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Centre of Excellence against Hunger News

News from the Centre of Excellence against Hunger.

Tanzania's mission to Brazil sees school feeding as an investment, not expenditure

WFP Centre of Excellence against Hunger hosted one more African country’s mission on school feeding between 19-30 November 2012. The objective of Tanzania’s technical visit is to gain in-depth understanding on key processes involved in designing and transition to a sustainable school meals programme including policy, legal and financial frameworks. Check our online photo gallery here.

Food education it’s not luxury, it’s a necessity.

How did people react when you told them you´re writing a book about school meals?   Here in Canada, where 90% of kids bring a packed lunch to school from home—we’re one of the only industrialized nations in the world without a nutrition program for school-aged children—there is a lot of interest from parents, educators and even children in what kids eat at lunch.

Social innovation: tackling poverty through home grown school feeding programmes

The first week of learning sessions took place in Brasilia from 3rd-5th October. Meetings with government authorities, such as, the General-Coordinator for Actions against Hunger of the Ministry of External Relations, Minister Milton Rondó, gave the delegations an overview of Brazilian social protection context. They also participated in field trips to smallholder farms and cooperatives and schools in both rural and urban contexts.

The First Year of the WFP Centre of Excellence against Hunger

In November 2011, the WFP Centre of Excellence against Hunger was officially launched in Brazil. The Centre is a global hub for policy dialogue and South-South learning in school feeding, nutrition and food security programmes. The Centre, a partnership between WFP and the Brazilian government, was created to support governments in Africa, Asia and Latin America in developing sustainable solutions against hunger.

Senegal and Haiti complete a study visit to Brasilia and Salvador

WFP already has a close relationship with both Senegal and Haiti. Although being located in different continents, both countries suffer from similarly high levels of food insecurity and, being dependent on imports to meet consumption needs, the high food prices of recent years have exacerbated existing challenges.  In Senegal 70 per cent of women and children under 5 are iron deficient and a little over half have access to iodised salt (CSFVA, 2010).

Malawi delegation hails follow-up mission an “inspiring experience”

Brasilia- Nearly half of Malawi´s households are classified as having a poor food consumption score, something which is reflected in the country´s worryingly high child mortality rate. Malnutrition remains a widespread problem, with 48 per cent of children under the age of five years being stunted, 22 per cent severely malnourished and 5 per cent wasted (FAO, 2012). The establishment of a school feeding programme is thus of paramount importance to Malawi.

Ghana delegation spends two weeks in Brazil for exchange on linking school feeding programmes to local purchase initiatives

Brasilia- Throughout the visit the Centre aimed to provide the delegation with a stimulating environment for sharing ideas and reflecting on the opportunities and challenges of exporting aspects of the Brazilian experience to an African context. Ghana is itself in the formative stages of establishing a universal home-grown school feeding programme as part of the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP). The Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP), launched in 2005, has today scaled up to cater for 1.5 million children in all the 170 districts.

Rwanda to implement school feeding programme after study visit to Brazil

WFP Centre of Excellence against Hunger visited Rwanda to follow-up on April´s study visit. The government of Rwanda and the visiting delegation composed of representatives from the Centre of Excellence, FNDE and ABC, agreed on a number of proposed next steps to implement the national school feeding programme.

The Centre hosted a delegation from Mexico´s government for an exchange on school feeding initiatives

Brasilia - Whilst Mexico already has a comprehensive school feeding programme in place, the delegation was interested in learning of Brazil´s experience with the Zero Hunger Strategy and its multi-sectoral framework that connects school feeding to local purchase initiatives. In Mexico, as elsewhere, the financial crisis and rising food prices have put pressure on smallholder farmers in particular. The Mexican government sought to provide safety nets such as reducing tariffs for commodities and increasing social protection for poorer families through cash transfers.

Brazil–Africa dialogue contributes to fighting hunger

Brasilia and Arapiraca –In this context, another multi-country study visit was organized by WFP Centre of Excellence with the objective of fostering South-South learning on food and nutrition security policy options. African nations’ representatives were invited to participate in the PAA Africa Programme launching activities between 2 and 6 July in Brazil.