5,711 Caterers, Cooks In Five Regions Up North Sharpen Skills

The training of caterers, cooks and district nutrition officers, district desk officers by the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP) has commenced at Wa in the Upper West Region.

A total of 2,070 caterers and head cooks are benefiting from the training programme in the region.

The Ghana School Feeding Programme with funding from the World Food Programme (WFP) and technical support from the Partnership for Child Development (PCD) is to train a total of 5,711 caterers and head cooks in the Northern, North East, Savannah, Upper East and Upper West Regions to sharpen their cooking skills.

The Acting National Coordinator of the Ghana School Feeding Programme, Mrs. Gertrude Quashigah addressing the participants at Wa indicated that the training programme is in two phases.

This includes; the training of District Nutrition Officers on the use of a software called School Meal Planner (SMP) to generate local menus with quantities for use by the caterers; and practical cooking training for all school feeding caterers and head cooks in each region.

She noted that there would be cooking sessions for the caterers and head cooks on the use of local ingredients to generate healthy and nutritionally balanced meals for school pupils that meet the daily intake of 30% for energy.

The caterers and the head cooks, Mrs. Quashigah said are also undergo food hygiene and storage, cooking and serving under hygienic condition, records keeping and use of handy measures.

All the caterers and head cooks who are participating in the training programme, she indicated would be awarded certificates of participation.

“The goal of this workshop is also to deepen the involvement and participation of the Regional Coordinating Councils, Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs), and the Ghana School Feeding Programme National Secretariat in managing an efficient and effective homegrown school feeding programme”.

Mrs. Quashigah therefore appealed to the various Coordinating Councils and MMDAs to offer the necessary support to the Ghana School Feeding Programme throughout the training programme to ensure its success.

She was optimistic that the training would inspire best cooking performance from the caterers for the enjoyment and health benefit of the pupils under the Ghana School Feeding Programme.

The next phase of the training programme, according to Mrs. Quashigah would cover the rest of the country.