Kellogg Company has announced the completion of a feeding and educational program, Better Days to Grow Together. The social and educational program aimed to help girls and boys and their families in Guatemala build new habits and improve their quality of life. The program supports our Better Days global purpose platform to create better days for 3 billion people by the end of 2030, including reaching children worldwide through feeding programs.
A staggering 1-in-2 children suffers from malnutrition in Guatemala, which ranks first in Latin America and sixth in the world for the worst rates of child malnutrition.
The program had 4 clear action pillars to promote food security and wellbeing, but most importantly, to build long-term habits to ensure a brighter future. It provided a daily breakfast of cereal, milk, and fruit, plus nutrition education to children and their families. Participants were trained in gardening skills and encouraged to create community and family gardens to harvest their own food.
Families were also educated on cooking and eating as a family, encouraging them to make better use of the food they have access to, and they had fun by getting physical activity through recreational and community activities. Each time a child and their family accomplish a program goal, they collected a badge that was displayed on a special Better Days to Grow Together shirt.
“We want families to recognize their abilities to obtain healthy and affordable food through fun and educational activities,” says Nicolas Amaya, President of Kellogg Latin America. “We anticipate that many of the families we’re helping will share the lessons they learned with their community and become inspiring agents of change.”
Food donations
In addition to leading the design and implementation of the Better Days to Grow Together program, Kellogg donated more than 123,000 servings of cereal and brought 75,000 breakfasts to the tables of participants. The company has also partnered with eight local Guatemalan partners to ensure a holistic and sustainable approach:
- Ministry of Food and Nutrition Security of the Presidency of the Guatemalan Republic (SESAN)
- Walmart Central America
- Cooperativa Dos Pinos
- United Way Guatemala
- Food Bank Desarrollo en Movimiento
- Food Bank Guatemala
- Association for the Prevention and Study of HIV/AIDS (APEVIHS)
- Zamorano University
Consumers and employees were also part of the cause, through volunteering activities and shopper activations in Walmart. One Kellogg employee’s account of his visit to the area to meet with participating children and families can be found in a Social K blog.
Kellogg is also partnering with Walmart Central America to implement a shopper activation that invites consumers to join the cause by donating cereal to the program.
What we achieved
- 6,500 impacted beneficiaries
- 25 communities
- 18.85 tons of total donated food
- 350 educational sessions
- 700 workshop hours
- 160 hours of physical activity
- 65 community and family gardens
And most importantly:
- Of the 500 children evaluated, 75%** showed improvement in their weight and growth.
- Severity of chronic malnutrition was reduced by 10%.
** Including all nutritional states
