Nestlé for Healthier Kids Program organized an exciting fun learning drawing contest for children between the age group of 10-14 years, to engage their creative capacities. The winners were announced on the World Health Day.
Families all over the country have started this term with the strain of school closure which continues to put the challenge of home-schooling on parents. During these challenging times, Nestlé for Healthier Kids launched drawing contest to provide children with an opportunity to focus on drawing while busy parents are juggling work, house chores, and childcare commitments.
This campaign has the following drawing themes: ‘I’m active, I exercise’; ‘I eat healthy’; and ‘I love water’. The thematic areas were selected after careful consideration since, one of the key purposes of this activity was to educate the children about healthy habits and give them an opportunity to become more aware of active lifestyle through drawing pictures under any one of the three drawing themes given.
This activity nurtured a healthy competition amongst children and during this entire activity they understood the importance of hydration, active lifestyle and role of healthy eating and how it contributes towards a healthier immune system hence, fortifies ones’ protections against any virus. This self-awareness helped children in becoming more conscious and careful about their health to make better nutrition decisions from an early age for a healthier future. The children participating submitted their artwork entries to the N4HK Panel of Judges via email. More than 1000 entries rolled in from across Pakistan as large number of children entered the contest by sending their creative and inspiring artworks.
One of the key successes of this initiative was that the school going kids who were confined in their homes spent their time in a productive and informed way. They were given a platform to communicate their imagination and showcase their creativity. This is the first time the Nestlé for Healthier Kids Program encouraged children to participate in an online drawing contest. The contest engaged their creative minds and gave participants a chance to prove and improve their skills while encouraging them to express their imagination and present self-expression through original pieces of artwork.
After a long, tough process and sifting through the unique, creative and stellar submissions of participants, the judges finally picked two winners from each theme. The artworks reflected strong creative expression by children on the given themes.
The competition was geared towards age group 10 to 14 years. Two winners were selected from each category. The top submissions in all three categories are published on Nestlé Pakistan’s website. First 100 entries will receive certificate of participation from the Nestlé for Healthier Kids team. Such recognition will pay off the efforts of the winners and motivate other children to work on their drawing skills, express themselves freely as well as educate themselves on pertinent issues.
Education is a powerful tool for ensuring that children understand the value of nutrition and physical activity and continue leading healthy lives as they grow older. The program is exemplary for other organizations to follow as it reflects the collective action in collaboration with other educational partners. In Pakistan, the program has reached out to about 250,000 children and 1,300 teachers and aims to reach out to more than 300,000 children in Pakistan by 2022.
Nestlé for Healthier Kids Program is part of Nestle’s commitment to UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 of Good Health and Well-Being. The SDGs set a new course for nutrition and human development. As highlighted by experts, nutrition is both maker and a marker of development. Improved nutrition can be used as the platform for progressing in terms of health, education, employment, empowerment of women and the reduction of poverty and inequality.
Initiatives such as Nestlé for Healthier Kids help ensure multisectoral collaboration to improve the nutritional indicators of the country. Since nutrition is a multi-stakeholder approach, it is a collective responsibility and requires a joint effort from all the stakeholders, if not equally, at least substantially.
The program is continuously strengthening its efforts through various activities aimed at increasing nutritional knowledge and adopting healthier lifestyle habits.
N4HK is indicative of what we all need to do in an era of interdependence: share responsibility and take collective action. It may sound difficult, but it starts from home. Eat healthy, promote a healthy lifestyle and most of all, be kind to one another.
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