The WFP Centre of Excellence against Hunger, the Food and Nutrition Division of the Health Promotion Department (CGAN) at the Brazilian Ministry of Health and the Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC) organized, on Monday, October 5th, the first virtual meeting between Brazil, Colombia and Peru, which are the countries taking part in the South-South Cooperation Project to tackle the Multiple Burden of Malnutrition in School-aged Children.
After formal acceptance by Colombia and Peru in September, the meeting marked the beginning of the exchange of information between participant countries, alignment and adjustments on the activities’ schedule for the coming months. The meeting has an important significance for the project, as it was the first time that all countries’ counterparts were able to meet virtually. Up until now, the negotiations took place individually, with the participation of WFP country offices.
During the meeting, the Brazilian Ministry of Health presented the scope of the project and emphasized that, although the theme of the initiative is the multiple burden of malnutrition, the project will focus on the exchange of experiences and good practices among countries in the fight against overweight and obesity in school-aged children. This horizontal exchange of knowledge, mainly in the fight against overweight and childhood obesity, is intended to support processes to strengthen national public institutions and key nutrition and health sectors for the management of public policies on food and nutrition in the participant countries.
About the cooperation project
The two-year partnership is divided into two major axes: strengthening the South-South cooperation mechanism; and supporting the United Nations Decade of Action for Nutrition, which runs until 2025. The decade of Action includes activities to strengthen nutrition in different sectors, mainly focused on three of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): SDG 2 (zero hunger), SDG 3 (health and well-being) and SDG 17 (partnerships and means of implementation).
The target audience of the project will be local government officials and children from 5 to 10 years old. Among the products planned are support and training materials for managers and educational materials for children. Other actions also include the development of comparative analyses to create evidence on the multiple burden of malnutrition and, especially, overweight and obesity in the target audience of the countries involved, in addition to strengthening knowledge networks and participation in national and international seminars on the theme.