The Head of Programme of the WFP Centre of Excellence against Hunger Brazil, Sharon Freitas, was featured in the first edition of the new Champion Cards series by the South-South and Triangular Cooperation (SSTC) of the World Food Programme (WFP).
The series goal is to highlight professionals who act as focal points for WFP South-South cooperation in different regions and invite other officials to include their names as country focal points to a global list of contacts of the work group, which will be disseminated through internal channels of the institution.
As the first employee of the Centre of Excellence, Sharon has been working with South-South cooperation for over 10 years and believes that this model of cooperation is an opportunity for countries to learn and share their best practices. “Over the years, we’ve seen that many countries that initially came to our Centre for support are now supporting their neighbors,” she says.
As an example, she tells the case of when the Centre of Excellence received, in 2014, Togo, Benin and Burundi for a two-week study visit to Brazil. With support from the Centre of Excellence and the WFP country offices, the discussion advanced in the region and, in 2019, the Regional Centre of Excellence against Hunger and Malnutrition in Côte D’Ivoire (CERFAM) was created.
Despite the challenges and difficulties caused by COVID-19, the global food crisis and the rising inflation, Sharon believes that the institution has not lost sight of how important it is to continue the fight to end food insecurity in the world.
“South-South and Triangular Cooperation has a big influence on how people share their solutions and support each other and is being increasingly leveraged to address global challenges. Many countries are reaching out to each other to find solutions and become stronger. It gives all of us some hope for the future.,” she concludes.