Law on School Feeding

OBJECTIVE. To establish the legal framework for the State of Honduras to provide children appropriately with nutritional food rations in all public educational centers at the pre-basic, basic, and progressively middle education levels of the country, within the framework of the human right to food that includes the right of children not to suffer hunger and the creation of adequate conditions that contribute to healthy development both physically and psychologically, under conditions of freedom and dignity to favor educational indicators.

CREATION OF THE PROGRAM. The National School Feeding Program is hereby created, dependent on the State Secretariat in the Office of Development and Social Inclusion in coordination with the State Secretariat in the Office of Education, with financial independence, which has as its objective to provide children in public educational centers at the pre-basic and basic levels and, progressively middle education level of the country, with a complementary nutritious food ration.

SCOPE OF APPLICATION. This Law is applicable to natural and legal persons, national or foreign, who develop activities linked to the feeding of children within the public education system through the National School Feeding Program. TITLE II PRINCIPLES AND DEFINITIONS

PRINCIPLES. Without prejudice to the principles adopted in International Agreements referred to in the matter and in complement to the principles already established in the Food and Nutritional Security Law, for purposes of this Law the following principles are established:

• 1)

  Accountability: The State guarantees transparency and accountability in actions aimed at realizing the Right to Adequate School Food and Nutrition, promoting transparency in public action, citizen participation, and social audit. Such accountability must begin in the same community and then in other established structures, educational centers, communities, and other levels.

• 2)

  Inclusion: The State must implement appropriate measures to ensure that children in public educational centers from the pre-basic, basic, and progressively middle education levels including special education and indigenous groups, are protected against hunger, and likewise guarantees the development of strategic actions to reach groups of children who traditionally suffer from social, economic, and/or cultural exclusion and are included among priority groups with equal rights as others without any form of discrimination.

• 3)

  Participation: The entire educational community, including teachers, children, parents, and other actors linked to the Right to Adequate Food, have the right to participate in all activities related to School Food and Nutrition, becoming involved in the process as well as in social control, for the monitoring of measures adopted by the State to guarantee the supply of healthy, nutritious, safe, and culturally acceptable school food.

• 4)

  Universality: All children enrolled in the public education system at the pre-basic, basic, and progressively middle education levels, as well as in special education, have the right to Adequate School Food.

• 5)

  Culturally Acceptable School Food: School Food must be adequate, healthy, nutritious, safe, diverse, and respectful of the culture, traditions, customs, and eating habits, which contribute to the growth and comprehensive development of school children, in accordance with their age and state of health, including those who require special attention.

DEFINITIONS. Without prejudice to the definitions adopted in International Treaties and Agreements referred to in the matter, in force in Honduras and in complement to the definitions already established in the Food and Nutritional Security Law, for purposes of this Law the following terms are understood as:

• 1)

  School Food: All healthy, nutritious, safe, and culturally acceptable foods offered within the Framework of the National Education System or Network, during the school day.

• 2)

  Complementary School Food: The portion of nutritious, healthy, and safe food that girls and boys receive within the Framework of the Public National Education System and Special Education; such foods complement home feeding and contribute to daily kilocalorie requirements.

• 3)

  Malnutrition: The insufficient intake of food on a continuous basis, which does not meet the requirements of food energy, whether due to deficient absorption or biological use, or deficient absorption of nutrients consumed or both.

• 4)

  School Food Committee of Each Educational Center: A community organization made up of parents and other actors that converge in each educational center, responsible for supporting the management of the National School Feeding Program.

• 5)

  School Food Environment: It is defined as the foods and beverages available within the educational center, provided by the school during school breakfast, lunch, or snack or acquired by students within the educational centers, as well as the adequate conditions to guarantee safety.

• 6)

  Food and Nutritional Education (FNE): A set of communication activities, intended to integrate eating practices and knowledge, through a voluntary change in behaviors related to food, with the aim of improving the nutritional status of the population.

• 7)

  Basic Health Package: It is a standardized package of essential basic health services, which form the core of services offered in all primary health care.

• 8)

  Food Ration: The amount of healthy, nutritious, safe, and culturally acceptable food provided to children during the school day and authorized by the Program.

• 9)

  Safe: The set of conditions and measures necessary during the production, preparation, storage, distribution, and preparation of food to ensure that, once ingested, they do not represent an appreciable risk to health.

