School feeding programme managed by FNDE will be shared with other countries within the scope of the Global Alliance proposed by Brazil
Brasília, Brazil, July 29, 2024 – The National School Feeding Programme (PNAE) – coordinated by the Ministry of Education (MEC) through the National Fund for the Development of Education (FNDE) – will be one of the successful Brazilian initiatives presented in the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty. Brazil’s experience with PNAE, which is one of the largest school feeding programmes in the world, will be shared with governments, international organizations, knowledge institutions, funds, development banks, and philanthropic institutions.
Proposed by Brazil at the G20 – the group of the world’s 20 largest economies, plus the European Union and the African Union – the alliance was unanimously approved on July 24 during a meeting of G20 ministers in Rio de Janeiro. PNAE will be part of a set of actions that will be shared with countries and organizations that join the alliance. In addition to school feeding, national experiences related to income transfer, registration of vulnerable families, early childhood support, strengthening of family farming, among others, will be presented.
According to the Minister of Education, Camilo Santana, PNAE is an important policy to combat food insecurity. “In some schools and municipalities, often the only meal a child gets in a day is the one offered at school. This is a cruel reality. We must be outraged every day and not accept that in a country as large as Brazil, there are still people going hungry,” he says. Santana also emphasizes that Brazil wants to work with other countries to eradicate hunger.
According to FNDE President Fernanda Pacobahyba, PNAE’s extensive experience in international technical cooperation actions was a significant factor in its selection. “Being part of this alliance is another way to promote the exchange of information to improve school feeding worldwide. As a global example in the field, as advocated by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), PNAE has much to contribute to this alliance. At the same time, we can improve the Brazilian programme based on actions implemented in other countries.” Furthermore, since 2023, Brazil has been co-chairing the Global School Meals Coalition, alongside France and Finland.
Karine dos Santos, General Coordinator of the National School Feeding Programme at FNDE, explains that with PNAE’s inclusion in the alliance, Brazilian teams will develop possible strategies and present them to the alliance members. “School feeding is a programme that promotes the development of various actions that integrate universal supply and access for students. The Brazilian experience shows this. And, respecting the sovereignty of each nation, countries evaluate and apply what is best within their realities,” she details.
Karine dos Santos explains the main guidelines of PNAE: “Our compass is the quality of the offer, with healthy food from daycare to adult education. Another guideline is food and nutritional education, especially the formation of healthier habits so that children make healthier choices throughout their lives.”
She clarifies that for food and nutrition education, there is a set of involved actors, such as nutritionists, school managers, teachers, parents, and students. According to the coordinator, the topic of food must be addressed transversally in the school. “In the context of PNAE, there is also the fundamental role of family farming, responsible for bringing healthier, fresh, pesticide-free food to the school. Today, national averages show that we have reached 45% in the acquisition of food from family farming for the programme,” she adds.
With 69 years of existence, PNAE serves more than 40 million students across the country, offering 50 million meals daily in a collaborative regime with states and municipalities. The School Feeding Law (Law No. 11,947/2009) is a significant milestone in the programme, with the coverage to all basic education, including adult education (EJA), and the requirement that at least 30% of FNDE funds be invested in purchasing products from family farming.
Alliance
The Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty, which aims to eradicate hunger and poverty worldwide by 2030, is not restricted to member countries of the group but is open to all interested parties.
The official launch of the initiative will be formalized at the G20 Leaders’ Summit in November. However, with the approval of the constitutive documents at the end of July, countries have begun to join the alliance. According to Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, combating hunger requires political decision-making. “Our best tool will be sharing effective public policies. Many countries have also succeeded in combating hunger and promoting agriculture, and we want these examples to be known and used,” Lula explained while detailing the proposal of the global alliance.
The initiative establishes an international commitment to garner political support, financial resources, and technical knowledge for the implementation of proven effective public policies and social technologies to eradicate hunger and poverty worldwide.
Saulo Ceolin, General Coordinator of Food and Nutritional Security at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and co-coordinator of the G20 Task Force for the creation of the Global Alliance, explains that teams are currently involved in developing the “policy basket,” a set of public policies that have already been tested, implemented, and proven effective. He emphasizes that school feeding is already included in the policy basket. “We will transfer experience, knowledge, and good practices that we have adopted from PNAE, from the normative aspect to implementation, control, and monitoring,” he adds.
