Public education in this Brazilian city currently serves 1,820 students.
Paulo Beraldo
Brasília, Brazil, April 10, 2025 – Since 2016, all nine public schools in the municipality of Capitão Leônidas Marques, in the countryside of Paraná, southern Brazil, have implemented food and nutrition education (FNE) activities in their teaching practices, thanks to a municipal legal framework that regulated the Healthy Eating project.
The project aims to integrate food and nutrition education into all subjects in elementary and early childhood education, expanding its impact not only within the school community but across the entire population of approximately 15,000 inhabitants.
“We seek to continue the actions developed in our school feeding programme and promote the construction of critical knowledge related to food and nutrition,” explains nutritionist Élister Balestrin, who works in the municipal programme. Public education in Capitão Leônidas Marques currently serves 1,820 students.
In the city, all schools organize activities in October to celebrate World Food Day, a date established by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The municipal school feeding division prepares a project with suggested activities based on the annual theme defined by FAO, so schools can develop their own programmes. “All schools participate — the teachers, the pedagogical coordinators, the students, parents, and also the family farmers who supply the food,” says the nutritionist.
According to Élister, the planning of FNE actions takes into account the need to encourage student participation through both practical and theoretical approaches, emphasizing the importance of food, quality nutrition, and the risks of malnutrition, within the framework of the human right to adequate and healthy food.
FNE: From Schools to Homes
Among the activities carried out in the schools are: mobilization of education professionals and students in FNE practices; teaching about the social, cultural, geographical, and historical aspects of food production; strengthening school community relations; addressing food and its context in the classroom; training multipliers of FNE actions; promoting discussions on sustainable development, environment, climate change, food waste, land use, and agroecology; and valuing family farming, among others. “We want students to take this knowledge home and share it with their families,” says Élister.
The nutritionist explains that the municipality has a strong relationship with local family farming and invests 100% of the federal resources received from the National Fund for Educational Development (FNDE), through the National School Feeding Programme (PNAE), in the purchase of food from local family farmers. Currently, 27 families sell their products to the municipality’s public school system.
“Family farmers are encouraged to take part in FNE activities. They are always recognized and valued. We bring producers into the schools and take students to visit the farms where the food they eat is produced. It’s a moment of curiosity and joy for both sides,” she comments.
The experience of Capitão Leônidas Marques gained national and international recognition when the city participated in the reality show ‘Cooks of Brazil’, organized by the FNDE to highlight food policy and the work of school cooks and nutritionists involved in PNAE. In September 2023, the city presented its experience at an event in Panama City, organized by the Brazil-FAO International Cooperation. The Sustainable School Feeding Network works to disseminate successful experiences — share yours too!
