Linking women-led community kitchens to school food programmes: Lessons learned from the Healthy Kitchens, Healthy Children intervention in Palestinian refugees in Lebanon

Decades of marginalization have led Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon to experience multigenerational poverty and food insecurity. The Healthy Kitchens, Healthy Children programme implemented and examined the impact of a two-pronged intervention that employed women through community kitchens to...

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Main Authors: Ghattas, Hala, Choufani, Jowel, Jamaluddine, Zeina, Masterson, Amelia Reese, Sahyoun, Nadine R.
Format: Journal Article
Language:Inglés
Published: Cambridge University Press 2020
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/142875
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author Ghattas, Hala
Choufani, Jowel
Jamaluddine, Zeina
Masterson, Amelia Reese
Sahyoun, Nadine R.
author_browse Choufani, Jowel
Ghattas, Hala
Jamaluddine, Zeina
Masterson, Amelia Reese
Sahyoun, Nadine R.
author_facet Ghattas, Hala
Choufani, Jowel
Jamaluddine, Zeina
Masterson, Amelia Reese
Sahyoun, Nadine R.
author_sort Ghattas, Hala
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Decades of marginalization have led Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon to experience multigenerational poverty and food insecurity. The Healthy Kitchens, Healthy Children programme implemented and examined the impact of a two-pronged intervention that employed women through community kitchens to deliver a subsidized healthy daily school snack to elementary-school children in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. We describe the rationale, study design, theorized impact pathways, and discuss lessons learned.The programme was quasi-experimental. We conducted formative and process evaluation of both components of the intervention to elucidate the pathways to programme impact.Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon.Thirty-three women participated in the kitchens and provided subsidized snacks to 714 children.Snacks were healthy, traditional Palestinian recipes designed by women and a nutritionist. Participation fluctuated but eventually increased after modifying the meals to ensure acceptability by children. The main challenges to sustainability related to the need for subsidization of the meals and the lack of school policies around the regulation of sales of school food, which together led to fluctuations in programme participation.The study provides lessons learned on the potential of this model to improve the human capital of two generations of protracted refugees. The availability of schools as a constant market for these social enterprises offers an opportunity for sustainable livelihood generation and food security gains. Challenges to sustainability remain and could be addressed through social (subsidies to support the programme) and structural (policies to restrict unhealthy food sales) measures.
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spelling CGSpace1428752025-12-08T10:11:39Z Linking women-led community kitchens to school food programmes: Lessons learned from the Healthy Kitchens, Healthy Children intervention in Palestinian refugees in Lebanon Ghattas, Hala Choufani, Jowel Jamaluddine, Zeina Masterson, Amelia Reese Sahyoun, Nadine R. gender refugees women's empowerment programmes school feeding women's participation kitchens capacity development empowerment palestine nutrition food security poverty women Decades of marginalization have led Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon to experience multigenerational poverty and food insecurity. The Healthy Kitchens, Healthy Children programme implemented and examined the impact of a two-pronged intervention that employed women through community kitchens to deliver a subsidized healthy daily school snack to elementary-school children in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. We describe the rationale, study design, theorized impact pathways, and discuss lessons learned.The programme was quasi-experimental. We conducted formative and process evaluation of both components of the intervention to elucidate the pathways to programme impact.Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon.Thirty-three women participated in the kitchens and provided subsidized snacks to 714 children.Snacks were healthy, traditional Palestinian recipes designed by women and a nutritionist. Participation fluctuated but eventually increased after modifying the meals to ensure acceptability by children. The main challenges to sustainability related to the need for subsidization of the meals and the lack of school policies around the regulation of sales of school food, which together led to fluctuations in programme participation.The study provides lessons learned on the potential of this model to improve the human capital of two generations of protracted refugees. The availability of schools as a constant market for these social enterprises offers an opportunity for sustainable livelihood generation and food security gains. Challenges to sustainability remain and could be addressed through social (subsidies to support the programme) and structural (policies to restrict unhealthy food sales) measures. 2020-02-01 2024-05-22T12:11:13Z 2024-05-22T12:11:13Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/142875 en https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-7950-3 https://doi.org/10.1093/jn/nxz189 Limited Access Cambridge University Press Ghattas, Hala; Choufani, Jowel; Jamaluddine, Zeina; Masterson, Amelia Reese; and Sahyoun, Nadine R. 2020. Linking women-led community kitchens to school food programmes: Lessons learned from the Healthy Kitchens, Healthy Children intervention in Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. Public Health Nutrition 23(5): 914-923. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1368980019003161
spellingShingle gender
refugees
women's empowerment
programmes
school feeding
women's participation
kitchens
capacity development
empowerment
palestine
nutrition
food security
poverty
women
Ghattas, Hala
Choufani, Jowel
Jamaluddine, Zeina
Masterson, Amelia Reese
Sahyoun, Nadine R.
Linking women-led community kitchens to school food programmes: Lessons learned from the Healthy Kitchens, Healthy Children intervention in Palestinian refugees in Lebanon
title Linking women-led community kitchens to school food programmes: Lessons learned from the Healthy Kitchens, Healthy Children intervention in Palestinian refugees in Lebanon
title_full Linking women-led community kitchens to school food programmes: Lessons learned from the Healthy Kitchens, Healthy Children intervention in Palestinian refugees in Lebanon
title_fullStr Linking women-led community kitchens to school food programmes: Lessons learned from the Healthy Kitchens, Healthy Children intervention in Palestinian refugees in Lebanon
title_full_unstemmed Linking women-led community kitchens to school food programmes: Lessons learned from the Healthy Kitchens, Healthy Children intervention in Palestinian refugees in Lebanon
title_short Linking women-led community kitchens to school food programmes: Lessons learned from the Healthy Kitchens, Healthy Children intervention in Palestinian refugees in Lebanon
title_sort linking women led community kitchens to school food programmes lessons learned from the healthy kitchens healthy children intervention in palestinian refugees in lebanon
topic gender
refugees
women's empowerment
programmes
school feeding
women's participation
kitchens
capacity development
empowerment
palestine
nutrition
food security
poverty
women
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/142875
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