One of Costa Rica’s cornerstone programs for addressing hunger and poverty may not sound glitzy, but it does seem to get the job done.

There’s no catchy slogan or matching corporate funder, but the country’s 616 Centers for Education, Nutrition and Comprehensive Child Care (CEN-CINAI) have been recognized by the region’s foremost nutrition agency for their work.

The pioneering regional leader in anti-hunger and nutrition programs and education, the Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama (INCAP), recognized the CEN-CINAI’s leadership “for its broad experience contributing to the health and nutrition of children under 6 years of age, and pregnant and lactating mothers, through the generation of scientific evidence that has led to the implementation of successful policies, plans and programs aimed at this population.”

Costa Rica’s CEN-CINAI programs currently serve over 140 thousand high-risk people, including infants, preschoolers, school children, and pregnant and lactating mothers, of which 121,500 are children aged 2 – 6, said the Ministry of Health in a report on the program which is now in its 66th year of operation.

In 2015, of the 115 thousand infants enrolled in the centers, 5 percent were overweight or obese due to improper nutrition and 6.8 percent had chronic malnutrition, said the ministry. An evaluation of the program in 2015 found an improvement in 45 percent of these cases of inadequate diets and malnutrition.

The nutrition program operates both on-site programs that consist of daily educational services and meals served inside the centers, as well as extension programs which involve periodic visits. The visits include basic educational sessions for children, and provide support to the entire family with food packages and whole milk powder. The extension programs are available in 80 communities where there are no permanent centers due to their remote location, said the minitry.

The program also aids 3,363 indigenous people in various regions of the country.

A third of the mothers with children enrolled in CEN-CINAI programs are single moms; and 90 percents of the families who benefit are classified as living in poverty or extreme poverty, said the ministry.

“The CEN-CINAI have changed and contributed to the development of the country; and continues to bear fruit. I have references that, according to international criteria ,this program is considered one of the best in Latin America,” said Julio Quirós, pioneer of the CEN-CINAI model, during the INCAP recognition ceremony.