• 10)

  Malnutrition: A pathological state due to deficiency, excess, or poor assimilation of food. TITLE III INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK

COMPETENCE OF THE STATE SECRETARIAT IN THE OFFICE OF DEVELOPMENT AND SOCIAL INCLUSION. It is the responsibility of the Executive Branch, through the State Secretariat in the Office of Development and Social Inclusion, to design, coordinate the execution, and evaluate the National School Feeding Program.

COMPETENCE OF THE STATE SECRETARIAT IN THE OFFICE OF EDUCATION. It is the responsibility of the State Secretariat in the Office of Education to:

• 1)

  Participate in the design of the National School Feeding Program;

• 2)

  The administration and execution with due priority of the National School Feeding Program in each educational center, through its municipal and local organizational structure, ensuring the participation and involvement of all actors in the process;

• 3)

  Regulate the School Food Environment;

• 4)

  Organize School Food Committees in each educational center;

• 5)

  Implement programs of Food and Nutritional Education, including school gardens for pedagogical purposes and entrepreneurship; and,

• 6)

  Develop training processes in Food Education with School Food Committees.

COMPETENCE OF THE STATE SECRETARIAT IN THE OFFICE OF HEALTH. The State Secretariat in the Office of Health, in coordination with the State Secretariats in the Offices of Development and Social Inclusion, and Education, must support the execution of the National School Feeding Program by placing at its disposal the human, technological, and material resources at the national, regional, and municipal levels to provide proper nutritional monitoring to beneficiary children and to ensure that aspects of nutrition, safety, and basic health package are applied efficiently.

COMPETENCE OF THE STATE SECRETARIAT IN THE OFFICES OF AGRICULTURE AND LIVESTOCK. The State Secretariat in the Offices of Agriculture and Livestock (SAG) must support the execution of the National School Feeding Program at the national, regional, and municipal levels, providing the technical assistance required by the program, especially to school gardens and regarding the supply and safety of products of animal and plant origin.

COMPETENCE OF THE STATE SECRETARIAT IN THE OFFICE OF FINANCE. The State Secretariat in the Office of Finance must incorporate an annual budget item to guarantee the budget resources required for the proper functioning of the National School Feeding Program, in accordance with the Annual Operating Plan prepared by the State Secretariat in the Office of Development and Social Inclusion starting from Fiscal Year 2017.

COMPETENCE OF THE MUNICIPALITIES. The Municipalities must strengthen the National School Feeding Program through the allocation of complementary resources for its effective functioning, for which they must contemplate a Special Budget Item, intended exclusively for its strengthening. Likewise, they are responsible for improving the infrastructure of kitchens, dining halls, and school warehouses, as well as sanitation infrastructure to guarantee a healthy environment. The Municipal Associations through their Intermunicipal Technical Units must actively participate in the implementation of the Program as a technical accompaniment to the Municipalities that allows them to strengthen their administrative and management capacity.

INTERINSTITUTIONAL COORDINATION. For purposes of executing the actions of the National School Feeding Program, the Interinstitutional Technical Committee on School Feeding is hereby created, which is made up of the Under-Secretaries of State or representatives of the State Secretariats in the Offices of: Development and Social Inclusion, Education, Health, Agriculture and Livestock, Finance, in coordination with the State Secretariat in the Office of General Government Coordination through the Technical Unit of Food and Nutritional Security (UTSAN) and a representative of the Association of Municipalities of Honduras (AMHON). TITLE IV LOCAL PARTICIPATION

PRIORITY TO THE SOCIAL SECTOR OF THE ECONOMY TO PROVIDE THE COMPONENTS OF SCHOOL FOOD. The State gives priority as suppliers of school food components to: cooperative associations, associative agricultural enterprises, agro-industrial cooperative enterprises, rural savings and credit boxes, and family farmers. Notwithstanding that those companies and organizations legally constituted that are engaged in primary production, industrialization, marketing, and service provision may participate. Said process will be regulated based on the local purchasing procedures manual with the objective of contributing to the reactivation of the local economy.

PARTICIPATION OF PARENTS AND MOTHERS. The associations of parents and mothers through School Food Committees must actively participate in the implementation of this Law.

SOCIAL OVERSIGHT. For the purpose of creating spaces for participation and social audit, the Municipal Development Councils (COMDES), School Development Councils (CED), and associations of parents and mothers of each educational center must ensure that at all levels of management of the National School Feeding Program, the objectives of this Law are met and the performance of said institutions is analyzed, based on results-based management, from the economic, financial, and social point of view. Being able, as appropriate, to formulate to the Interinstitutional Technical Committee on School Feeding technical recommendations, alternative solutions, and legislative reforms that allow strengthening the National School Feeding Program. TITLE V MEASURES RELATING TO ADEQUATE SCHOOL FOOD

SCHOOL FOOD ENVIRONMENT. In order to regulate the School Food Environment, the norms established by the entities responsible for this matter must be applied, such as: State Secretariats in the Offices of Education, Health, and Agriculture and Livestock.

