{"id":28034,"date":"2025-08-09T08:33:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-09T11:33:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redraes.org\/sustainable-school-feeding-network-starts-virtual-exchange-cycle-for-professionals-from-14-countries\/"},"modified":"2025-08-16T08:44:19","modified_gmt":"2025-08-16T11:44:19","slug":"sustainable-school-feeding-network-starts-virtual-exchange-cycle-for-professionals-from-14-countries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redraes.org\/en\/sustainable-school-feeding-network-starts-virtual-exchange-cycle-for-professionals-from-14-countries\/","title":{"rendered":"Sustainable School Feeding Network starts virtual exchange cycle for professionals from 14 countries"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The RAES is a joint initiative between the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC) and the National Fund for Educational Development (FNDE). <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paulo Beraldo and Palova Brito<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bras\u00edlia, Brazil, August 8, 2025<\/strong> \u2013 The Sustainable School Feeding Network (RAES) launched this week the Exchange Cycle \u201cPAE in Focus: Understanding challenges and building pathways towards sustainable school feeding\u201d<\/em>. Around two thousand participants from 14 countries in the region have registered for the training. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This South-South cooperation initiative aims to strengthen technical and political capacities to implement, consolidate and scale up sustainable school feeding programmes in participating countries, integrating approaches of rights, sustainability, territoriality and inclusion with the support of RAES. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Najla Veloso, Executive Secretary of RAES and Senior School Feeding Specialist at FAO, highlighted that this regional training seeks to promote and strengthen school feeding as a strategic public policy to transform food systems, guarantee the right to adequate food, and foster healthy, resilient and culturally relevant school environments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The RAES Network is a strategy of the Brazil-FAO International Cooperation Programme on school feeding, promoted by the Brazilian Cooperation Agency of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (ABC\/MRE) and the National Fund for Educational Development of the Ministry of Education (FNDE\/MEC) of Brazil, with the executive secretariat of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the first edition of the cycle, professionals from Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela are participating. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through a message sent for the opening of the training, M\u00e1ximo Torero, FAO Chief Economist and Acting Regional Representative for Latin America and the Caribbean, emphasized the connection between school feeding programmes and the results of the report The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) 2025<\/em>, which for the third consecutive year shows a decrease in hunger and food insecurity indicators. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSchool feeding is not a social policy, it is a powerful tool to achieve better nutrition and to transform food systems into more inclusive, resilient and sustainable ones. We must continue investing in capacities and promoting the exchange of innovative solutions,\u201d said M\u00e1ximo Torero, recalling that since 2009 more than 40,000 professionals have been trained under the Brazil-FAO International Cooperation framework. \u201cRAES offers us a unique opportunity to scale up actions, consolidating school feeding programmes (SFP) as a State policy.<\/em>\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fernanda Pacobahyba, President of FNDE, also sent a message to participants, highlighting the importance of RAES so that \u201cwe can learn together, face common challenges and strengthen our public policies based on evidence, on respect for each people\u2019s food culture, and on the commitment to productive inclusion.<\/em>\u201d FNDE was also represented by the coordinator of the Brazilian National School Feeding Program (PNAE), Karine Santos, who reinforced the role of international cooperation in strengthening school feeding programmes in the region. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Representing the government of Paraguay, the Minister of Social Development (MDS), Tadeo Rojas, stated that the training is important because it is focused on \u201cidentifying the challenges that we face in each of our countries in order to build pathways towards sustainable school feeding.<\/em>\u201d He also stressed that the RAES Network \u201cbrings us together to strengthen ties of cooperation and to reinforce a solid fabric that protects the boys and girls of our region.<\/em>\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iv\u00e1n Le\u00f3n, FAO Representative in Paraguay, added that school feeding programmes are advancing and being strengthened in the region \u2014 a commitment reflected in specific laws \u2014 but acknowledged that challenges remain, such as universal coverage for students and improving the quality of the food offered. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The FAO Representative in Paraguay recalled that the work of the Brazilian government and FAO in the region since 2009 has been generating impactful results. \u201cPAE in Focus is a comprehensive response and an opportunity to continue moving forward based on years of experience. Through knowledge exchange and joint construction, we can ensure that school feeding policies are more robust and sustainable<\/em>.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mariana Falc\u00e3o, project analyst and deputy head of South-South trilateral cooperation with international organizations at ABC\/MRE, emphasized the relevance of school feeding for the Agency and praised the participants\u2019 interest in \u201cdeepening knowledge and carrying out exchanges in favor of the development of our school feeding programs in Latin America and the Caribbean.<\/em>\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Daniela Godoy, Senior Food Security and Nutrition Policy Officer at FAO, stressed that the reduction of food insecurity in Latin America and the Caribbean is linked to school feeding programme. \u201cThe changes we see in this region have to do with school feeding programmes (SFP). They contribute to essential rights, not only to adequate food but also to the rights to education and health.<\/em>\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his presentation, Israel R\u00edos, FAO Nutrition Officer, said that school feeding programmes are tools for transforming food environments. \u201cIt is not just about providing food, but also about educating on healthy eating through that plate of food as a learning vehicle, and through complementary interventions such as pedagogical school gardens, teacher training, and awareness-raising on healthy diets that can break the cycle of hunger, malnutrition and child undernutrition.<\/em>\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The RAES is a joint initiative between the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC) and the National Fund for Educational Development (FNDE). Paulo Beraldo and Palova Brito Bras\u00edlia, Brazil, August 8, 2025 \u2013 The Sustainable School Feeding Network (RAES) launched this week the Exchange Cycle \u201cPAE in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":28024,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[163,495],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-news-home"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/redraes.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/redraes.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/redraes.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redraes.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redraes.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28034"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/redraes.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28034\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28041,"href":"https:\/\/redraes.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28034\/revisions\/28041"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redraes.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/redraes.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redraes.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redraes.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}