The National Education Development Fund (FNDE) took part on Tuesday (12) in the second day and official opening of the 6th National Conference on Food and Nutrition Security (CNSAN), whose theme is “Eradicating hunger and guaranteeing rights with Real Food, Democracy and Equity”.
During the meeting, which took place in Brasilia on 14 December 2023, the Decree on Healthy Eating in the School Environment was announced and a Cooperation Agreement was signed between the FNDE, the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES), the Ministry of Agrarian Development and Family Agriculture (MDA), the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change (MMA) and the Ministry of Development and Social Assistance, Family and Fight against Hunger (MDS), which aims to promote food and nutritional security in the Amazon region.
The aim of the conference was to update the reading of scenarios, monitor programmes and actions, identify potential and challenges, point out new directions for the future and define proposals to be forwarded to the government with a view to defining a new generation of public policies and contributing effectively to the drafting of the 3rd National Plan for Food and Nutritional Security, which is the responsibility of the Interministerial Chamber for Food and Nutritional Security for 2024.
The event saw the announcement of Decree No. 11,821, the result of an effort between the Ministry of Education (MEC), MDA, MDS, Ministry of Health and FNDE. The decree was one of the actions resulting from the inter-ministerial Technical Cooperation Agreement to promote healthy eating in schools, signed in February 2023.
Strengthening School Feeding – Decree No. 11.821 of 12 December 2023 sets out the principles, objectives, strategic axes and guidelines for actions to promote adequate and healthy food in the school environment. It also states that adequate and healthy food is a basic human right that involves guaranteeing permanent and regular access, in a socially just manner, to a food practice that is appropriate to the biological and social aspects of the individual, which must be in accordance with special dietary needs and be referenced by food culture and the dimensions of gender, race and ethnicity; accessible from a physical and financial point of view; harmonious in quantity and quality, so as to meet the principles of variety, balance, moderation and pleasure; and based on appropriate and sustainable production practices. The main objective is to contribute to the adoption of actions that promote, protect and support healthy and appropriate eating practices in schools and to create a suitable space for the healthy development of children and adolescents attending public schools in Brazil.
School Feeding in the Amazon – FNDE, BNDES, MDA, MMA and MDS signed a Cooperation Agreement aimed at promoting school feeding from family farming and traditional peoples and communities in public schools in the Legal Amazon. The initiative will select projects with a minimum value of R$10 million and maximum values of R$24 and R$48 million, which will benefit the 10 states of the Legal Amazon, strengthening production and demand for inputs in school meals. The agreement is an essential step towards strengthening the capacity to supply food from sustainable family farming, providing an effective response to the food challenges faced by the region’s population.
Other actions – The event also saw the announcement of two other decrees focused on combating hunger and food insecurity. Decree No. 11.820 – Establishes the National Food Supply Policy and provides for the National Food Supply Plan. Decree No. 11.822 – Establishes the National Strategy for Food and Nutrition Security in Cities.
Text adapted from the FNDE website
