Cuenca, Ecuador, November 2, 2023. The Sustainable School Feeding Network (RAES) was one of the highlights of the Latin American Nutrition Congress (SLAN), held in Cuenca, Ecuador, from October 23 to 26. Organized by the Latin American Society of Nutrition, SLAN  aims to  share experiences to reduce malnutrition, improve access to healthy food, and ensure food security.

During the event, national and international experts from FAO, governments, civil society, and academia presented strategies  for implementing the right to adequate food and prioritizing the transition to healthy diets.

The RAES is implemented by the National Fund for Educational Development (FNDE), the Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC), and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), which participated in the international congress with a booth and a symposium.

The symposium "Sustainable School Feeding Network: Advances and Perspectives in Latin America and the Caribbean"  was attended by academics, nutrition students, government representatives, professionals from international organizations, and institutions related to health and nutrition. RAES was represented by Ana Carolina Souza, head of the family farming development Department of FNDE, Riffat Iqbal, project assistant at the ABC, and Israel Ríos, FAO nutrition officer.

Iqbal was in charge of the institutional opening of the symposium and stated that the government of Brazil and the FAO, which are collaborating in the implementation of RAES, will always be willing to cooperate and  share experiences with countries in the region.

In her presentation, Ana Carolina, representing the FNDE, mentioned the Brazilian National School Feeding Programme, recognized as one of the largest in the world. She emphasized the linkage between family producers and school feeding managers, the importance of inter-institutional coordination, and the implementation of actions in food and nutrition education activities as priorities to ensure healthy and adequate nutrition for students.

Israel Ríos, FAO Nutrition Officer, highlighted the importance of coordinated work among different sectors of society to  find solutions to the challenges of school feeding under the principle of the human right to adequate food. He also underlined RAES's work in strengthening school feeding policies and programmes in  more than 20 countries in recent years and presented some innovations provided by RAES, such as the creation of the online platform - www.redraes.org -, the podcast series on Sustainable Schools, and the trainings conducted with various countries in the region.

The RAES stand was coordinated by Ana Leticia Carvalho and Ana Yanira Calderon, consultants for the project Consolidation of School Feeding Programmes in LAC. They stated that they were able to establish connections with professionals from different countries in the region interested in school feeding,  registered many people who wanted to receive updates, and shared publications, courses, and materials based on each visitor's interest. Carvalho ensured that it was a valuable opportunity to disseminate the content and work of RAES since 2018 to a different audience.

As a partner of RAES at the event, the FAO Representation in Ecuador shared Food-Based Dietary Guidelines and experiences based on the Sustainable Schools methodology, implemented as one of the strategies to address the double burden of malnutrition in the country, with a focus on chronic child malnutrition, within the framework of the School Feeding Programme. 

Acknowledgments

In 2023, RAES was awarded at the virtual FAO Transform fair, a space to increase visibility and stimulate the management and production of knowledge and innovation in the region. The awarded RAES experiences were:

The virtual platform www.redraes.org, available in four languages, as a tool for promoting, expanding, and disseminating knowledge, experiences, and  good practices in school feeding in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The podcast series "Getting to Know the Sustainable School," a successful methodology adopted in Latin America and the Caribbean since 2012 as an experience of sustainable school feeding. The podcast is an innovative, inclusive, and versatile way to favor access to information for more people.

Teacher training sessions in food and nutrition education in  different countries  of the region, with the support of national tutors, reaching more than 2,500 professionals in 10 countries in LAC.