The Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), Cindy McCain, met with the Vice-President of the Republic, Geraldo Alckmin, on 18 September to strengthen the partnership between Brazil and the UN agency in combating hunger and promoting school feeding policies. The meeting took place shortly before the opening of the 2nd Global Summit of the School Meals Coalition, held in Fortaleza.
“We are working to offer the best for our children, and I thank the Brazilian government for moving in the same direction,” said Cindy McCain. For her, hosting the meeting in Brazil is an opportunity to put school feeding on a global level. “We will also make progress on the issue of hunger,” she added.
The Vice-President highlighted the Brazilian government’s priority on social policies. “Brazil is no longer on the Hunger Map, which means that more people have access to food in the country. School feeding is one of the most strategic programmes for the development of children and adolescents. Almost 40 million students from more than 150,000 schools across the country receive meals every day,” Alckmin pointed out.
Daniel Balaban, director of the WFP Centre of Excellence against Hunger, recalled that the National School Feeding Programme (PNAE) is recognised by the UN as an international benchmark. “It is a model to be followed. The WFP shares this Brazilian experience through technical cooperation, benefiting several countries,” he said. He also emphasised the scale of the Summit in Fortaleza: “More than 50 countries are represented here, with 40 ministers of state in attendance.”