HarvestPlus Solutions was honored to participate in the “Global Child Nutrition Forum 2024”, sharing our expertise and vision to this dynamic gathering of global leaders, policymakers, educators, and stakeholders. Our goal was to demonstrate how school meal programs can serve as powerful catalysts for building local economies and nutritious food systems.

At the forum, HarvestPlus Solutions led an interactive workshop in collaboration with Tailored Food, “Leveraging School Feeding Programs to Build Local Economies and Nutritious Food Systems.” This workshop inspired participants to reimagine school feeding as a transformative tool for sustainable development. The workshop emphasized the importance of collaboration among farmers, food processors, parents, and educators to create localized, climate-smart, and nutrition-driven supply chains. Through interactive activities, participants explored strategies for integrating diverse stakeholders into the school feeding movement, driving meaningful and system-wide change. The workshop included an engaging discussion of the key challenges and opportunities in school feeding programs, addressing critical topics like climate-friendly meals, food waste, shortening supply chains, and localization. Participants were encouraged to think about how food begins on farmer fields and travels through the supply chain to nourish school children.

Our participation in the forum reflected our ongoing commitment to:

• Sharing experience of integrating biofortified crops into school feeding programs to improve nutrition and strengthen local economies.
• Leveraging global best practices to scale innovative solutions and enhance program effectiveness.
• Engaging with global and national policymakers to advocate for school feeding programs as a key pillar of food systems transformation.

“We left Osaka Japan inspired by the energy, creativity, and commitment of the global school meals movement and look forward to strengthening partnerships and driving change for generations to come” said Ravinder Grover, Global Business Manager at HarvestPlus Solutions.

HarvestPlus Solution is making meaningful contributions to the vision of School Meals Coalition, through our partnership with HarvestPlus which underscores our commitment to ensuring that every child has access to healthy, nutritious meals in schools, and no one is left behind. In addition to providing nutritious meals to school learners, our approach empowers students, parents and communities through nutrition education and awareness to help enhance their health outcomes. 

By contributing to the coalition’s collective mission, HarvestPlus Solutions continues to play an important role in aligning school feeding programs with broader goals of improving nutrition, supporting smallholder farmers, and addressing climate challenges in the Global South.