Two food-related innovations that have been developed and implemented with the help of Borås municipal support will compete at the upcoming ‘Innovation in Politics’ Award on 3 December. The first is the MatGlad (‘FoodHappy’ in Swedish) app, which was developed to teach cooking skills to people with cognitive difficulties, and the other is an initiative to continuously provide homebound high-school students with warm food by sending them QR codes that can be used to order food at takeaway establishments.
These Awards seek to distinguish ground-breaking initiatives by European politicians
Politics have an impact on pretty much every aspect of our lives, so a Vienna-based non-profit organization has decided to encourage the people who practice politics professionally for the brave and forward-thinking actions that some of them have undertaken in the interest of communities.
Naturally, there are the elections which serve as tests on the political success or failure but now there are also the Innovation in Politics Awards which let 1000 European citizens decide on which projects should be rewarded.
The MatGlad app came into being funded several years ago when Yvonne Persson (S), chair of the Social Care Committee in Borås, granted funding to dietitian Birgitta Toll to develop a tool that would help people with cognitive development variations become more autonomous and confident by learning to prepare meals.
MatGlad is rich in visual materials and also gives instructions in simplified Swedish making it easy and fun to use for many people, including children and young people who are making their first steps in cooking.
As for the QR code project, Ulf Olsson (S), one of the two nominated Borås councillors, whose idea became reality had this to say: “Our decision and the quick technical solution meant that we could ensure that all high school students were offered school lunch during the period when it was distance learning. The positive response we received from restaurants and cafés was very gratifying”.
The other councillor is Anna Svalander (L), and their initiative made sure that students who had to study online did not have to worry about having a regular warm meal. They are simply e-mailed the QR code to the value of SEK 75 that can be scanned at participating restaurants.
Source: TheMayor.EU
