Press and News The Alliance Leads Plenary Session on Food Systems Transformation Through School Feeding at the Southeast Asia School Meals Coalition Summit
The session was moderated by Danny Hunter - Principal Scientist from the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT. Dr. Hunter is also a member of the Research Consortium for School Health and Nutrition’s Community of Practice on Diets and Food Systems. Highlights from the event included the presentation of the planet-friendly school meals framework and a lively panel discussion where speakers discussed their varied experiences which can be targeted for change.
By: Sharon Mendonce, Danny Hunter, Teresa Borelli, Ma.Shiela Anunciado
The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport of the Kingdom of Cambodia, the Department of Education of the Republic of the Philippines, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of South Korea co-hosted the Southeast Asia School Meals Coalition Summit in Siem Reap from November 18-20, 2024. Organized under the umbrella of the School Meals Coalition, the summit built on regional momentum and cooperation to shape policies that support children’s health, education and future potential through sustainable school meals programs, as well as accelerate commitments to scale up these programs. The summit convened high-level representatives from multiple Southeast Asian nations.
Why School Meals?
As Dr. Dexter Galban - Assistant Secretary for Operations of the Republic of the Philippines's Department of Education - shared during the plenary session, “We are not just serving a meal, we are serving hope.” The current global food system is in urgent need of transformation to tackle the nutrition crisis, biodiversity loss and climate change - challenges that threaten food security. School meals, as the world’s largest safety net program and a major public investment in terms of food procurement, hold significant potential to drive countries toward more sustainable food systems. School food procurement can use its purchasing power to support and promote forms of agricultural production that ensure environmental sustainability and agrobiodiversity and even strengthen supply chains for smallholder farmers practicing climate-smart agriculture.
Planet-Friendly School Meals
With climate-related crises disproportionately affecting Southeast Asian countries, it is important to ensure that school feeding programs are not only resilient to shocks but also play a pivotal role in fostering climate mitigation and adaptation and providing support to vulnerable populations. School feeding programs can be reimagined as platforms for delivering planet-friendly school meals—programs delivering equitable and healthy foods for children, produced in ways that do not pollute or overexploit natural resources while protecting biodiversity.
To raise awareness and expand knowledge on leveraging school meal programs as tools for implementing planet-friendly policies, the plenary session ‘Food Systems Transformation Through School Feeding’ was convened. This event aimed to inspire commitment among country representatives to strengthen linkages between agriculture, health, climate and environmental sectors in school meal operations, unlocking wide-ranging benefits for both people (particularly children) and the planet.
Key Messages from the Plenary Session
The plenary session was divided into two parts. Danny Hunter opened the session by providing an overview of school meals as a vehicle for food systems transformation, highlighting the recently published planet-friendly school meals conceptual framework. The second part of the session featured a panel discussion, consisting of representatives from the governments of Cambodia, the Philippines and Singapore, as well as their partners. The panelists shared examples of school meal policies and actions that their countries are implementing to transition toward more sustainable food systems.
Photo credit: Bernice Ann Darvin; figure from Pastorino, S.; Backlund, U.; Bellanca, R.; Hunter, D.; Kaljonen, M.; Singh, S.; Vargas, M.; Bundy, D. (2024) Planet-friendly school meals: opportunities to improve children’s health and leverage change in food systems. [Comment] Lancet Planetary Health, Online first paper (2024-11-18). 3 p. ISSN: 2542-5196
While the panel discussion centered around the potential of planet-friendly school meals, what stood out were the various entry points for food system transformation (through school meals) that panelists shared. This discussion also provided a platform to showcase key outcomes from the Philippines, including those stemming from the CGIAR Initiative on Fruit and Vegetables for Sustainable Healthy Diets (FRESH). Under this initiative multiple traditional and Indigenous fruits and vegetables that are nutrient-rich and climate-resilient were prioritized, and seeds and seedlings of these species were distributed to schools, farmers and community gardens. Additionally, the discussion spotlighted outcomes from the ASEAN-CGIAR Strategy Intervention Package 3 (‘Enhancing ASEAN Agrobiodiversity for Planet-Friendly School Meals’), which will focus on developing planet-friendly school meals programs across ASEAN countries in 2025, exploring home-grown approaches that link farmer organizations supplying local agrobiodiversity to schools.
The panel discussion featured H.E. Lok Sothea (Cambodia), Dr. Gerlie Tatlonghari (SEARCA), Dr. Dexter A. Galban (Philippines), Ms. Sheila Anunciado (IIRR), and Mr. Muhammad Faizal Bin Abdul Aziz (Singapore), showcasing various entry points for food system transformation through school meals. Photo credit: Bernice Ann Darvin
In conclusion, the panel highlighted the need to revisit procurement policies, advocating for greater flexibility in purchasing at the school or regional level. Panelists also called for the implementation of nutrition standards in school meals, emphasizing the importance of community engagement, behavioral change initiatives, and supportive policy frameworks. These strategies offer a positive pathway toward building planet-friendly school meals that will play a pivotal role in transforming food systems for generations to come.
Learn more about the Southeast Asia School Meals Coalition Summit here and its outcomes here.
Cover photo credit: Bernice Ann Darvin
The Team
Danny Hunter
Principal Scientist, Convener for the Pacific
Teresa Borelli
Scientist I
