The work with Mozambique has taken place at various moments over the 10 years of operations of the WFP Centre of Excellence against Hunger Brazil, as an addition to the work carried out by the WFP. Since 1977, WFP has supported school feeding in Mozambique to promote school attendance in a context of food insecurity. In 2002, support was expanded to 159 primary schools. During this period, school meals were financed and implemented by the WFP. The transition to the administration and financing of school meals by the government of Mozambique took place between 2007 and 2009, followed by the signing of the trilateral agreement Brazil-Mozambique-WFP.
In 2011, the Centre of Excellence started supporting the country (within the trilateral agreement) by sending a consultant to Mozambique, between November 2011 and May 2012. As a result of this contribution, a pilot school feeding project was launched. A second phase of the consultancy work took place between September and December 2012 with a new format that integrated a proposal for local purchases by the government to be included in the school menu.
In 2013, the Council of Ministers of Mozambique unanimously approved the National School Feeding Programme (PRONAE) proposal, which was prepared by the Ministry of Education and supported by the Centre of Excellence and the WFP. The proposal was announced by the Mozambican government in 2014 and part of the PRONAE funds were secured through a Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Ministry of Education of Mozambique, the Centre of Excellence and the Brazilian government, through the Brazilian Cooperation Agency and the National Fund for Education Development.
In 2018, a new phase of the partnership between Brazil, Mozambique and the WFP began with the aim of strengthening institutional and managerial mechanisms through a new initiative, the Beyond Cotton Project. In order to ensure sustainable production and contribute to food and nutrition security, the new project promoted technical meetings and held a workshop with 30 representatives from 14 institutions directly involved in agriculture and food and nutrition security in the country, with the aim of integrating the activities from the project to national food and nutrition security policies.
Throughout 2019, the Centre of Excellence advanced with its support to Mozambique both in the development and evaluation of PRONAE, as well as in the advancement of the Beyond Cotton Project in the country. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, projects were able to launch field activities, thanks to the coordination effort carried out remotely from the Centre of Excellence in Brazil, with the support from partners.
Find out more in the book “A Decade of Cooperation: 10 years of the WFP Centre of Excellence against Hunger Brazil”.