20 November 2015: Prolepsis Institute supports Universal Children’s Day
The Universal Children’s Day, established by the United Nations in 1954, is celebrated on November 20 each year with a view to promote the welfare of children around the world and fraternity and understanding between them.
On the occasion of the Universal Children’s Day, Prolepsis Institute highlights the need to ensure the physical and mental health of all children and to provide a living friendly environment for them. Prolepsis defends the right of children to an adequate standard of living with access to healthy and nutritious food, for their full physical and mental development as well as their social and moral development achieved through mutual respect, parity and solidarity.
Prolepsis Institute is an active advocate for children’s rights and promotes children’s welfare around the world, and particularly in Europe. The Program on Food Aid and Promotion of Healthy Nutrition – DIATROFI, is one of the Institute’s continuous and significant efforts to help combat food insecurity and child poverty in Greece.
As a member of the EUROCHILD network, Prolepsis Institute supports the European Commission’s initiative “Investing in Children: Breaking the cycle of disadvantage”. Within this context Prolepsis has appealed to Greek MPs to sign the Written Declaration (42/2015) on Investing in Children. At the same time information has been sent to them on the Institute’s Program DIATROFI through which thousands of children and their families experiencing hunger, food insecurity and social exclusion are being supported.
The Food Aid & Promotion of Healthy Nutrition Program DIATROFI is being implemented for the fifth consecutive year in socioeconomically underprivileged areas of Greece. Since 2012 over 11 million healthy meals free of charge have been offered to 76,000 students in schools across the country with main funding coming from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation.
To address the increasing need of food aid, Prolepsis Institute has launched the campaign “No More Hungry Children at School” with a view to enable the broadest possible number of schools to participate in the DIATROFI Program. It is noteworthy that this school year 2.050 schools have filed applications requesting to participate in the DIATROFI Program which is equivalent to approximately 258.000 students from all over Greece.
Daily access to substantial, healthy food is a basic need for the prevention of child poverty. Food insecurity and hunger can cause significant problems in children’s health and can deteriorate the cognitive abilities of children. In order to mitigate this risk, we call organizations, companies, public institutions and each citizen to participate in the efforts of Prolepsis Institute. Our aim is to support children in achieving their best but first and foremost to help them remain healthy.