DESPAR Partner Maiora recently developed a programme entitled ‘Prevent by Playing’ for elementary school children, which enabled them to visit supermarkets and food producers as part of their nutrition education.

Through the programme, children learnt about the nutritional value of food as well as the links between different foods to culture and traditions. The programme also focused on integrating exercise into children’s daily lives.

This innovative and unique initiative made use of an interactive online platform, enabling large numbers of children and schools to participate. Combined with traditional classroom lessons given by certified nutritionists, the online training facilitated interactive learning with quizzes to test the nutritional knowledge of the children.

The supermarket visits helped give the students and teachers insight into the food distribution chain. These were complemented by visits to a total of 12 food producers involved in the production of pasta, dairy products and more.

A total of 1,500 students in six municipalities participated in the programme, reflecting its high quality and appeal. DESPAR Maiora also gave participating schools a set of materials valued at €15,000 including computers, tablets, mixers and microphones to assist and enhance the learning process.

“DESPAR Maiora wants to play a more active and supportive role in the community,” said Grazia de Gennaro, Press and Communications Officer at Maiora. “Prevent by Playing currently involves only a few cities in Apulia, but we aim to extend it well beyond the test area to the whole nation. The pilot project has successfully passed the test phase, meeting and exceeding our expectations. We received a lot of positive feedback, which has motivated us to keep going with great enthusiasm.”

DESPAR Partner, Aspiag, has also been involved in nutrition education at schools. The on-going support of the education system by DESPAR has been much appreciated by both school children and teachers.

A few videos of the visits at factories and supermarkets are available in the Maiora Marketing Youtube channel.