GOOD PRACTICES. The State Secretariat in the Office of Health must implement the exercise of good practices of hygiene, storage, preparation, handling and distribution of food in educational centers.

IMPROVEMENT MEASURES. It is the responsibility of the State Secretariat in the Office of Education, in coordination with the Municipalities and based on the principles established in the Decentralization Law, to improve school kitchens, dining halls and storage facilities, as well as sanitation infrastructure to guarantee a healthy environment and other pedagogical or educational activities.

SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH. The State Secretariat in the Office of Development and Social Inclusion, in coordination with centers of higher education and scientific research, must conduct studies that provide scientific evidence to support the formulation of norms and public policies on school feeding and nutrition, and shall also contribute to the dissemination of information on the same.

PRIORITY FOR LOCAL SUPPLY. The National School Feeding Program must give priority to the local supply of all components of school feeding, coming from cooperative associations, associative enterprises of farmers, agricultural cooperative enterprises, promoting the production of organized family agriculture at the local level, and may include companies and legally constituted organizations that engage in primary production, industrialization, commercialization and provision of services.

FORMS AND ADJUDICATION CRITERIA. The Manual of procedures for local purchases must regulate the forms and criteria for the awarding of purchases of the components of school feeding, as well as the forms of payment, ensuring transparency and taking into account local limitations for bidding and the capacities of local organizations in compliance with the regulations of this Law and the current norms on this matter.

SCHOOL FEEDING AS NATIONAL PRIORITY. This Law is a national priority. The National School Feeding Program must have an agile, dynamic and efficient structure that guarantees the provision of a Food Ration for children in educational centers throughout the national territory.

REGULATIONS AND MANUALS. The Executive Branch shall regulate this Law within a period of sixty (60) days after its entry into force and shall issue in that same period the manuals that the Inter-institutional Technical Committee on School Feeding must prepare.

EFFECTIVE DATE: This Law shall enter into force from the day of its publication in the Official Newspaper "La Gaceta". Given in the City of Tegucigalpa, Municipality of the Central District, in the Session Hall of the National Congress, on the eighth day of the month of September of the year Two Thousand Sixteen. ANTONIO CESAR RIVERA CALLEJAS PRESIDENT MARIO ALONSO PÉREZ LÓPEZ SECRETARY RAMÓN VILLEDA AGUILAR SECRETARY To the Executive Branch Therefore: Execute. Tegucigalpa, M.D.C., 07 October 2016. JUAN ORLANDO HERNÁNDEZ ALVARADO PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC THE STATE SECRETARY IN THE OFFICE OF DEVELOPMENT AND SOCIAL INCLUSION. RICARDO LEONEL CARDONA Executive Branch EXECUTIVE DECREE NUMBER PCM-023-2017 THE CONSTITUTIONAL PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC IN COUNCIL OF STATE SECRETARIES, CONSIDERING: That in accordance with Article 245 of the Constitution of the Republic, the President of the Republic has charge of the General Administration of the State, having among others the power to issue Agreements and Decrees and to issue Regulations and Resolutions in accordance with the Law. CONSIDERING: That the General Law of Public Administration establishes in Articles 11 and 17 respectively, that the President of the Republic has charge of the supreme direction and coordination of the centralized and decentralized Public Administration and in the exercise of his functions the Council of Ministers may act in accordance with what is established in the Constitution of the Republic and the laws. CONSIDERING: That according to Public Instrument number one hundred thirty-five (135), dated the twenty-fourth (24) day of September of one thousand nine hundred seventy-seven (1977), authorized before the offices of Public Notary Marco Tulio Callizo, the Municipal Corporation of Salamá, department of Olancho, in session held on April 21, 1977, Record No. 10, agreed to grant ownership to the Ministry of Natural Resources of a plot of land of six thousand eight hundred square varas (6,800 Vrs²), more or less, located at the eastern end of the municipality of Salamá, Olancho; registered in the Book of the Property Registry, Mortgages and Preventive Annotations under number 37, Volume 16 of the Property and Commercial Registry of Olancho, now with registration number 1448439.