The Online Training on Healthy School Canteen in Southeast Asia: Lessons Learned on the Implementation Processes

School is an ideal setting to promote and cultivate healthy eating practices among children. Studies show that school authorities are struggling to implement strategies for healthy school canteen. For increasing awareness of the school communities,
the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization Regional Centre for Food and Nutrition (SEAMEO RECFON) in collaboration with Centre for Transformative Nutrition and Health, International Medical University (CTNH-IMU) Malaysia
organized an online training on Healthy School Canteen designed to assist school communities gain understanding, knowledge, and thus, confidence to improve the school canteen. This paper aims to share the implementation processes of the
online training on Healthy School Canteen including the lessons learned, barriers, and opportunities in the Southeast Asian region. The training applied a combined approach of self-paced and facilitator-led learning over 7 weeks for 82 training hours. It employed a mixed-methods design combining quantitative (pre-post tests
and quizzes on participants’ knowledge and experiences participating in the online
training) and qualitative (content analysis of the facilitators’ report) approaches. Participation throughout the training period was documented following a set of criteria of active participation and training completion. Eventually, out of 71 participants from 25 schools in 7 countries, 73% participants passed the training.
The facilitators reported that the participants regarded the mini sessions and iscussion through WhatsApp group (WAG) interactive methods which encouraged
the participants to be more active. Therefore, the online training on Healthy School Canteen could be implemented with a high participation (80%) and completion rates (73%) and also increase participants’ knowledge on balanced nutrition and school canteen management (pre-test mean score = 59.3; post-test mean score =
73.6). Different methods of delivering the courseware were perceived as helpful by the participants. Future recommendations for training improvement and implementation are addressed.