Brazil: New stage for the Thematic Group on Food Security and Rural Development

1 November 2001: 20 representatives of organizations from civil society, institutions, NGOs and the private sector, invited by FAO, met in the offices of the agency in Brasilia with the firm intention of reactivating the United Nations Thematic Group on Food Security and Rural Development in Brazil.

The participants in this first meeting chose as their first objective to follow-up on advances made in Brazil on the seven commitments made during the World Food Summit in 1996. In addition, they held that the Thematic Group should be converted into a forum in which to carry out activities specifically related to food security and rural development, give visibility to these problems, sensitize the Brazilian population in this respect and promote inter-agency co-ordination of the United Nations system in all aspects of these matters.

In their first meeting, the group decided to form four sub-groups on the following lines of action:

1. Information and Statistics on Food and Nutrition: planned as a framework to present and discuss data and information on the state of food security in Brazil. This sub-group will work with the Food Security and Vulnerability Information and Mapping Systems (FIVIMS), the mechanism created at the 1996 World Food Summit for locating and acting continuously on the data for populations threatened with hunger.
   
   
2. Monitoring the Plan of Action of the World Food Summit: this sub-group provide support for the preparations of the country's participation in the World Food Summit:five years later to be held in June. During the meeting, a proposal was made to involve the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
   
   
3. Training: In view of the success of teaching experiences through the Internet on food and nutritional security, this sub-group will continue to support and strengthen these types of initiatives. It will also seek to establish connections with the programme "Feed the mind to combat hunger", directed to educators throughout the world.
   
   
4. Public Relations and the Media: this sub-group will support the agenda of the Brazilian singer-songwriter and Ambassador of the FAO, Gilberto Gil.
   
   

Some of these activities will be carried out with the support of FAO consultants contracted with funds from the Small Scale Facility, an aspect that undoubtedly lends dynamism to these meetings. Another of the aspects that can be key to the success of these initiatives is that the group has the logistical support (fundamental for organizing meetings, setting agendas, maintaining contact among participants, etc.) of the FAO library in Brazil and of volunteer staffs.

One aspect of particular interest in the reactivation of the group in Brazil includes the strong presence of NGOs and the National Conference of Bishops, indispensable actors in a country where civil society and the Church have traditionally played a decisive role in all processes of social change. Below is the list of these participants:

• ABIA (Associação Brasileira das Indústrias da Alimentação): Brazilian Association of Food Industries.
• Ágora (Associação dos Projectos para Combate á Fame): Association of Projects to Combat Hunger
• CGPAN/MS (Coordenação General da Política de Alimentação e Nutrição - Ministério da Saúde): General Co-ordination of Food and Nutrition policies-Health Ministry.
• CNBB (Conferencia Nacional dos Bispos do Brasil): National Conference of Bishops of Brazil.
• CNDRS/MDA (Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Sustentavel - Ministério do Desenvolvimento Agrario): National Council of Sustainable Development-Ministry of Agricultural Development.
• Comunidade Ativa: Active Community, programme of the federal government for the development of the poorest communities of the country.
• CONTAG (Confederação Nacional dos Trabalhadores na Agricultura): National Confederation of Agricultural Workers
• FAO
• FNDE/MEC (Fundo Nacional de Desenvolvimento da Educação-Ministério da Educação e do Desporto): National Fund for the Development of Education and Sports.
• IBASE (Instituto Brasileiro De Analises Sociais e Economicas):
• Brazilian Institute of Social and Economic Analysis.
• MAPA (Ministério da Agricultura, Pecúaria e Abastecimento): Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Suppy.
• MRE (Ministério das Relaçoes Exteriores): Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
• MTE (Ministério do Trabalho e Emprego): Ministry of Work and Employment.
• OCB (Organização das Cooperativas Brasileiras): Organization of Brazilian Co-operatives
• Pastoral da Criança (Proyecto Comunitário Participativo de Segurança Alimentar no Brasil): Community Participation Project for Food Security in Brazil.
• SAA/CEASA/RS (Centrais de Abastecimento do Rio Grande do Sul): Supply Centre of Rio Grande do Sul.

For more information, contact the FAO office in Brazil: FAO-BRA@field.fao.org