Challenge
Despite progress to date in reducing hunger in developing countries, 11.3 per cent of the world’s population remains hungry. Roughly 805 million people around the world go undernourished. Approximately 2 billion people suffer from micronutrient deficiencies, impeding human and socioeconomic development. More than 66 million primary-school-age children attend classes hungry across the developing world, with 23 million in Africa alone. (http://www.wfp.org/school-meals )
Towards a Solution
The WFP Brazil Centre of Excellence against Hunger is a partnership between WFP and the Government of Brazil that helps to make the experience of Brazil in addressing the Zero Hunger Challenge available to other developing countries for learning, sharing and adaptation through South-South and triangular cooperation. The Centre advocates for developing nationally owned, sustainable programmes and policies for school feeding, social protection and nutrition improvement. It aims to help governments to create long-term, lasting solutions to defeat hunger and poverty by building local skills and knowledge, promoting food and nutrition security through school feeding programmes, and contributing to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The Centre’s methodology , jointly developed by WFP and the Government of Brazil, draws on the Brazilian experience in school feeding as a component of its Zero Hunger programme (Fome Zero) and on the WFP vision to reduce hunger among school children through capacity development and technical assistance to national governments. The methodology addresses specific areas of school feeding and how they work with social protection and zero-hunger strategies. It focuses first on policy goals, including the legal and political framework, institutional capacity and coordination, ability to design and implement programmes, funding capacity, and the participation of the local community and civil society. Once this groundwork has been done, the Centre uses a set of tools to facilitate policy dialogue, planning and capacity development processes, which include study visits, national workshops, and technical missions and assistance.
The Centre has broadened its knowledge-sharing and capacity development activities with developing countries through South-South and triangular cooperation. In 2015, it provided continuous support to 24 developing countries previously engaged with the Centre’s activities and to two other countries engaged with those activities for the first time: Cambodia and Nepal. Technical missions, workshops, training and national consultations took place with Governments in the process of strengthening national and sustainable policies on food and nutrition security, especially home-grown school feeding integrated with social protection and inclusive growth.
Participating Governments acknowledge the importance of regional cooperation and coordination in their sustainable national school feeding programmes. In June 2015, 21 countries approved the creation of the School Feeding African Network, which will contribute to the design and improvement of school feeding policies, including increasing national budgets. In January 2016, the African Union decided to adopt home-grown school feeding programmes as a continental strategy with support from the WFP Centre of Excellence against Hunger.
The Centre’s multisectoral approach and method mean that partners can unite to tackle multiple development goals through the adaptation of home-grown school feeding programmes specific to local country contexts. The strong capacity development and national ownership components of the Centres methodology ensure the long-term sustainability of programmes once they have taken root locally. The Centres work has made an impact at both country and regional levels in the forms of national policy reforms (school feeding policies), regional cooperation, regional strategy reforms and regional agreements.
The school feeding programme of Brazil is easily replicable, as proven by its organic expansion and replication in many developing countries through their own adaptation of the initiative. Factors critical for success are adequate funding and a multisectoral approach by governments.
The Government of Brazil and WFP are the implementing partners. The Government of Brazil provides funds and technical expertise and WFP provides experience and a presence in over 80 countries. Other donors fund the documenting of lessons learned, monitoring and evaluation, and nutrition.
Participating stakeholders: There are 37 participating governments (delegations), schools and local communities (teachers, parents, culinary professionals, children, farmers, producers, civil society and the local market).
Contact: Mr. Peter Rodrigues, Deputy Director, WFP Brazil Country Office, peter.rodrigues@wfp.org; Ms. Isadora Ferreira, Communications Officer, WFP Centre of Excellence against Hunger in Brazil, isadora. ferreira@wfp.org
Project name: WFP Centre of Excellence against Hunger in Brazil
Countries: Bangladesh, Benin, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Cameroon, Colombia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Haiti, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Nepal, Niger, Pakistan, Philippines, Senegal, Sudan, Togo, Zambia, Zimbabwe
Sustainable Development Goal targets: 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4
Supported by: Multiple government, public- and private-sector donors
Implementing entities: Government of Brazil, WFP
Project status: Ongoing
Project period: 2011 to present
URL of the practice: https://www.wfp.org/centre-of-excellence-hunger