Brasília, Brazil, August 29, 2023 – In a ceremony at the Government Palace, the President of Peru, Dina Boluarte, inaugurated the international mission promoted by FAO and the Government of Brazil, made up of 13 Latin American countries with the objective of publicizing the progress of Sustainable Schools in the country. The president highlighted the importance of food for the human and social development of Peru and congratulated the more than 60 Peruvian schools that “bet on going hand in hand with the country’s farmers” to improve the nutrition of their students. Boluarte promised to give continuity to this experience and, progressively, scale up at the national level, reinforcing the contributions of the Sustainable Schools methodology.

In his opening words, Igor Garafulic, resident coordinator of the United Nations System in Peru, said that the coordinated work of many organizations is key to combating hunger and malnutrition, which increases the relevance of the experience of the Sustainable Schools, in addition to being an “excellent strategy for articulation between agriculture, nutrition, health and education”. Garafulic added: “The effort that the Qali Warma program has been making, with the support of FAO and the Brazilian cooperation to implement the Sustainable Schools methodology, serves a lot to improve the contribution of these programs to development.”

The inauguration ceremony was also attended by the Ministers of Education, Magnet Márquez, of Health, César Sánchez, and of Development and Social Inclusion, Julio Demartini, among other Brazilian authorities such as the President of the National Fund for Educational Development (FNDE), Fernanda Pacobahyba. The Minister of Education commented that the Sustainable Schools have been an important benchmark for progress in the country, especially because they have promoted the process of decentralized food purchases from smallholder farmers, with the support of the mayors’ offices.

The Sustainable Schools methodology

The Sustainable Schools methodology is a promoter of articulations between the various actors involved, directly and indirectly, in the school feeding policy. It promotes dialogues with managers at the national, departmental, municipal and school levels with teachers, mothers and fathers, as well as local producers.

The general objective of the methodology is to implement successful experiences at the departments and municipalities that should be scaled up at the national level. Started in 2012, the methodology has already reached more than 23,000 schools in 14 countries and has contributed to the expansion of the budgets allocated to the programmes, the formulation and implementation of regulatory frameworks, and the improvement of the quality of national programmes.

The international technical mission was carried out from August 14 to 17, with the objective of disseminating the methodology already implemented in 23,000 educational centers in the region with the countries with a view to strengthening national school feeding programs.

The mission was carried out within the framework of the trilateral South-South cooperation project Consolidation of School Feeding Programmes in Latin America and the Caribbean, of the Brazil-FAO International Cooperation Programme, jointly executed by the Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC), the National Fund for Educational Development (FNDE) and the FAO.

The alliance between FAO and Brazil has also promoted the creation and implementation of the Sustainable School Feeding Network – RAES, which is an initiative to support, through dialogue, technical assistance and exchange of experiences, the search and creation of joint solutions to the challenges of the countries that make up the Latin American and Caribbean region.

Representatives of 13 countries participated in the international delegation: Brazil, Colombia, Chile, El Salvador, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, the Dominican Republic, Uruguay and Venezuela. The activity also had the support of the FAO Representation in Peru and the Peruvian Government.

Hand in hand with agriculture

Throughout the four days of the technical mission, the participants visited schools, spoke with families and students, as well as with mayors, family farmers, and visited schools, where they learned about food and nutrition education practices.

“The program began in a school, and currently there are four educational institutions that have benefited: two for initial education and two for primary education,” said the mayor of San Antonio, Juan Edgar Malásquez, who explained that they expect to expand the number of farmers who deliver food to schools. Currently, schools receive island plantains and Greek yogurt.

In the Junín region, public purchases of fresh products were expanded and the budget quadrupled. There, technical assistance to farmers is a fundamental point for the revitalization of production and compliance with quality standards.

Commitment

The Minister of Development and Social Inclusion (Midis), Julio Demartini, accompanied several moments of the mission and commented that “uniting family farmers with the school feeding programme to improve the nutrition of girls and boys is already a reality.” Demartini reinforced the commitment to scale this initiative at the national level through local articulation and pointed out that the Sustainable Schools are an “opportunity for improvement” for the local school feeding programme.

“It is an articulated public policy for social protection and development, strengthening family farming through production chains. We are demonstrating that with articulation between the State, local governments and international organizations, such as the Brazil-FAO International Cooperation, the healthy growth of our children can be ensured”.

‘Extraordinary experience’

The president of the FNDE, Fernanda Pacobahyba, commented that one of the pillars of the Brazilian school feeding programme is the law that determines that a minimum of 30% of the resources must be used for the direct purchase of family farm products. “We managed to bring fresh and healthy food to schools, thus promoting a more adequate diet for our students, and we can ensure a market and income for this important part of the population [family farmers], thus strengthening the economy of the municipalities.”

Pacobahyba stated that the experience of participating in the technical mission was “extraordinary”, highlighting the link with family farming and food and nutrition education actions. “I saw a whole local food culture exceptionally represented by highly nutritious products such as quinoa and native potatoes. It is important to care with the food that is going to be offered to the students”.

Capacity building

Also representing the Brazilian government, the ABC project analyst, Paola Barbieri, highlighted Peru’s progress in the implementation of Sustainable Schools and reinforced the Agency’s commitment to the sustainable development of the country and all of Latin America. “We work to strengthen human capacities and support countries in their development processes. We are sure that this mission will help further strengthen Sustainable Schools in the region.”

The coordinator of the school feeding project of the Brazil-FAO International Cooperation, Najla Veloso, also positively evaluated the visit to the country: “We saw how Sustainable Schools are working well in Peru, positively impacting their communities and regions. National and local governments are committed to scaling this initiative. We highly value the recognition of the presidency, the ministers and all Peruvians”.

Mariana Escobar, FAO representative in Peru, also highlighted the importance of the mission as an opportunity to “share the best practices implemented by Qali Warma to improve school feeding, a policy that guarantees the human right to adequate food for millions of Peruvian and Latin American children”.