USSEC is working in a partnership with private and government entities in the Americas region on a series of soy social programs to improve child nutrition.
This year, USSEC extended the coverage and scope of its social programs project to Colombia to implement an interactive way to teach nutrition to vulnerable populations.
On June 9, USSEC consultant – South America Belinda Pignotti, together with Gabriela Santos, director of the Foundation Las Golondrinas, and Maria Lia Neira, MNR Comunicaciones y Ediciones director, presented the public – private alliance between the Medellin, Colombia government (Alcaldia de Medellin) and its food security ministry, Las Golondrinas Foundation, with the support of the Colombian Welfare Institute (ICBF) and USSEC to the media in Medellin. 26 journalists attended the media event
 where a Medellin government representative spoke about the importance of developing interactive programs to promote nutrition, including soy in daily diets as well as supporting the local industry.
On June 26, the Circus of Soy was held in Medellin. The event was designed to be an interactive performance conceptualized to engage children while teaching them the basic concepts of nutrition and healthy food, including soy, as part of a daily diet. The program aimed to educate future consumers about soyfoods.
500 kids were provided with the opportunity to participate in a whole learning experience about soy, nutrition, and healthy food in a didactic and interactive way with dance and magic tricks in which soy was the main character and protagonist.
One of the main topics was to differentiate the origins of soy and explain its good quality and nutritional value as a complete protein with healthy fats. The children were also taught that soy is an excellent animal feed and is a sustainable, environmentally friendly crop that helps the planet.
The children prepared easy recipes with soy and enjoyed a lunch prepared with soy including a soy hamburger, red berry soymilk shake, and soy chocolate cookies.
To complement the program, the MNR team composed a soy song, which explain the traceability of this seed to show the kids the versatility and huge potential of soybeans.
At the end of the performance and the lunch, the kids reviewed the learned concepts making puzzles and drawing things related to soy and nutrition. Children also received a bag filled with soy products and a didactic booklet to use at home.
The Circus Of Soy was complemented with a soy cooking class for 300 community mothers.
During this workshop, the moms learned new soy recipes and talked with USSEC nutritionist Guadalupe Esquivel about soy’s nutritional and health benefits.
At a farm, the kids learned about the soy crop, how to take care the environment the way U.S. Soy producers do, and how soy provides good nutrition for animals. They planted their own soybean seeds to bring it home so they could watch for germination. The children also had the opportunity to feed animals and learned the difference between animal and vegetable proteins.
With the program, USSEC accomplished the goal of teaching vulnerable populations to include soy in their diets and nutrition basics.
To listen to the soy song, just click on the arrow.