Professional chef, instructing the students in the finer culinary arts. Question and answer exchange between instructor and students. Culinary student setting out a prepared meal. The director of the national school lunch program, personally leading a tour of FEDES' "cook and chill system" kitchen.

Latin America's One-of-a-Kind
Vocational Training Course -- Food Processing
Fundación Educativa de Desarrollo Economico y Social (FEDES) Santiago, Chile

In collaboration with the Chilean government, FCF project partner Fundación Educativa de Desarrollo Economico y Social (FEDES) established a Vocational Training School for the underprivileged.

FEDES’ latest innovative training course is a Gastronomy and Food Processing module. As the only school of its kind in Latin America, this new training course has already proven to be of great interest to both the public and private sectors, in addition to supplying free education and on-the-job training to underprivileged young people.

The program is being organized in consultation with the national school lunch program JUNAEB and the Association of Microbiology and Hygiene, as well as other experts in the food processing industry, in addition to managers from several multi-national companies. So the curriculum is being designed in such a way as to accommodate the specific needs of all these companies. Already, JUNAEB, which serves 2,300,000 meals each day, are signing up their supervisors nationwide to receive this training.

Incorporated into the classroom is the space necessary to do both conventional as well as industrial type cooking classes, such as the “cook and chill system”. The Chilean government has recently set forth as a goal to have all companies that prepare food for the school system to begin using this method, as it guarantees children will receive a high standard meal in the most efficient way.

In return, the companies involved will hire the students upon graduation. But graduation does not mean the end of FEDES’ involvement in the molding of these young lives. Post-graduation follow up is done on each student to ensure that they are keeping up with their jobs and being consistent. With those who have opened their own micro-enterprise ventures, assurance is made that there is a basic understanding of all that is involved in the running of a successful business, and that government paperwork is kept up.

For more information on this FCF project, please click on the following link: FEDES

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