São Paulo – Next week, the Brazilian government and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) will promote the International Seminar on Social Policies and Hunger and Poverty Eradication, in Morocco and Tunisia. The event will take place in Morocco on September 3, in the capital Rabat, and on September 6 and 7 in Bardo, near Tunis, the capital of Tunisia.
“The seminar is the result of our initial multilateral dialogue towards building a cooperation agenda in social policies for fighting hunger and eradicating poverty,” explains Marcos Lopes, FAO consultant for humanitarian cooperation affairs.
According to Lopes, the next steps in the cooperation are yet to be defined, and the seminar will aim to devise an action plan. He explains that the agenda may include actions such as experts exchange, under which Brazil would receive and coach Tunisian and Moroccan technicians and Brazilian consultants would travel to these countries to help establish local programs and data systematization methods.
Initially, the multilateral cooperation will involve the FAO, the Moroccan and Tunisian governments, and the Pakistani government, which will also host an edition of the seminar on September 24 and 25. However, says Lopes, other countries will likely be included. “We are in talks with Mauritania and Egypt already,” he says.
The seminar program has been set based on the interests of each country. In Tunisia, representatives of the Brazilian Education and Social Development and Hunger Alleviation ministries will participate, as well as officials from the National Food and Nutrition Security Council. In Morocco, the event will focus on implementing the “Family Allowance” and “School Meal” programs. The participation of officials from other Brazilian ministries and government agencies at the Tunisian event is still pending confirmation.
According to Lopes, the FAO director-general José Graziano is directly involved in promoting the events, but will be unable to attend due to schedule-related issues. Regional FAO representatives will participate in the seminars, as well as local government officials who will give accounts of their experiences in implementing social programs in their countries.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
