(Track 3: Promoting Nutrition and Healthy Diets)
The session aims to position planet‑friendly school meals as a strategic food‑systems transformation investment platform by identifying structural barriers to scaling and proposing policy, market, and financing solutions. It also aims to demonstrate how regenerative agriculture and local procurement deliver nutrition, climate, and biodiversity co‑benefits while clarifying entry points for ADB engagement through policy dialogue, sovereign lending, trust funds, and blended finance.
Moderator:
Purnima Menon, Senior Director for Food and Nutrition Policy, IFPRI/p>
Opening Remarks: Food system lens and Human Capital and Behavior Lens
Emmanuel Y. Jimenez, Director General, Independent Evaluation Department, ADB /p>
Anchor Talks – From Science to Delivery/p>
- Talk 1: Science and Systems
Danny Hunter, Principal Scientist, Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT - Talk 2: From Pilots to Scale
Floor Overbeeke, Director of Regenerative School Meals for Asia, Rockefeller Foundation - Talk 3: Public Delivery at Scale
Marika Nomura, Senior Advisor on Nutrition, Human Development Department, JICA - Talk 4: Government Implementation
Roger Masapol, Assistant Secretary, DepEd, Philippines
Talk 5: Government Implementation
H.E. Sok Silo, Secretary General, Council for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD), Cambodia
Roundtable Dialogue – Making It Work in Practice
This dialogue explores how school meal programs can serve as a public demand instrument to transform food systems, linking children’s nutrition, smallholder farmers, climate-resilient agriculture, and partnerships across the public and private sectors.
- Candra Samekto, Country Director (IFAD)
- Irish Baguilat, Coordinator for the Women Farmers Agenda and Program Manager Asian Farmers’ Association
- Elisabet Fadul, Head of Programme, United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), Philippines Country Office
- Frédérique Glazener, Head of Programme, Grow Asia
Take away from Session and intro to closing remark
Purnima Menon, Senior Director for Food and Nutrition Policy, IFPRI/p>
Reflection from ADB
Tomoko Kato, Senior Nutrition Specialist ADB-AFNR, ADB/p>
Closing reflections – What Changes After Today
Eisuke Tajima, Director, ADB
