnerships. The Company sees it social mission in building a healthy diet culture through broad educational programs.

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^[2] https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/global500/2009/snapshots/6126.html

Coverage

60 provinces of Russia

Project description

The program consists of three modules for age groups of 6-8, 9-10 and 11-12 years:

• “Let’s Talk About Good Nutrition” (6-8 years)
• “Two Weeks at a Health Camp” (9-11 years)
• “Good Nutrition Formula” (12-14 years)

For each of the modules, we have prepared a set of didactic materials (a workbook for students, a teacher’s guide, posters, and a leaflet).

In addition to offline materials, there are digital materials available at www.prav-pit.ru.

The program is scheduled for three years and a total of 120 hours in class.

The primary format is an additional class conducted by a school teacher.

The project is supervised and coordinated at the national and provincial levels. In each of the provinces, the program is coordinated by the local education department or ministry. The education department identifies schools that participate in the program and provides necessary support for the program at the province level.

At the national level, the program is coordinated by a Nestle Russia team. The Company provides the program with everything necessary for its operation (prints didactic materials, delivers them to provinces, designs and introduces new technology and methodology, organizes research, contests, conferences and PR events).

The program relies heavily on intersectoral partnership with government, academic and civil society institutions.

Stages:

1998-1999 – Preparation

• Research into current nutrition issues in families with children aged 6 to 9. The results of the study done by the Children’s Physiology Institute confirmed the need for special education programs on good nutrition.
• Looking for partners who would design the content and provide scientific recommendations. For this project, we picked two leading authorities in Russia on nutrition and healthy lifestyle: the Children’s Physiology Institute and the National Nutrition and Biotechnology Research Center (in 1998, the Nutrition Institute).
• Getting endorsement from the Education Ministry. The ministry confirmed the need for special courses in schools and endorsed the program.
• Preparing materials for the program (workbooks, teacher’s guides, posters)

1999 – Pilot launch

In the fall of 1999, the program was launched in nine provinces. A total of 10,000 children participated in the program.

The duration of the course was one school year (40 hours in class).

2000-2002 – Mass launch

The program gained recognition. Participating provinces request more copies of didactic materials. More provinces request to join the project. The annual coverage expands to 27 provinces and 100,000 students.

2002-2007 – Expansion and development

Teachers and parents participating in the program keep asking for the course to be extended: “We want our children to grow along with the program.” A decision was made to design and launch an extension to the program. As a result, the program was extended from one year (40 hours) to three years (120 hours).

In order to provide participants with additional opportunities to learn about proper nutrition and further stimulate them, we launched annual contests for children, parents and teachers. Currently, we have eight nationwide (online and offline) contests going on.

The program’s annual coverage expands to 40 provinces and 600,000 students.

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2007-2009 – Further expansion and digitization

The Education Ministry recommends the program to school authorities across the nation as a role model in promoting healthy lifestyle.

The program launches its website, www.prav-pit.ru, offering online educational tools to enhance the learning process.

The annual coverage is 56 regions and 1 million students.

2009 till now – The program goes nationwide, build partnerships, develops international ties, engages in research

The annual coverage is over 1.4 million children in 60 provinces (78% of Russia’s territory and 25% of all students in elementary school).

Partnership agreements with 65 government, scientific and nonprofit organizations at both national and provincial levels, getting partners actively involved in the program.

Developing ties with healthy lifestyle programs in CIS countries, launching international contests for teachers and students from Belarus, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

Annual media campaigns at the national and provincial levels to share the program’s success and raise awareness.

Regular (once every three years) reviews of the program by independent experts to evaluate its efficiency with key target audiences – children, parents, teachers. Presenting reports in scientific journals and at scientific conferences (both national and international).

Support projects

In addition, we have annual offline and online contests for children, teachers and parents, an online cooking class, and a special system for methodology training for teachers.

Team and partners 

Team

• Alexandra Makeeva, Head of Educational Programs
• Svetlana Rogovaya, program coordinator
• Svetlana Smolina, Head of Consumer Marketing and Communications

Partners

• Government:
  • At the national level, our partner is the Education Ministry. It approves the contents and methodology of the program, informs the provinces about the program and recommends it to them. Ministry officials participate in program events.
  • At the province level, the program is coordinated by the province’s education authority (ministry or department). It decides which schools can participate in the program and informs the school about the opportunity. They prepare a request for a required number of didactic materials and provide organizational support with workshops and contests.
• Expert NGOs:
  • The National Culinary Association (member of the World Association of Chefs’ Societies) is our partner for the online cooking class and the culinary contest.
• consultations
• judges for the contest

• The Gastronomic Association is our partner for the program’s international contest and for the online Healthy City contest. It provides consultations and judges for the contest.

