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The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) reflect the needs of a world in constant transformation. Specifically, ensuring food security and nutrition for all people means facing a reality in which, on the one hand, there are people passing hunger, and on the other hand, food is produced in quantities enough, and between these two scenarios, there is a chasm of lawsuits related to economic issues, social and environmental. The initiatives that are implemented within the framework of the Brazil-FAO Cooperation Program, through innovative projects, are aimed at the fight against poverty, achieving zero hunger and strengthening sustainable agriculture, as an important contribution to achieving the SDGs. 

Together, the government of Brazil, through the Agency Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC), attached to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MRE), and the Organization of the United Nations Food and Agriculture (FAO), have been strengthening a historic alliance in matter of Trilateral South-South Cooperation (CSST) since more than a decade ago: the Cooperation Program Brazil-FAO International. With a focus on the promotion of sustainable agriculture and food security and nutritional, the projects carried out have generated fruitful alliances between the countries of the American region Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). 

Since 2008, a new direction has been given to the work of international cooperation in Brazil. The success of this country in the design and implementation of policies public on topics coinciding with the FAO agenda laid the foundations for the establishment of new alliances. Thus began at that time a new trajectory of exchanges, not only of knowledge, but also of experiences in terms of implementation, monitoring, governance and intersectoral work.

On the Brazilian government part, ABC/MRE is the institution responsible for the coordination, negotiation, approval and monitoring of the activities planned within the framework of the Programme, in which different partner ministries participate. The Agency, which has more than 35 years of experience in international cooperation, coordinates the exchange of knowledge, skills and experiences developed by Brazilian institutions and organizations, with a focus on capacity development and mutual learning among the players involved. Moreover, this kind of cooperation uses comparative advances and synergies among the parties to scale up the South-South Technical Cooperation initiatives and favor actions of greater impact.

FAO, on its part, is in charge of stimulating, promoting, organizing, executing, monitoring and following-up the activities planned by the projects in the partner countries. The Organization has more than 75 years of experience in technical advisory in 130 countries aiming to eradicate hunger, fight malnutrition, ensure food and nutrition security and improve the standard of living of the rural population through its regional, sub-regional and national offices.

• Strengthening National School Feeding Programs
• Promotion and development of mechanisms for public procurement of food from small-holder family farmers. 
• Strengthening the capacities for dialogue and the design of public policies in civil society. 
• Operations for support in emergency situations.
• Support for strengthening the public policies implemented by the institutions of aquaculture.
• Strengthening agro-environmental public policies as a tool to reduce rural poverty and food insecurity in countries in the region.
• Contribution to Food Security and Nutrition (FSN) and reducing poverty among the most vulnerable populations in Latin America and the Caribbean; strengthening national and sub-regional strategies.
• Contribute to the development of the cotton sector, to increase agricultural productivity and reduce poverty. 

The actions of the Brazil-FAO International Cooperation are aimed at strengthening aspects related to the institutional capacities of the countries to construct public policies for food security and nutrition, at the national and regional levels.

The initiatives are rooted in two areas of action in the countries, focused on:

• • 1st area of action in beneficiary countries: short-term national policies, which implement measures designed to restore the value chains and agricultural production systems. The goal is to ensure access to food in instances of socio-natural disasters (distribution of seeds, access to water, and recovery of infrastructure). 
  • 2nd area of action in beneficiary countries: strengthening national medium-term measures of a structural nature, which consider four central elements: 
    • • Revaluation of family farming as a supplier of food for the population which constitutes an efficient system of protection and cushioning against the food price volatility.
      • Promotion of public food markets as new spaces for consumers and a driving force for local economies. 
      • Updating of public institutional frameworks linked to food security, with the aim of developing a contemporary agenda. 
      • Contribution to ensure access to food is guaranteed for all citizens in those countries.

The projects under the Cooperation Program are administered by FAO, through the Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, and will assume complete responsibility for the technical and financial operations, in strict compliance with the rules and procedures of the organization. The FAO will designate an Official Technical Leader, responsible for the implementation and technical supervision of each project; as well as an Official Budget Holder, in charge of the administration of the projects.

A Steering Committee is responsible for the overall management of the projects. The following institutions shall form part of the committee responsible for the project: National Fund for the Development of Education / Ministry of Education of Brazil (MEC); Ministry of the Environment (MMA) of Brazil; Ministry of Social Development (MDS); Ministry of Agrarian Development and Family Agriculture (MDA); National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform (Incra); and Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (Mapa); the Brazilian Agency for Cooperation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil (ABC/MRE); and the FAO Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean. 

The projects will ensure that the governments assume a process of appropriation of the actions from the start, and that the outcomes safeguard the replicability and sustainability desired in each country. In this regard, the FAO Representatives in each participating country are responsible for stimulating, promoting, monitoring and accompanying the tasks defined at the national level so that the projects are implemented in close connection with the relevant national institutions.

National FAO Representations also play an important role in ensuring compliance with administrative procedures, facilitating and streamlining activities within the countries.