80 people from Caribbean countries took part in the activity
Brasilia, December 1th, 2022 – Around 80 professionals from different Caribbean countries took part in the first session of a series of webinars focused on resilient and sustainable school feeding programmes. The initiative is carried out jointly by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Brazil-FAO International Cooperation, and the Mexico-CARICOM-FAO Initiative.
The first session focused on food and nutrition education (FNE) and counted on professionals and successful experiences from different realities: Brazil and Mexico. The series of sessions result from a joint collaboration between FAO, the National System for Integral Family Development (SNDIF) of the government of Mexico, through the Mexico-CARICOM-FAO Initiative: “Cooperation for Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience in the Caribbean”; and the FAO-Brazil Technical Cooperation: “Consolidation of School Feeding Programmes in Latin America and the Caribbean”.
At the opening of the event, Renata Clarke, FAO Sub-Regional Coordinator for the Caribbean, thanked all the participants and the partners, and emphasized on the optimism of the region on school feeding programmes and their potential for food and nutrition security. “We should facilitate forums and spaces of discussion, reflection, learning and sharing to support the strengthening of the SFPs”, said. She further advised: “Strengthening and refocusing Caribbean SFPs into programs that change eating habits, offer healthy and nutritious foods procured from local farmers and encourage collaboration with the private sector and propel inter-sectoral and inter-institutional coordination should be the goal of all of us”.
José Alfredo Galván, Director for Social, Human and Sustainable Development from the Mexican Agency for International Development Cooperation (AMEXCID), talked on the importance of strengthening the capacities of people, institutions and stakeholders. “We intend to continue collaborating actively both with FAO, with the Caribbean nations, and with the government of Brazil, in these shared efforts on a subject as sensitive as resilient school feeding”.
Francisco Mesa Durán, in charge of the General Direction of Food and Community Development of the National System for integral family development (SNDIF), also recognized that having spaces to exchange experiences with UN agencies and with different countries is key to reach common ground and long-lasting development . “Having this type of opportunity to exchange experiences is fundamental. Each of these opportunities allows us to open our vision towards the problems we have”.
Deborah Bosco da Silva, Food and Nutrition Security Coordinator from the National School Feeding Programme (PNAE) of the National Fund for Educational Development of the Ministry of Education (FNDE) presented the regulatory frameworks of the Brazilian National School Feeding Programme, noting that the institution is open to collaborate with the countries of the region.
Paola Barbieri, project analyst of the Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC), said that the focus of the institution is to support the development of capabilities of the partner countries, contributing to the search for solutions based on their own development processes. “And school feeding programmes is one of the flagships of this cooperation”, said. “These sessions were carefully designed to provide reflections that are in line with the reality and challenges we all experience”.
Experiences
The event counted on three concrete experiences of food and nutrition education. The first one was about the state of Yucatan, in Mexico, showing cases of food waste management,and the ‘zero hunger’ caravans, driven by a food guidelines strategy. Communication and campaigns were presented as two critical strategies to foster sustainable food consumption.
The second experience was also from Mexico, the Tabasco region, which assigns various community promoters with the purpose of carrying out food orientation actions in the localities of the State and disseminating knowledge to the beneficiaries. Of critical importance was a Puppet Theater initiative, which is focused on raising awareness of nutrition and health in preschool and school children, teaching topics such as food groups, hygiene practices in the food process, control and management of garbage and recycling. School gardens are also used in the region in order to promote food security and nutrition, and environmental protection.
The third and last experience was about the National School Feeding Programme of Brazil (PNAE), which gave an opportunity to learn from the food and nutrition education actions of that program, to 41 million students of public schools in Brazil.
Next activities
The second session will be about linking school feeding with local small farmers, on December 6th, and the last will focus on governance, and policy and legal frameworks for school feeding, held on February 28th.
Link:
Link for register: https://fao.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJEqf-qurzwtHtKq_XiOZk-8OSa7rfZ9K68d
