Nestlé for Healthier Kids Program (N4HK) launched essay writing contest to engage the youth during the challenging times. Since, most of the children have been at home since March, we wanted to launch an initiative whereby, they are engaging in an activity whilst being at home and learning about hygiene measure (particularly relevant for prevention of infectious diseases). This initiative has the following essay categories: 'POOR HYGIENE MAY INVITE MANY DISEASES; SIGNIFICANCE OF IMMUNE SYSTEM; 'I HAVE TO STAY AT HOME BECAUSE OF SOME WIDESPREAD COMMUNICABLE DISEASE; and I MUST PRACTICE SELF-CARE THROUGH HEALTHY AND STRESS-REDUCTION ACTIVITIES.' The thematic areas were selected after careful consideration since, one of the key purposes of this activity was to educate the children about healthy habits and prevention methods they can adopt to limit and avoid the spread of infectious diseases.
This activity nurtured a healthy competition amongst the children and during this entire activity they understood the importance of practicing good hygiene and role of good nutrition and how it contributes towards a healthier immune system hence, fortifies ones’ protections against any virus. This self- awareness helped children in becoming more conscious and careful about their health and grasp the intensity of the pandemic and become dutiful citizens as we move towards living COVID safe. The children participating were asked to submit their essay entries of approximately 400 words to the N4HK Panel of Judges via email. In total, the participation for this event was quite large, as more than thousand entries rolled in from across Pakistan as well as from Pakistani families living abroad in Philippines, Qatar, Jordan, UAE, and United States.
One of the key success of this initiative was how school going kids spent this time confined in their homes in a learned and informed way. They were given a platform to communicate original ideas and construct meaningful, informative and thought-provoking pieces of writing. Technology was one of the key enablers for making this entire activity a huge success as children were able to do extensive research and given, the relevance of the topic they were keen to learn more. This enabled children to share this knowledge with family members as well as we have had extensive feedback especially, from parents appreciating this campaign.
This is the first time the Nestlé for Healthier Kids Program encouraged the children to participate in an online written essay competition. Participants also learnt to improve and expand their writing skills beyond the scope of their schools. This allowed children to engage with the community based on their understanding and broaden the scope of their critical thinking and creativity enhancement. More importantly, it instilled in the contestants a sense of excellence, as they were expected to write a piece of an exceptional standard in a national competition; these qualities are crucial to academic success, and this competition provided just that.
After a long, tough process and sifting through the unique and original work of our youth, the judges finally picked three winners and runners-up. The criteria of selection for the winners was showing depth in understanding the topic and ability to convey their points in exceptional writing. These essays also reflected the critical thought process and analytical abilities of the students as they perfectly dissected the topic of the essay. The contestants demonstrated a perfect understanding of what the judges were looking for in the essays.
The competition was geared towards two age groups (10-12 years and 13-16 years) in each essay category. One winner and one runner-up were selected from each age group.
| Essay Category | Age Group A (10-12 years) | Age Group B (13-16 years) |
|---|---|---|
| Essay Category I | Winner: Mariyaan Ali Imran Runner Up: Hana Nadeem |
Winner: Zainab Waheed Runner Up: Eemaan Fatima |
| Essay Category II | Winner: Fareeha Salman Runner Up: Ahad Yunus Chohan |
Winner: Shanzay Khan Runner Up: Salik Shoaib |
| Essay Category III | Winner: Ahmad Inam Runner Up: Muhammad Saad Saboor |
Winner: Myra Aman Runner Up: Maha Faisal |
The top submissions in all three categories have been published on our website below. Runners-ups will be receiving certificate of recognition and first 100 entries will receive certificate of participation from Nestlé Pakistan. Such recognition will pay off the efforts of the winners and motivate other children to work on their writing skills as well as educate themselves on pertinent issues.
Nestlé for Healthier Kids program (N4HK), launched in 2010 by Nestlé, is a nutrition awareness program which educates parents, teachers and caregivers to induce healthy lifestyle among school going children. In Pakistan, the program has reached out to about 220,000 children and 1,100 teachers and aims to reach out to more than 300,000 children in Pakistan by 2022.
The N4HK initiative is part of our commitment to United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 of Good Health and Well-Being, to ensure that children understand the value of nutrition and physical activity and continue leading healthy lives as they grow older. Nestlé for Healthier Kids makes a collective effort with its partners to help address and overcome the nutrition challenge to give the children a happier and healthier future.
List of Participants
In Commitment with
