Representatives from the Kenyan government made a technical visit to Rio Grande do Norte between 25 and 29 November 2024 to exchange experiences on practices for expanding school feeding programmes, integrating sustainable and climate-adapted approaches.
The agenda included presentations on school feeding programmes in both countries, visits to urban schools, rural schools and cooperatives with social and sustainable technology initiatives.
The visit was organised by the World Food Programme (WFP) Centre of Excellence against Hunger in Brazil and WFP Kenya, in partnership with the National Education Development Fund (FNDE) and the Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC), with the support of the Rio Grande do Norte state government.
The main objectives of the visit were to promote the exchange of experiences and good practices between Brazil and Kenya within the scope of the school feeding programme on topics such as local procurement, and to strengthen the capacities of governments to develop climate-smart agriculture.
The Kenyan government is aiming to expand its national school feeding programme to benefit 10 million children by 2030. During the visit, the delegation visited the cities of Natal, Mossoró and Apodi, the latter chosen because they are in a semi-arid region, similar to the reality in Kenya.
The exchange of experiences included two thematic areas of the National School Feeding Programme (PNAE): the governance structure, which coordinates the programme at different government levels while guaranteeing the purchase of food from small farmers, and the practical demonstration of the programme, with field visits highlighting the relationship between schools and farmers and the sustainable technologies employed.
As part of the field visits, the delegation met the Mossoró Family Farmers’ Cooperative, which supplies food to the PNAE, and visited the school garden and water storage system (cistern) at a state school. They also had the opportunity to meet the Xique-Xique network of women producers of agroecological food supplied to schools, and the Association of Producers of the Mossoró Agroecological Fair.
The event showcased practices for administering large-scale food programmes; plans for aggregating small producers and accessing the local market; the cultivation of drought-resilient crops; and climate-friendly agricultural techniques, as well as Brazilian decarbonisation practices.
For Felipe Leal Albuquerque, an advisor to the general coordination of the PNAE, receiving foreign delegations is a way of publicising Brazilian experiences to the world that have been tested and can be adapted to other realities. He said that, in the case of Kenya, there are several points of contact between the PNAE and the technologies for living in the semi-arid region and what is being done in the country.
‘Through technical cooperation, Brazil can help expand the Kenyan school feeding programme and increase purchases from family farming. Through this exchange, Brazilian institutions can also learn and develop new practices and processes, benefiting from this contact,’ he said.
As well as representatives from Kenyan government ministries, the delegation also included representatives from WFP Kenya and partner organisations such as the Rockefeller Foundation and Food for Education.
For Riffat Iqbal, a project analyst at the Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC), this was an excellent moment of rapprochement between Brazil and Kenya. ‘The importance of this visit for the Brazilian government was to share its experiences and good practices in school feeding and other policies, as well as to learn from Kenya, especially on the subject of living in the semi-arid region. In addition, next year Brazil, FAO, IFAD and WFP and Kenya will deepen co-operation in the area of school feeding connected to family farming,’ he said.
As a result of the visit, an action plan will be drawn up to expand the Kenyan school feeding programme, with guidelines that include the aggregation of small farmers and a revised roadmap for adopting modern cooking practices in schools, developed on the basis of the Brazilian experience.
The visit ended with reflections on the lessons learnt and discussions about future collaboration between the two countries.