Using as reference the National School Feeding Program (PNAE) of Brazil, as of 2009, FAO in the region has been supporting the countries, through a technical cooperation project, for the strengthening of School Feeding Programs in the framework of the Hunger-Free Latin America and the Caribbean Initiative 2025 (FAO, 2009). The objective is to contribute to the strengthening of local and sustainable public school feeding policies, with a focus on the human right to food.
The project has contributed in different ways to broaden the spaces for discussions and strengthening of school feeding in 19 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, namely: Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Granada, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Venezuela.
School feeding has gained increasing importance in all regions of the world in recent decades, and is considered a key component of social policies and the application of the human right to adequate food. It is also considered that it contributes directly to the achievement of sustainable development goals by 2030, in particular goal 2 "Zero Hunger". In this context, school feeding is a line of action prioritized in pillar # 3 on Nutritional Wellbeing of the Food Security, Nutritional and Hunger Eradication Plan of CELAC in 2025.
Sustainable food systems have been promoted for healthy eating FAO (2017) through various instances of dialogue and consultation have agreed that a profound change is required to strengthen, preserve or recover food systems that ensure their sustainability and ability to provide food nutritious and accessible for the entire population.
During the second International Nutrition Conference (ICN2) held in November 2014, it adopted the Rome Declaration and its Framework for Action in which member countries committed themselves to "promote sustainable food systems through the formulation of coherent policies from production to consumption and in relevant sectors to provide year-round access to food that meets the nutritional needs of people and promote a healthy, diversified and safe diet. "
In January 2015, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) approved and adopted the Plan for Food Security, Nutrition and Hunger Eradication by 2025, which consists of four main pillars that seek to strengthen the dimensions of food and nutrition security through the generation of national, sub-regional and regional policies, programs, strategies and projects from a multisectoral approach.
In September 2015, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was approved, under the premise that it is possible to achieve an integral development that puts in tune the economic, social and environmental sustainability "without leaving anyone behind". The 2030 Agenda includes 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), where nutrition occupies a relevant space, reiterating and reinforcing the commitments of the ICN2.
And finally, the mobilization to reduce hunger and improve nutrition in the world has been described as an important step in education and nutrition actions that are included in the recommendations and agreements of the second international nutrition conference held jointly by FAO-WHO in Rome Nov 2014.
The implementation methodology of the Sustainable School Model is planned in conjunction with national governments and in the territories, promoting the participation of multiple actors at the national, regional and local levels in order to promote joint knowledge and learning and with a view to expanding the model to the largest number of schools in the country. The sustainable schools model was designed to establish a reference of school feeding programs, making them fairer, more equitable and sustainable from activities such as the involvement of the educational community, the adoption of appropriate and healthy school menus, the implementation of orchards pedagogical schools, the reform of kitchens, dining rooms, cellars and the direct purchase of local family agriculture products for school feeding.
Christian Lam Oliveros