In this session, panelists highlight how the COVID-19 Pandemic has had an impact on global hunger and how, after 10 months of the Pandemic, school meal programs have been able to serve as a tool to fight against global hunger, both in the short-term and in looking to recovery in the future.
Carmen Burbano: “It is very clear, to us as the World Food Programme, and through the international community, that we are looking at a catastrophic situation for education and for children that we have really never seen before in our lifetime… We are looking at a potential entire generation of children that will really never recover from this crisis. Some of them will never come back to school, including girls, children with disabilities, children living in fragile situations.”
Private sector partners, like Tetra Laval, are collaborating closely with country governments and other key stakeholders to implement alternative and safe food distribution solutions. COVID-19 has highlighted the resiliency of the food value chain despite many disruptions, the need for more investment in health, education, and agriculture, and the existing infrastructure challenges in school feeding programs.
Rafael Fábrega is the Tetra Laval Food for Development Director, based in Stockholm, Sweden. In his role, he is responsible for leading the global Food for Development team in providing value-added support and technical assistance to Tetra Pak’s customers in collaboration with Governments, NGOs, UN and International Development Agencies with the objective of implementing sustainable school feeding and nutrition programmes linked to local agricultural development.
Rafael has a Master’s Degree in International Business Administration from the Wayne Huzienga Business School at Nova Southeastern University and a BBA Degree from Loyola University New Orleans. He has more than 20 years of experience in international business development with a specialization in creating public-private partnerships to address food security and nutrition challenges.
The company has a long history and tradition of active participation in the development of school feeding programmes and sharing their experiences and best practices used around the world. Today, more than 68 million children in 56 countries receive milk and other nutritious beverages in Tetra Pak packages at school.
