On September 15th, David Kaatrud, WFP Director of Programme – Humanitarian & Development Division, accompanied by the World Food Programme (WFP) Republic of Congo (RoC) management team met with Renato Soares Menezes, Ambassador of the Government of Brazil in the RoC and the Central African Republic in Brazzaville, to discuss the growing WFP-brokered South-South and Triangular Cooperation (SSTC) project between Brazil and RoC.
The meeting was held in light of the recent launch of the “Enhancing Family Farmers’ Access to Local Markets in the Republic of Congo through South-South Cooperation” project, sponsored by the India-Brazil-South Africa Facility for Poverty and Hunger Alleviation (IBSA Fund). The initiative will enable RoC’s Ministries to tap into the wealth of expertise and innovations available in Brazil, contributing to the food security and nutritional status of smallholder farmers and school children in the country.
David Kaatrud acknowledged the strong and long-standing collaboration between Brazil and WFP, especially through the creation and support to the WFP Centre of Excellence against Hunger, located in Brasilia, and stressed the relevance of the Brazilian experience to inform the Congolese government on the development of its smallholder farming and school meals policies, which could be translated in significant human capital and food security gains in the country.
“School feeding is not a cost. It is a strategic investment. It is an enabler to education that requires coordination between numerous ministries. This Brazil-Congo collaboration has already raised significant interest from WFP at headquarters level, as we are very interested in exploring how to integrate this project with its other SSTC experiences locally and replicate the experience in other countries”, said David Kaatrud.
Mamadou Mbaye, WFP RoC Country Director a.i., and Sidi Mohamed Babah, WFP RoC Deputy Country Director, also attended the meeting and highlighted the success of the Congolese high-level study visit to Brazil held in April 2023, which showcased the Brazilian expertise in school feeding and smallholder farmer support to the RoC Ministries of Social Affairs, Agriculture, Education, and Planning.
The WFP Director of Programme’s visit to RoC aimed to view progress on the ongoing SSTC projects, being held on the heels of the annual Rome-based Agencies’ (Food and Agriculture Organization, International Fund for Agricultural Development, and WFP) celebration of the UN Day for South-South Cooperation in September 2023.
The mission included a field visit to the Bouenza department, one of the targeted areas for the IBSA Fund project, to understand from beneficiaries and local authorities the opportunities and challenges of the significant work WFP has been implementing via SSTC on the development of the cassava value chain, as it is the key staple produced and consumed in the country and is gradually being introduced into the school meals offered to children.
Enhancing Family Farmers’ Access to Local Markets in the Republic of Congo through South-South Cooperation
The IBSA Fund project in Congo will focus its actions on institutional capacity strengthening for policy makers at central and local levels by leveraging the Brazilian experience and technical support through South-South cooperation, using a “training of trainers” approach and on-the-job coaching, with the participation of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries and of the Ministry of Pre-school, Primary, Secondary Education and Literacy. It will also provide capacity strengthening at the grassroot level for family farmer associations/cooperatives and schools in targeted districts in the Bouenza, Plateaux and Pool departments, through delivery of equipment, tailored training, and in-field demonstrations. You can learn more about this project here.