March 29, 2016
Sri Lanka scouts celebrate SDG 2

10,000 scouts in Sri Lanka made their annual meeting--the Jamboree--an occasion to discuss better nutrition and the Sustainable Development Goals. The Jamboree, the Scouts’ largest education event in the country, brought together almost 8,000 boys and 2,000 girls from all over. It was held in Jaffna, in the Northern Province, which still has high rates of undernutrition following the years of conflict.

In collaboration with the Sri Lanka National Scout Association, the SDG Fund, under the implementation of FAO and WFP, launched a successful awareness campaign on nutrition. A highlight of the event was a skit competition on nutrition-related themes, with 10 schools winning the final prizes.

FAO and the Ministries of Education and Health organised an exhibition stall at the Jamboree to enhance the children’s knowledge on nutrition. Along with playing interactive games, scouts could measure and calculate their Body Mass Index (BMI), a crucial measure to identify undernutrition, stunting and other nutrition challenges.

SDG 2 aims at ending hunger, achieving food security and improved nutrition and promoting sustainable agriculture. With the joint programme, the SDG Fund is supporting national education policies and initiatives in Sri Lanka, where 1.3 million people in the Northern Province are food insecure.