Collaborating for Change: SHAPE Asia Countries Unite to Improve Food Environments

18-20 May 2026

Food environments are gradually being characterised by the increased availability of cheaper, energy-dense, and low-nutrient products, adversely affecting diet quality and health outcomes. Regulating food environments thereby remains a major challenge across Asia. In response, SHAPE Asia aims to promote healthier food systems and policy environments across the region through collaboration, evidence generation, and advocacy.

As a key member of SHAPE Asia, the Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka (IPS) actively contributed to the 2026 Country Meeting held in Jakarta, Indonesia, alongside partners from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand. The meeting focused on shaping the way forward for SHAPE Asia’s initiatives across the region.

Key discussions at the meeting highlighted the importance of coalition building, strengthening policy advocacy efforts, and identifying relevant national and regional stakeholders through stakeholder mapping. Participants discussed the role of youth in advancing food environment advocacy and the need for gender-sensitive food environment policy frameworks. All five partner countries also shared updates on their ongoing Participatory Action Research (PAR) initiatives.

Dr Nisha Arunatilake, Director of Research at IPS, highlighted the potential application of the NOURISHING Policy Framework, a global tool for monitoring and assessing government actions on food environments and diet quality. “This framework could be adapted to systematically index and evaluate national food environment policies across the five partner countries,” Dr Arunatilake emphasised. Meanwhile, Himani Vithanage, Research Officer at IPS, discussed the identification of advocacy indicators and measures to support policies promoting healthy food retail environments and restricting unhealthy food marketing in Asia.

As part of the programme, SHAPE Asia also convened a stakeholder meeting that brought together regional experts and representatives from government, academia, civil society, and other key sectors in Indonesia to discuss policies for promoting healthier food environments. The meeting further provided an opportunity to identify priority policy areas for the coming year and to explore avenues for strengthening collaboration among stakeholders. SHAPE Asia is funded by Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC).