Events

How can Indigenous Peoples’ food systems help build healthier, more resilient and culturally appropriate school meals? 

Join us at CFS 54 for “The Power of Indigenous Peoples’ Food Systems: Lessons from the Field and a Call to Action” on 22nd October | 8:30-9:45 | Ethiopia Room, FAO Headquarters in Rome. Co-organized by IFAD and the Indigenous Peoples’ Food Systems Coalition, in partnership with the School Meals Coalition and other partners, this side event will explore how Indigenous Peoples’ food systems contribute to biodiversity, climate resilience, nutrition and culturally relevant school meal programmes. Through perspectives from governments, Indigenous leaders and development partners, the discussion will highlight practical pathways to strengthen Indigenous knowledge systems, support food sovereignty, and scale solutions that benefit children, communities and food systems worldwide.

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Held every two years, the Coalition Ministerial Task Force meeting brings together the 12 Task Force member governments (the governing body of the School Meals Coalition) and special guests to review progress, endorse actions and set priorities for the next two years, while continuing to elevate school meals on the global agenda.

The 2026 Annual Showcase marks five years of the Research Consortium—the first initiative of the School Meals Coalition. Bringing together evidence, country experiences and emerging research, the Showcase will explore what we’ve learned about school meals and where we go next.

Across three sessions, we’ll look at the evidence to date, where school meals research is now, and new directions towards 2030 and beyond, including regional approaches, data for faster progress and innovations for healthier, more sustainable school meals.

Under the theme “Investing in Africa’s Agri-Food Systems: Nourishing Nations, Growing Jobs, Building Resilience,” the forum brings together stakeholders from across Africa and beyond to explore opportunities for transforming the continent's food systems through strategic investments, innovation, and collaboration.

On the sidelines of the forum, the School Meals Coalition’s Sustainable Financing Initiative (SFI), in partnership with Rockefeller, AGRA, SNV, Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT, CABI, GAIN, FWGA, ICRISAT, IDRC, MercyCorps, WHH and led by Nutrition, Food Safety and Health Crosscutting Thematic Platform will host the side event: Financing Home-Grown School Feeding: an investment in Diet Diversity for Nutrition, on Thursday, 3 September | 8:00-9:30. 

This session will highlight the importance of investment in school feeding to drive improved nutrition and food security outcomes, in the context of the African Food Systems transformation process and the global socio-economic and security developments.

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11:00 AM CEST via Zoom

This webinar, Transforming School Meals through City Action, will launch the first case studies jointly developed by the Research Consortium and Cities Feeding the Future, initiatives of the School Meals Coalition. It will highlight the role of cities in designing and implementing quality school meal programmes that provide healthy, diversified and locally sourced food, and present the shared methodological framework used to document the experiences of Milan and Montpellier.

Drawing on these examples, participants will explore how local governments can develop effective school meal programmes and address operational, social, environmental and territorial challenges. Bringing together local authorities, researchers and international stakeholders, the event will also illustrate how collaboration between science and public policy can support more sustainable urban food systems.

Hosted by the Pacific School Food Network, Pacific School Food Talanoa 2026 brought together over 100 participants from 16 countries, including representatives from governments, schools, communities, civil society organisations, academia, development partners and the private sector, to share evidence, best practices, traditional and Indigenous knowledge, and community-led solutions. 

The participants of the Pacific School Food Talanoa 2026, recognise that school food environments are fundamental to the health, wellbeing, education, resilience and future prosperity of Pacific children, communities and nations. Over three days, they co-developed a Pacific School Food Declaration and Regional Action Agenda, providing a forward-looking roadmap for climate-resilient school food systems aligned with national and regional priorities.

Explore the declaration 

As part of Rome Nutrition Week 2026, the session 'Scaling Nutrition through Inclusive, Diverse & Local School Meals' brought together governments and partners to share experiences and discuss approaches to strengthening school meals programmes in connection with nutrition and local food systems. 

This thematic session explored how school meal programmes can improve nutrition, support local economies, promote biodiversity through neglected and underutilized crops, and strengthen women’s roles across food supply chains.

School Meals Coalition co-chairs Brazil and Finland, together with Kenya, the Philippines, Coalition partners Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, WFP, including as Coalition Secretariat, and FAO spoke about school meals as a transformative tool and investment in people, communities and the future. See remarks by speakers, including Brazil's First Lady.

THE POWER OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ FOOD SYSTEMS: A CALL TO ACTION 

UN Headquarters, New York, 21 April 2026

The Indigenous Peoples’ Food Systems Coalition, with partners including IIFAD and the School Meals Coalition, will host a special side event on the role of Indigenous food systems in advancing home-grown school meals, biodiversity, climate resilience, and food security, placing Indigenous knowledge, food cultures, and leadership at the heart of nutrition, education, and climate solutions. 

Register here