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Brazilian Social Development Minister Wellington Dias said he was encouraged by the results of a G20 meeting about the creation of a Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty, one of the linchpins of Brazil鈥檚 agenda for its turn presiding the Group of 20, the world鈥檚 top economic forum.

鈥淲e conclude this step here in Bras铆lia with much more firmness for [mutual] understanding鈥� towards the approval of a so-called 鈥渂asket鈥� of best practices in the upcoming alliance, Mr. Dias 

Brazil presented its policies on poverty and hunger to G20 delegations last week. The Luiz In谩cio Lula da Silva administration has proposed launching a  in November 2024, during the G20 summit of heads of state and government in Rio de Janeiro.

Mr. Dias added that approval of the terms is expected in July during an upcoming ministerial meeting in Rio. 鈥淲e are leaving Bras铆lia very excited 鈥� we really feel the enthusiasm of the [G20] delegations representing the countries and of all the organizations with the objectives of this task force.鈥�

The alliance is a tool for reaching the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations in 2015. The first two goals involve eradicating extreme poverty and hunger everywhere by 2030. President Lula鈥檚 innovation, Mr. Dias says, is using the G20 presidency as a forum to prioritize this issue and enable developed countries to sponsor poorer countries toward those goals.

The flagship Bolsa Fam铆lia welfare program is naturally one of Brazil鈥檚 leading examples of its 鈥渂asket鈥� of best practices to be discussed by the delegations. The world-renowned conditional cash transfer program had a record budget of BRL 168 billion (USD 33 billion) in 2023; families enrolled last year  per month.

Data from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) shows that the prevalence of severe food insecurity in the Brazilian population went from 1.9 percent in the 2014-2016 period to 9.9 percent in the 2020-2022 period.

Between both readings, Brazil faced its worst two-year GDP skid ever recorded, a traumatic presidential impeachment, and a pandemic. 

Thanks to the recovery of the job market and the expansion of social programs that followed the pandemic downturn, however, Brazil鈥檚  The decrease corresponds to 10.2 million Brazilians overcoming poverty, roughly equivalent to the entire population of Portugal.

The extreme poverty rate has also dropped, from 9 to 5.9 percent. At the end of 2022, 19.1 million people were living on less than USD 2.15 per day鈥�6.5 million fewer than a year prior.

Mr. Dias also highlighted Brazil鈥檚 school meals program,  and buys mostly from family agriculture. Free lunch and other meals in public schools are a staple of Brazil鈥檚 policies in education and the fight against hunger. 

According to the latest results of the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, the percentage of 15-year-old Brazilian school students facing  than in a host of developed countries, including the US.

Brazil has the world鈥檚 second-largest school meals program, behind India. In 2005, the FAO considered the Brazilian scheme a model for combating hunger and malnutrition in developing countries.

Brazil鈥檚 school meals program, the PNAE, began in the 1950s as a policy to combat hunger. It was expanded in the 1970s and then enshrined in the 1988 Constitution.

But it was only in the 2000s that the program gained the contours that make it unique: it began to be managed by nutritionists, who evaluate the food served in schools, at least 30 percent of which are products from family farming. It also contains rules that limit the consumption of ultra-processed foods such as soda and potato chips.

Furthermore, serving food in schools helps discourage dropouts, as school meals are typically the only meal of the day for Brazil鈥檚 poorest children.

Renato Godinho, a career diplomat, stressed during the press conference that Brazil鈥檚 idea is not to create a new fund or mechanism to fight hunger and poverty, since a lot of those already exist. 鈥淭he alliance is a proposal to better coordinate all the existing funds, the several solutions,鈥� he said. 

Under this idea, the alliance would share a 鈥渂asket鈥� of best practices and enable rich countries to support the existing funds that go towards them.

As part of Brazil鈥檚  the next meeting of the hunger and poverty task force will be held in May in the city of Teresina, the capital of the northeastern state of Piau铆. Mr. Dias is a native of Piau铆 and served as governor for four terms.

This text is part of G20 Dialogues, a project of the Brazil Institute at the Woodrow 浪花直播 Center and The Brazilian Report. Through live broadcasts, articles, and events, we will analyze Brazil鈥檚 challenges and actions at the helm of the G20.

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The Brazilian Report

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