• Academia:
  • Children’s Physiology Institute – scientific consultations, partner in the methodology contest 
  • National Nutrition and Biotechnology Research Center – scientific consultations, partner in the family photo contest 
  • Anthropology Institute – scientific consultations, participation in research
  • Moscow University, Department of Regional Studies – scientific consultations

Resources

Financial resources

2018: 66 million rubles

Since 1999: approximately 600 million rubles

Human resources

The program is implemented mostly by teachers (who teach classes at school) and provincial educational authorities (who coordinate the program in their provinces), who participate in the project without material compensation. Currently, the program has over 80 coordinators and over 55,000 teachers.

Teachers and coordinators are rewarded with letters of gratitude, diplomas, advanced training certificates and invitation to the annual Raising Healthy Generation Conference.

Company employees regularly participate in a corporate activity called “How Do Your Kids Do on Good Nutrition?” The goal of the activity is to introduce employees to the project and get them involved in promoting the program. Any employees with a school age child can receive a set of program materials, so they take it to the school where their children study and tell the school administration about the program. Over 400 employees in eight offices, in Moscow and other cities, participate in the activity every year. Through their efforts, 20,000 new participants joined the program.

Technological and material resources

Didactic materials for the program include the following:

• Workbooks for three age groups (6-8 years, 9-11 years, 12-13 years)
• Teacher’s guides
• Posters
• Leaflets for parents

Digital educational platform www. prav-pit.ru

Achieved results

The program helped over 8.5 million children and their parents in 60 provinces of Russia to acquire healthy eating habits.

For many years. the program has been providing thousands of schools in 60 provinces of Russia with easy-to-use tools educating schoolchildren in big cities, small towns and rural areas about the basics of healthy eating. In doing so, it contributed to SDG 4 – “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education.” In 10 provinces, the program is part of their regional development strategies and is being implemented at all or most of the schools (Voronezh, Stavropol, Orenburg, Yekaterinburg, Kazan, etc.).

By working closely with government, academic and nonprofit organizations at both national and local levels, the program contributes to SDG 17 – global partnership for sustainable development. Currently, the program has 67 partners.

Immediate results

Over the past 20 years, 8.5 million children took part in the program. The company invested over 600 million rubles in it, which is a substantial contribution to the cause of healthy living culture. The following are the program’s specific results:

A unique training model which effectively instills healthy eating culture and can be easily integrated with the existing curriculum. The model uses modern interactive techniques. Its efficiency has been demonstrated by studies showing that the training has real effect on eating behavior both with children and adults.

An effective professional training system for teachers engaged in nutrition education: over 10,000 teachers from various parts of Russia are trained annually through a network of seminars.

An effective system for raising awareness about the importance of special training for children and adults on the basics of healthy lifestyle: regular audience of 68,663,819 people in 2018 (articles in online and offline publications, reports on TV and radio, social media)

Social results

In 2018, the nationwide effective training on healthy lifestyle covered 60 regions of Russia (78% of Russia’s territory), 1.43 million schoolchildren (25% of all elementary school students) and 55,000 teachers  

Conditions created for effective systemic work to instill eating culture in Russian schools by providing educational materials (printed and digital materials, engagement in educational activities, special professional training, etc.). In 2018, the project covered 55,000 schools in Russia.

Extensive and effective cooperation system facilitating effective intersectoral interaction both at national and local levels, enhancing the efficiency of cultural initiatives. The program has brought together 67 national and local organizations (government, academic and nonprofit institutions). In 10 provinces, the program is part of their regional development strategies and is being implemented at all or most of the schools (Voronezh, Stavropol, Orenburg, Yekaterinburg, Kazan, etc.).

Internal project assessment

We perform regular and comprehensive evaluations of the project’s performance.

