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8
December 2003, Rome -- FAO said on Monday that it had
signed a $5.8 million agreement with the government of Brazil,
strengthening its collaboration and support of the
country's Zero Hunger Programme.
Under the terms of the accord between the
Organization and Brazil's Special Ministry for Food
Security, FAO will provide the country with technical assistance
in carrying out an evaluation of the successes achieved by the
programme.
"Just ten months after
the Programme was launched we are already seeing tangible
results," said Henri Carsalade, FAO Assistant
Director-General for Technical Cooperation.
"We can already begin to evaluate the
Programme's impact not merely in the improved nutritional
status of the pilot communities - the most immediate impact -
but also through changes in other areas - such as education,
health and living conditions," he added.
Brazil has signed an agreement with FAO to carry out
an in-depth technical evaluation of Zero
Hunger initiatives, both current and future. The costs
of the evaluation will be entirely financed by Brazil.
It is hoped the analysis will refine the
Programme, which aims to address the root causes of poverty
which result in hunger.
The Zero
Hunger Programme has two parallel strategies to fight
hunger in Brazil both in the short and longer-term.
An emergency response aims to provide food for the
hungry and a longer-term strategy aims to improve professional
training, reduce poverty and stimulate food production.
The new accord will also strengthen
development at the community-level following initial emergency
responses.
In order to kick-start the
Programme, FAO gave one million dollars to Brazil's
President Luiz Inázio Lula da Silva shortly after its launch so
that projects could begin immediately.
Now,
ten months on, FAO is lending its support to the Special
Ministry for Food Security to ensure that an adequate social
network exists to support the change so desired by the millions
of Brazilians who survive on less than a dollar a day.
FAO will work closely with the Ministry in
order to improve interaction between existing community-based
development initiatives and to establish a food security system
at the local and national level, in collaboration with local
authorities.
Contact:
Nuria Felipe Soria
Information Officer, FAO
Nuria.felipesoria@fao.org
(+39) 06 570 55899
Recent video footage
from Zero Hunger Programme pilot projects is
available for television broadcasters only.
For
further information contact Enrique Yeves, Chief, Multimedia,
tel. (+39) 06 570 52518.
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