The world is undergoing constant evolution, making great achievements in various areas in the search for primordial solutions for humanity, especially in technology, science and medicine. However, it still lacks in sensitive and fundamental areas for the human beings, such as fighting hunger, ending poverty and reducing violence. With this reflection, the Terra Foundation, in partnership with the Centre of Excellence Against Hunger of World Food Programme (WFP) of the United Nations (UN), held the Women of the Earth Seminar on September 26 at the auditorium of the JCPM Trade Center in Recife.
Hunger and poverty are still resilient within the countries of the region of Latin American and the Caribbean. The Brazilian Northeast is one of the regions that suffers from these problems, despite the economic and social advances of Brazil. Given this, Terra Foundation has consolidated an important legacy in the promotion of human rights for the poorest for 35 years, working in the Brazilian states of Pernambuco and Ceará.
The opening table of the event was presented by Father Airton Freire, founding president of the Terra Foundation, and Daniel Balaban, director of the Centre of Excellence of WFP. “Cooperation among the different sectors of society, especially NGOs and international organizations, is the way to reduce poverty and achieve a world without hunger. It is through the collaboration from all that we will be able to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially the SDG 2”, says Daniel.
Several experts discussed solutions to poverty alleviation and the fight against hunger and presented case studies and success stories and their sustainable impacts. The event was promoted by women who have had a positive impact from their spaces, such as the economist Tânia Bacelar; the director of Globo Nordeste, Jô Mazzarolo; the vice-president of the Maria da Penha Institute, Regina Célia; the Programme Oficer of the Centre of Excellence of WFP, Yasmim Wakimoto; and also the singer Fafá de Belém. The mediation was made by journalist Bianka Carvalho.
“The event was very interesting because we could show our work to a different audience. We are used to talk to public managers, but in this seminar we spoke directly to project beneficiaries and representatives from the private sector and from some NGOs. After the presentation, I was approached by a group of people who worked in schools. One of them was the director of a school in the state of Ceará. She told me how school meals and family farming purchases have changed her community”, comments the Programme Officer of WFP, Yasmim Wakimoto, who presented a lecture about the importance of school meals in the fight against hunger during the event.
This event ends the commemorative activities of the 35th anniversary of the Terra Foundation. Over the past three and a half decades, the organization has been carrying out actions that today aim at meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a global agenda established among 193 countries, including Brazil. Terra Foundation performs actions related to 10 out of the 17 SDGs. Every year, the institution serves more than 24,000 people in three areas: education, health and social promotion. (With information from the Terra Foundation)
About the Terra Foundation
Created in 1984 by Father Airton Freire, the organization started in an area popularly called Rua do Lixo (free translation: Trash Street), in Arcoverde, in a town of the state of Pernambuco, which is located 250 kilometers from the capital, Recife. The place was where the municipality dump was once located, today there is a school, a day care centre, a library, a long-term care facility for the elderly and various social actions. In 2016, the Centre for Support of Homeless People (C Amor) was opened in Recife, which is located in Pátio da Santa Cruz, Boa Vista neighborhood.
In the state of Ceará, the institution operates in the areas of education and social affairs in the city of Maracanaú, in a neighborhood called Alto Alegre II. In addition to serving children, teenagers and young people in various projects, the unit maintains the Full Living Nursery, serving 125 babies and children per day. Soon, the organization will build a unit in the Cariri region, in the city Juazeiro do Norte (CE).
