Children Lead the Way on Breakthrough ‘Nutritious Adventure’ in Schools
Central Java's young 'nutrition captains' tackle obesity through engaging education
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In Semarang, Central Java, where childhood obesity is prevalent, ten-year-old Kenzo’s diet once mirrored that of many children in his school – filled with unhealthy snacks and lacking essential nutrients. “I didn’t know about the importance of eating vegetables and drinking enough water every day,” Kenzo admits.
Kenzo turned to healthier eating habits after he became a ‘nutrition captain’ at his school, through UNICEF’s Petualangan Bergizi (Nutritious Adventure). The new initiative is the first of its kind that aims to cultivate healthier behaviors and improve food environments in primary schools, building on the existing government-led School Health Efforts (UKS/M) programme.
In Kenzo’s school, each class appoints two nutrition captains to help deliver nutrition education through engaging games. “Every time I lead the Petualangan Bergizi games, I feel healthier. I can share my knowledge with friends, and now I choose snacks that don’t contain flavor enhancers,” Kenzo says proudly.
"I influence my friends to adopt healthy lifestyles by emphasizing the benefits of vitamins and the risks of junk food, which can take away from our focus and health in class," says Khanza, another young nutrition captain.
Empowering Young Leaders in Nutrition
Petulangan Bergizi responds to the growing public health concern of overweight and obesity in Indonesia, adding to longstanding issues of undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies that together have a severe impact on children’s nutrition. It is estimated that nearly one million children under five years, one in five school children aged 5-12 years and one in seven adolescents aged 13-18 years are overweight or obese.
Nationally, some 56 per cent of children aged 5-19 consume more than one sugar-sweetened beverage a day. Alarmingly, only 2.3 per cent of children in the same age group consume sufficient fruits and vegetables daily (five servings per day).
Initially launched in the Tegal district in 2023, Petulangan Bergizi expanded in 2024 to include three additional cities and districts in Central Java – Semarang, Solo, and Kudus – where the programme aims to impact over 1,000 fourth-grade students across 20 primary schools.
In Central Java, a concerning 21.3 per cent of children ages 5-12 are affected by overweight or obesity, while other malnutrition issues such as stunting and wasting remain widespread. Close to 63 per cent of children over age three consume more than one sugar-sweetened beverage, and just over 96 per cent of children over age five do not consume enough fruits and vegetables per day.
The Petulangan Bergizi programme includes several innovative interventions to address malnutrition, including comprehensive nutrition education, health screenings, promoting healthy school canteens and school gardening projects. Through hands-on activities such as communal healthy breakfast sessions and gardening, students engage directly with their food sources, learning the importance of balanced diets and physical activity.
The programme also aims to significantly transform school food environments by making healthier food options like fruits, vegetables and safe drinking water more accessible and affordable.
This approach is already positively influencing how students think about nutrition and helping them to make more informed choices. “I’ve learned so much from our nutrition games—they make eating healthy fun,” says Ayla, a fellow 10-year-old student at Kenzo’s school. “It’s always my mom who prepares breakfast, but today, I helped pack my meal with rice, chicken, and tempeh.”
Building a Healthier Future Together
The programme also equips community health workers with skills to provide specialized support to children facing challenges with overweight, including both nutritional and psychological counseling. Sinta Wati from the Health Office of Semarang observes, "Through this very good collaboration with UNICEF, we are seeing tangible improvements and hope to expand this programme to more schools."
Petulangan Bergizi is being piloted under the ongoing global partnership between UNICEF and Novo Nordisk. The partnership supports UNICEF’s efforts in Indonesia to improve food environments to promote better nutrition among children and help prevent the rising burden from overweigh and obesity in the country.
The pilot is scheduled to end in November 2024. Once this phase is complete, UNICEF will support the Government of Indonesia to expand the intervention’s coverage to additional schools and districts in Central Java, and to scale it up to additional provinces in 2025 and beyond.
Kenzo appreciates that he is part of a movement that goes well beyond his school. “By learning and sharing healthy habits, we're not just changing ourselves, we're changing our community.”
