Healthy Wave Study Visit to Cluj-Napoca

Romania September 4-6, 2024

Representatives from Cluj-Napoca (mentor city) and Riga (mentee city) met for the study visit in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, to promote access to healthy and inclusive school meals. This event brought together participants from the Healthy Wave consortium to exchange ideas and collaboratively develop strategies for healthier school meals.

We participated in 3-day meetings, during which we met with representatives of Cluj-Napoca municipality, which are involved in solving education issues and providing public catering in the city. Simona Baciu, President of C-EDU, opened the event with an address emphasizing the critical role of children’s well-being in education. Prof. Radu Vas elaborated on the efforts of Pedagogical High Schools to ensure access to healthy food.

On the first day, we participated in discussions on topics such as the importance of well-being in raising children, how to connect needs and resources to ensure inclusive and appropriate school meals, the need for education on eating habits and healthy nutrition, the role of schools in providing meals.

We participated at workshops facilitated by Rikolto explored the impact of nutritious school lunches and how to find ways for better cooperation and transfer of experience between the mentor and the city to be mentored, we presented our experience in catering for educational institutions.

On the second day, we focused on field visits to public canteens across Cluj-Napoca, guided by local canteen manager Dan Novak. We visited several institutions - a preschool educational institution, a municipal catering company and its catering establishments, a local farming community that supplies products to educational institutions.

On the third day, Rikolto facilitated a workshop where we worked on the action plan, defined the goals, involved parties, activities and time plan.

During the visit, we got to know the public catering system of Romania, which is different from Latvia. We learned about the educational ecosystem of Cluj-Napoca. In Romania, hot lunches are provided only in pre-schools and some general education institutions. Majority of schools do not have kitchen and dining room facilities, students eat in classrooms. Since 2022, the national program "Healthy meal" has been implemented in Romania, and schools that have participated in this program receive hot lunches prepared by the municipal catering company. The school doctor approves the menu. 3 times a year, the education board checks the menus to see if they comply with the norms. Providing lunch to low-income students is a way to encourage school attendance. The representatives of Cluj-Napoca are interested in our catering procurement system, the common problem is how to communicate with the school and parents, how to increase awareness of the impact of healthy nutrition on children's development. After evaluating the common and different aspects of school catering in both countries, issues of future cooperation were developed and the program of the visit to Riga was outlined, and work on the action plan was started.

The study visit marked the beginning of a fruitful collaboration between Cluj-Napoca and Riga. It provided an in-depth understanding of both cities’ approaches to school meals, laying a strong foundation for future mentoring activities and shared solutions. The event showcased the power of international collaboration in addressing critical issues related to health and education.