Parliamentarians trained for public policies against hunger to achieve the 2030 Agenda

Panama City - More than 40 advisers from the Parliamentary Front against Hunger in Latin America and the Caribbean (FPH-LAC) participated in a meeting on 2-4 May 2018 at the headquarters of the Latin American and Caribbean Parliament (PARLATINO) in order to strengthen their capacities in food security, nutrition and the right to food.

 The activity is part of a course offered by the PARLATINO and the United Nations Organization for Food and Agriculture (FAO), with the support of the Mexican Agency for International Development Cooperation (AMEXCID) through the “Mesoamerica without Hunger” program and the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation for Development (AECID).

"One of the most afflicting scourges to humanity is hunger and food insecurity, and the role of the legislative bodies is essential against it," said Elías Castillo, parliamentarian and President of PARLATINO. "The PARLATINO has been working hard to promote the fight against hunger and food insecurity, approving model laws that have been adopted by many countries and adapted to their national realities," he explained.

Latin America and the Caribbean met the two international hunger targets of the Millennium Development Goals and the World Food Summit, by halving the percentage and total number of undernourished people. However, according to the FAO and despite advances, hunger and food insecurity in Latin America and the Caribbean has increased for the first time in the last two decades.

"Without the parliamentary commitment, it will be impossible to have effective and lasting public policies to end hunger and malnutrition," said Tito Díaz, FAO Subregional Coordinator for Mesoamerica.

In this same line, the Mexican senator and Coordinator of the Parliamentary Front against Hunger of Mexico, Lisbeth Hernández, argued that institutional frameworks, public policies, adequate budgets, control mechanisms, and adequate representation of all the interests of society are required. "I speak of parliaments and not of parliamentarians, since the parliamentary function is composed and sustained thanks to the work of various actors, notably the advisers who accompany the parliamentarians and make their work effective" the senator pointed out.

The Ambassador of Mexico in Panama, José Ignacio Piña, recognized the impact of the “Mesoamerica without Hunger” program (FAO and AMEXCID), highlighting its active collaboration with the PARLATINO, the FPH-LAC and the Hunger-Free Latin America and the Caribbean Initiative, through which it has promoted important legal processes in the area of ​​food security and nutrition, and laid the foundations for a more intense cooperation through innovative mechanisms such as the Parliamentary Knowledge Community.

Meanwhile, the Ambassador of Spain in Panama, Ramón Santos, referred to the commitment of Spain with the FPH-LAC since its inception in 2009 and affirmed that the parliamentary work against hunger in Latin America and the Caribbean has become a reference for all regions in the world. He also referred to the celebration in October 2018 of the First Global Parliamentary Summit against Malnutrition, in which "legislators from several countries will meet in the Spanish Cortes to debate and propose strategies to fulfill the SDG2 on Zero Hunger".

Strengthen the capacities of the advisers

The semi-face-to-face course of Public Policies for Food Security and Nutrition and the Right to Food, for the advisers of the FPH-LAC was carried out through the FAO Public Policy Training Center. "The success factor of the course lies in teamwork, with each country having groups of advisers from different political parties, interested in combating hunger and malnutrition and therefore willing to create common proposals for common objectives," concluded Gloria Canclini, Uruguayan adviser and teacher. Specific goals of the course included improving the capacities of the legislative advisers to monitor and control already approved laws, as well as to mobilize budgets in matters of food security and nutrition.