Specialised children’s institutions caring for children with disabilities, orphans and children deprived of parental care are also participants in the Institutional Catering Programme.
On 17 October, Davyd Kravchenko, a monitoring and protection officer at the Lviv Agrarian Chamber, visited four such institutions in the Ternopil region. These included the Ternopil Regional Clinical Perinatal Centre ‘Mother and Child’, the Ternopil Special School of the Ternopil Regional Council, the Ternopil Regional Municipal Institution for Social Support and Child Care, and the Ternopil Educational and Rehabilitation Centre.
All the institutions visited are highly specialised. For example, the Ternopil Special School of the Ternopil Regional Council provides education and care for children with hearing and speech impairments. The school looks after 150 children, 16 of whom are IDPs. Headteacher Oksana Rudnyk shared methods for the upbringing and education of children, described the catering process and highlighted the support provided by the World Food Programme, as this assistance significantly improves the children’s diet – reducing expenditure on basic foodstuffs allows for a much more varied diet for the children. With the money saved, the school is able to buy meat, fish and fruit.
“My sincere thanks to everyone involved in implementing this Programme, thanks to which our pupils receive balanced and nutritious meals, which in turn improves the quality of life and learning for all the children,” said Ms Rudnyk.
At the Ternopil Educational and Rehabilitation Centre, 146 children with special educational needs, including 8 IDPs, receive a quality education and develop their skills for future life in society. Teachers and medical staff use modern teaching and treatment methods, as well as physical, psychological and social rehabilitation, in collaboration with state and civil society organisations. Thanks to cooperation with the LAP under the WFP’s Institutional Food Programme, the centre receives over 800 kilograms of basic foodstuffs free of charge every month. These include cereals, pasta, flour and oil. Thanks to this assistance, the centre can operate more efficiently, channelling the resources saved towards other needs of the children.
The Centre’s Director, Iryna Korol, noted that this is a very significant help for the Centre and expressed her hope for continued cooperation next year.
The Ternopil Regional Municipal Institution for Social Support and Child Care provides shelter to 15 children, four of whom are internally displaced persons. The institution is designed to care for school-age orphans and children deprived of parental care.
“The children stay here whilst receiving basic or full general secondary education, and if necessary, until they reach the age of majority,” said the institution’s director, Vasyl Leskiv. “The Lviv Agrarian Chamber, in cooperation with the UN World Food Programme, provides our institution with food supplies on a regular basis throughout the year. This is a huge help; all the food is fresh and of high quality, which benefits our pupils. Thanks to regular food deliveries, we can adjust our budget and spend more on improving the quality of life for the children at our facility,” added Vasyl Leskiv.
Source: Lviv Agrarian Chamber