November 3-5, 2025

SEAMEO RECFON successfully conducted the Workshop on Policy Brief Development on November 3-5, 2025, held in a hybrid format at Novotel Cikini, Jakarta, and via Zoom Meeting. The workshop aimed to strengthen staff capacity in developing clear, concise, and evidence-based policy briefs to effectively communicate research findings and policy recommendations to decision-makers at national and regional levels.

In her opening remarks, Dr. Dwi Nastiti Iswarawanti, M.Sc., emphasized that the workshop seeks to strengthen staff capacity in developing concise and evidence-based policy briefs for policymakers in the field of nutrition and food, in line with SEAMEO RECFON’s mandate as a SEAMEO Centre of Excellence to strengthen institutional and human resource capacity across Southeast Asia.

The workshop supports the implementation of three flagship programs of SEAMEO RECFON, including the Early Childhood Care, Nutrition, and Education (ECCNE) Program, the Nutrition Goes to School (NGTS) Program, and the Nutrition Goes to Workplaces (NGTW) Program. These three programs are designed to comprehensively address nutrition issues at all stages of life, from pregnancy to productive age, and are implemented through collaboration with various stakeholders at the regional and global levels.

During the implementation of these flagship programs, SEAMEO RECFON produced various important findings that could contribute to the formulation of policy papers related to addressing nutrition and food issues. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen the basic skills of staff in analyzing data, writing in a concise yet comprehensive policy style, and understanding the context of public policy at both the national and regional levels.

Through this workshop, participants took part in a series of sessions that included policy analysis discussions, evidence-based policy brief writing exercises, and group work on drafting the main components of a policy brief. This activity also aimed to develop strategic communication skills in conveying policy recommendations to stakeholders.

As the main output of the activity, the workshop successfully enhanced SEAMEO RECFON staff’s understanding and capacity to develop effective, evidence-based policy briefs. In addition, the workshop produced the SEAMEO RECFON Policy Brief Roadmap for 2026/2027, which will serve as a strategic reference for the development and dissemination of policy briefs in the coming years.

Through the implementation of this workshop, SEAMEO RECFON reaffirms its commitment to strengthening its role in supporting evidence-informed policymaking in the areas of nutrition and food, and to contributing to the improvement of community nutrition status across Southeast Asia.