Annual review:

• Coverage: the number of provinces, schools, teachers and children covered by the program
• Engagement: the number of participants engaged in various online and offline activities
• Review meetings with officials who coordinate the program in their provinces. The purpose of these meetings is to get feedback and identify the needs in each province
• Reports by province coordinators

Based on the annual review data, we formulate our short-term goals.

External project assessment

Long-term evaluation:

• Once every three years, a polling agency, together with Russia’s leading academic institutions – Children’s Physiology Institute and Anthropology Institute, conducts a special survey to measure the program’s impact on participants’ behavior.
• Once every four to five years, Nutrition Institute experts review the program’s contents to see if it is in line with the current scientific view of a healthy diet.
• Once every four to five years, Education Academy experts review the program’s teaching methodology.

Based on their feedback, we formulate long-term trends for the program’s development in coming years.

Project’s distinctive features and know – how

• Teaching children

The program is used by various categories of educational institutions: kindergartens, regular schools, schools for children with special needs, boarding schools, orphanages, educational centers, etc.

The primary format used by the program is extracurricular activities (extra classes, class meetings, etc.).

Teachers conduct lessons, using didactic materials provided through the provincial education authority, as well as online materials available at www.prav-pit.ru.

Additional formats for teaching and motivation:

– Creative contest. Participants prepare art projects related to healthy diet and healthy lifestyle. In 2018, over 20,000 children took part in the contest. To learn more about it, please go to https://www.prav-pit.ru/teachers/contest/kids.

– International contest. Our partner on the contest is the Gastronomic Association. In this contest, we have competing classes from Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. Led by their teachers, students prepare creative projects about their countries’ dietary traditions. The finals take place in the form of a teleconference between national champions. In 2018, 1,200 classes (25,000 students) took part in the contest. To learn more, please go to https://www.prav-pit.ru/teachers/international.

– Online contest Healthy City. Partner: the Gastronomic Association. This is a contest for families: children with their parents. In the course of a year, teams participate in quizzes, answering questions about nutrition and healthy lifestyle and performing creative assignments. In 2018, over 2,000 families took part in the contest. To learn more, please go to https://www.prav-pit.ru/children/city.html.

– Online cooking class. Partner: National Culinary Association. Videos available on the website are used for cooking classes. In 2018, over 1,500 classes (more than 35,000 students) participated in the online cooking class. To learn more, please go to https://www.prav-pit.ru/teachers/studio.

Training teachers to use modern techniques in promoting healthy lifestyle

We train teachers in partnership with the Children’s Physiology Institute, the National Nutrition and Biotechnology Research Center, and Moscow University. Training includes the following:

• Introductory workshops for teachers who have just joined the program. These are conducted by Children’s Physiology Institute experts.
• Scientific seminars, conferences and round tables in each province. On the average, we organize 30-40 such events each year. Their purpose is compare program results in different places, identify the best practices and replicate them. In 2018, we had 40 such events.
• National best practices contest. In 2018, over 22,000 teachers took part in the contest. For more information, please go to https://www.prav-pit.ru/teachers/contest/metod.
• Annual International Raising Healthy Generation Conference. This conference is for teachers and education administrators coordinating the program in their respective provinces, representatives of CIS countries who have their own programs promoting good nutrition. The conference offers an opportunity to share best practices and discuss ways to develop the project further. In 2018, the conference was attended by 150 delegates from 60 Russian provinces and delegations from Belarus, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

• Teaching parents

All the materials prepared for the program include some assignments for the whole family. This helps engage parents in the project and raise their awareness of dietary needs of their children.

Parents are also educated through parents’ meetings conducted by teachers based on the guidelines provided by the program.

“Raising Healthy and Happy Children”: an online contest. Partner: National Nutrition and Biotechnology Research Center.  In 2018, over 4,000 families took part in the contest. To learn more, please go to https://www.prav-pit.ru/parents/photo-contest.

An offline family photo contest. In 2018, over 40,000 families took part in the contest. To learn more, please go to https://www.prav-pit.ru/parents/contest/photo.

• Scientific research

Since 2010, the program has a scientific component. Its purpose is to design scientifically proven strategies, formats and methods for promoting a healthy lifestyle.

So far, we have had three major monitoring campaigns. We collected data about children’s diet in different age groups, special attributes of the lifestyle in each group, and how the program has affected their behavior. The monitoring campaigns were conducted by independent polling agencies. Experts from Russia’s leading scientific institutions – the Children’s Physiology Institute and the Anthropology Institute – helped analyze the data collected.

