The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has approved the Resolution “On the allocation of the amount of subvention from the state budget to local budgets for the purchase of equipment, creation and modernisation (reconstruction and overhaul) of canteens (food service facilities) of general secondary education institutions in 2024”.

This year, UAH 1.5 billion was allocated for the modernisation of school canteens. These funds are a significant support to communities in implementing the school meals reform initiated by First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska in 2020.

The subvention funds have been allocated to 159 projects selected on a competitive basis in accordance with the Procedure and Conditions for Granting Subventions approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. The selected institutions will be able to purchase modern equipment and reconstruct or overhaul their canteens and food service facilities.

Applications for the state subvention for the purchase of equipment and modernisation of canteens in general secondary education institutions were submitted through the DREAM ecosystem, which allowed for the automatic generation of a ranking list of projects based on the calculation of their priority using a scoring system.

One of the conditions for receiving a subvention was confirmed co-financing from the local budget, the minimum amount of which corresponds to the community’s tax capacity index.

The evaluation of the project applications’ compliance with the requirements and criteria was carried out by a commission of the Ministry of Education and Science, which involved independent experts. The final selection of project applications for the purpose of formulating proposals for the distribution of subventions among individual local budgets took place during the commission’s meetings with the participation of representatives of the regional military administrations and territorial communities.

The granting of the subvention is an important step towards achieving one of the strategic goals of the school catering reform – modernisation of infrastructure – and is aimed at improving the food service conditions for students and teachers in schools. The modernisation of canteens and food service units will help to ensure high-quality and safe food.

It is expected that by the end of the school year, all 159 schools that have received funding will have fully renovated canteens equipped with the latest technological equipment in line with modern standards and requirements.

The selected projects will be updated with data, and their implementation will be monitored (including procurement data, reports on funds received and used, progress of work, and photos) through the DREAM ecosystem. All information will be available publicly: in the profile of the financial programme, as well as on the pages of each selected project and in the public analytics module in the section “Details of financial programmes”.

Earlier, a subvention for the construction of school shelters was distributed through the DREAM system. As a result, funding for 50 projects was approved, with a total cost of UAH 2.19 billion. In addition, the Ministry of Education and Science approved another 7 projects for state funding for the overhaul and construction of shelters in general secondary education institutions, with the total cost of the projects in the additional set amounting to UAH 205.99 million. Detailed information on the selected projects is available here.