The Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) has partnered with the Asian Farmers' Association for Sustainable Rural Development (AFA) in organizing a regional policy forum titled "From Farms to Schools: Towards Sustainable and Inclusive School-Based Food and Nutrition Programs in Southeast Asia."
SEARCA Director Glenn Gregorio said the policy forum will be conducted through a hybrid format that includes both virtual (via Zoom) and in-person attendees at Crimson Hotel in Alabang, Muntinlupa City, from April 24 to 25.
Gregorio said the activity aims to maximize opportunities in the nutrition-education-development nexus by including family farmers in new and existing school-based food and nutrition programs in Southeast Asia.
He said the forum gathers stakeholders from the region's government ministries of education and representatives from farmer groups and civil society organizations, academe, and the private sector to discuss potential policy interventions and courses of action to ensure sustainability and inclusiveness of school-based food and nutrition programs.
Datuk Dr. Habibah Abdul Rahim, newly appointed director of the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization or Seameo Secretariat, will join the event.
"Participating organizations will be encouraged to develop and implement sustainable and inclusive school-based and food nutrition programs backed by their governments' strong policies and initiatives," Gregorio said.
He said the event will also explore partnerships and collaborative activities in addressing the region's food and nutrition security issues through school-based food and nutrition programs.
The forum will begin with opening messages from AFA Secretary General Ma. Estrella Banzuela and Director of the International Cooperation Office of the Department of Education (DepEd) Margarita Consolacion Ballesteros. Lina Rospita, program coordinator of the health division of the Asean Secretariat, will deliver the keynote address.
Resource speakers include Dipayan Bhattacharyya, United Nations World Food Program deputy country director in the Philippines, and Dr. Maria Antonia Tuazon, senior nutrition and food systems specialist, and Pierre Ferrand, agriculture officer, both from Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific.
Other resource speakers are Dr. Jesus Fernandez, deputy director for programs of the Regional Center for Food and Nutrition; representatives from the Ministries of Education of Thailand, Cambodia, Lao People's Democratic Republic, and the Philippines; and Mercedes Castillo, chief operating officer of the Philippine Family Farmers' Agriculture Fishery Forestry Cooperatives Federation.