Civil society organizations discuss PNAE Agroecológico in Brasilia

By Darliton Silva
Sabiá Center Communicator

Last Tuesday, July 1, civil society organizations took part in the Listening Workshop for School Feeding and Agroecology Actors in Brazil, held at the headquarters of the WFP Centre of Excellence against Hunger in Brasilia. The event was promoted by the Comida do Amanhã Institute, with the participation of government and civil society representatives.

The workshop focused on strengthening the dialog around the Agroecological PNAE, a project that seeks to promote the agroecological transition through school meals. The proposal is to expand the production and local supply of agroecological food from family farming, with the National School Feeding Program (PNAE) as the driving force behind this transformation.

The project is an initiative of Instituto Comida do Amanhã, in partnership with Instituto Regenera and Instituto Fome Zero – IFZ, with institutional support from WFP Brasil and the Rockefeller Foundation.

Representing the Sabiá Center, general coordinator Maria Cristina Aureliano de Melo attended the event. According to her, Technical Assistance and Rural Extension (ATER) is essential to ensure that purchases from family farming are made within the scope of the PNAE.

“This service needs to be continuous, contextualized with the reality of the territories, and must support the mobilization of society for political advocacy with city halls, so that the law can be implemented,” said Maria Cristina.

The Sabiá Center was involved in the pilot project, which covers the municipality of Caruaru [PE], where Sabiá works directly with actions aimed at family farming and agroecology.

Clérison Belém, institutional coordinator of the Regional Institute of Small Appropriate Agriculture – IRPAA, also took part in the training.