This information is used to regularly update the program and design new components.

The collected data presents general scientific interest. It is published in scientific journals in Russia and abroad. It has also been shared at scientific conferences.

In 2018, four articles were published in scientific journals. Our experience with the program was shared at four scientific conferences.

• International cooperation

The program engages in international cooperation with similar programs organized by Nestle in other CIS countries – Kazakhstan and Belarus. Annually, delegations from CIS countries attend the International Raising Healthy Generation Conference, participate in the international contest for children, joint research programs on nutrition issues.

Challenges and solutions

Students aged 6 to 12 are the primary target audience. Their eating habits are still in the forming stage and quite often are far from healthy. Children don’t like to be lectured by adults, but they like to play games, which can be used to develop proper habits.

Parents of students aged 6 to 12: Most parents realize that it is important for their children to eat healthy food, yet in real life they find it difficult to organize the feeding process properly; many say they “don’t know how to make kids eat the right things.” Often, parents complain they don’t have enough time and money, underestimating the role of knowledge. The program exercises both direct and indirect influence on parents: direct – through the program’s special educational tools helping adults learn more about a healthy diet and motivating them to follow these principles in organizing their family diet – and indirect – when children act as “teachers” for their parents, educating them about healthy eating habits.

Teachers: On the one hand, participation in the program helps teacher develop their professional skills. On the other, their engagement provides them with new knowledge about nutrition and motivates them to pursue a healthy liefstyle themselves.

Education officials in provinces are interested in the program because it helps them to educate children in their provinces about the basics of a healthy lifestyle. 

The program has encountered a number of difficulties:

• People (especially government officials) are often suspicious about social projects initiated by businesses, viewing them as “product placement.” Also, they are often wary of the fact that Nestle is a “foreign” company.
• There is a lack of proper eating culture in society. People often think that good nutrition is only available to rich people and underestimate the importance of knowledge.

Initially, government officials, teachers and parents were all skeptical: how can you resolve “such a serious and complex problem” with “some sort of program”? Yet soon our results clearly demonstrated that the program was highly effective. Today, it is very obvious that the program makes a significant contribution to promoting the culture of health in society.

Plans of further development   

The Company will continue to support and develop the program.

In addition to the activities presented above, we plan to do the following:

• No matter how many copies of study materials we print, we are never able to meet the demand from all those eager to join the program. The program’s popularity keeps growing. This is why in the 2019-2020 school year, in addition to printed materials, we have launched the digital version of the program. We have reached an agreement with five provinces that we will test the digital version there. In this year alone, the digital version will allow us to cover 200,000 additional students. As a result, our total coverage will reach 1.6 million children.
• Develop international partnership. In 2020, the program will participate in the Worldchefs Congress.
• Design and launch an additional online course for parents. We expect that at least 50,000 parents take this course annually.
• Prepare special methodology courses and introduce them in the curriculum of provincial teacher’s colleges to promote effective techniques for educating children about healthy lifestyle

Recommendations

People often ask us what our secret is, why teachers and education officials have been so eager to work on our project for so many years. After all, they spend their time and energy without receiving any material compensation…

We have identified several key elements of our success:

• Before you launch a project, you need solid methodology. We used top specialists (physiologists, educators, psychologists), both theorists and practitioners,  to design the contents and methodology of the program. If you want to get a top-notch educational tool, you have to get top-notch specialists to work on it.
• You can’t do it alone. If you want to implement a large-scale program, you do need partners. This is why, from the very beginning, we reached out to government officials, scientists and associations. Our partners don’t share our financial burden yet they provide very good administrative, methodological and expert support. Each of our partners is not just another logo on our leaflets. We always engage them in our activities, so they feel like they are part of our project. We love it when they describe it as “our favorite program.”
• Always stay on top of things. Our methodology and model have proven their efficiency, yet we still regularly review our progress. We do this through special monitoring campaigns and also through personal, face-to-face contacts with participants (teachers, coordinators, parents – at least 30-40 meeting each year!). This way, we are always abreast of the latest developments and we know what needs to be done next.
• Never rest on your laurels. Education evolves quickly today, and the program has to evolve with it. Innovation is an integral part of the project. At the same time, you want evolution, not revolution. Don’t tear down things that work well just because you want to try something new and “exciting.”