On December 3-4, 2024, Bangkok Metropolitan Administration hosted the 2nd MUFPP Asia Pacific Regional Forum, under the theme Nourishing Growing Cities: Enhancing School Meals and Supporting Local Communities, promoted by the MUFPP and the Cities Feeding The Future Initiative, and AICS – Italian Agency for Development Cooperation.

The 2-day Forum explored the significance of school meals programmes for urban food policies, and their integration with urban agricultural practices, strategies to tackle food waste and donations to food banks, showcasing how school meals programmes represent an opportunity to intervene in multiple aspects of urban food systems.

The Forum gathered 70 participants from 17 cities in 8 Asia Pacific countries along with key partners and stakeholders like the World Food Programme, FAO, the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation. During the Forum, the winners of the project Spreading Experiences and Knowledge on School Meals Programmes were announced. The 8 selected project work proposals and their respective cities have been awarded and the Forum was the chance to conduct the official awarding ceremony. Namely, the City of Bandung, Chiang Mai, Denpasar, Hoi An, Hue, Semarang, Surakarta, and Seberang Perai were selected as winners.

During the parallel sessions, city representatives had the chance to showcase their experiences and best practices covering different topics such as urban agriculture and education activities.

New signatory cities in Asia Pacific were welcomed during a dedicated signing ceremony: Phuket (Thailand), Surat Thani (Thailand), Udon Thani (Thailand), Vientiane (Laos).