Organized by the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture since 2001, “Policies against Hunger” conferences provide a platform for moving hunger and malnutrition into the spotlight of international discussions on food security. The 13th “Policies against Hunger” conference focusing on the topic of ‘Joint Action for Healthy and Sustainable School Nutrition’ was held by the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture from 23-25 June 2021. 

The event comprised a Kick-Off Session open to the public and was followed by four invitation-only Working Group sessions treating different related subjects.

As Chair of Working Group 1 on ‘Requirements for school nutrition policy, legal frameworks, quality standards, and infrastructure’ Stineke Oenema, Executive Secretary of UN Nutrition, focused on the fact that healthy and sustainable school nutrition requires good policies, legal frameworks, quality standards, and infrastructure for a positive food environment, reiterating UN Nutrition’s support to school nutrition as a game changer in food systems transformation.

UN Nutrition members and partners were very present in the conference. Members of the UN Nutrition convened School Nutrition Community of Practice (CoP) chaired all four working groups and others actively participated in the group discussions.

The main aim was to send out a strong and important signal to enhance global cooperation in the field of healthy and sustainable school nutrition and provide fresh impetus towards joint efforts, encouraging all to take further action.

A side event moderated by Nancy Aburto, Deputy Director of the Food and Nutrition Division in FAO and UN Nutrition Steering Committee member, presented the current state of play regarding the launch of a multi-stakeholder initiative for a School Meals Coalition to be officially launched at the UN Food Systems Summit in September. Germany is contributing by creating a peer-to-peer network to organise an exchange of experience between the administrations of different countries. UN Nutrition re-stated its commitment to be ready to work with Germany to optimise the peer-to-peer network through its chairing of the School Nutrition CoP with UN Nutrition members and key partners.

Recordings of the Kick-off Event and Closing Event including ministers’ speeches, as well as background papers and presentations from each of the Working Group sessions can be found at https://www.policies-against-hunger.de/en/