Between 7 and 11 September, a Brazilian delegation will take part in a technical cooperation mission in Jakarta with the Indonesian government to share experiences on school meals, food security and public procurement of food, at a time when Indonesia’s free meals programme is expanding rapidly.
Supported by the School Meals Accelerator (SMA) initiative and the WFP country office in Indonesia, the mission will include representatives from the WFP Centre of Excellence against Hunger in Brazil, the National Fund for Educational Development (FNDE), the National Supply Company (Conab) and the Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC).
Expansion
With a population of around 280 million, Indonesia has been implementing the Makan Bergizi Gratis (MBG) programme, or Free Nutritious Meals Programme, since January 2025. It is considered one of the largest school feeding and nutrition initiatives in the world.
In just one and a half years, the programme has grown from approximately 570,000 beneficiaries to more than 65 million people served, including schoolchildren, pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers and young children of pre-school age.
To support this expansion, the country currently has around 26,000 central kitchens responsible for the daily preparation and distribution of meals.
Similarities
Indonesia and Brazil face similar challenges in implementing large-scale public food policies. In addition to the continental scale of both countries, the Indonesian archipelago comprises more than 17,000 islands, many of which are home to remote populations and communities that rely on river or sea transport, making the logistics of food distribution particularly complex.
Despite these challenges, Indonesia has been establishing itself as a leading international player in this field and is seeking to deepen its dialogue with Brazil to improve aspects such as food safety, the strengthening of the regulatory framework, programme governance and increasing the contribution of local agriculture to the supply of meals.
Agenda
The mission’s agenda includes meetings with senior Indonesian government officials, including representatives from the Ministry of National Planning (Bappenas) and the National Nutrition Agency, as well as technical workshops to exchange experiences on school meals.
The agenda also includes field visits to enable the Brazilian delegation to gain first-hand insight into the operation of the MBG. Visits are planned to a school and a health centre to observe the distribution of meals to pupils, pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers, as well as a visit to a central kitchen, where it will be possible to observe food preparation processes, quality control, food safety and delivery logistics.
The mission will be led by Daniel Balaban, director of the Centre of Excellence against Hunger in Brazil. The Brazilian delegation will also include Karine Silva dos Santos, general coordinator of the FNDE’s National School Feeding Programme; Daniel Bandoni, FNDE’s coordinator for Food and Nutritional Security; Naiara Andreolli, director of agricultural policy and information at Conab; Enio Carlos Moura de Souza, Conab’s Superintendent of Family Farming; Paola Barbieri, project analyst at the Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC); Ana Clara Cathalat, Policy and Programmes Officer at the Centre of Excellence; and Mariana de Carvalho, programme assistant at the Centre of Excellence.
The mission is expected to serve as the basis for drawing up a roadmap for long-term technical cooperation between Brazil and Indonesia in the field of school feeding and nutrition.