At the seminar hosted by the Getulio Vargas Foundation in Rio de Janeiro, with support from the Brazilian Ministry of Development and Social Assistance, Family and Fight against Hunger (MDS), an expert panel described the trajectory of rebuilding public policies on food and nutritional security and the resumption, starting in 2023, of a broad and integrated strategy to combat hunger.
“We started from a context of profound setbacks in social policies, with the weakening of public systems and the loss of institutional capacity of the State,” recalled the Extraordinary Secretary for Combating Poverty and Hunger of the MDS (Ministry of Social Development), Valéria Burity, “mentioning the context experienced in January 2023, when approximately 33 million people were living in a situation of hunger in Brazil. “Getting off the Hunger Map is an important achievement, but not returning is the real challenge,” she added.
Charlotte Bilo, Knowledge Lead and Regional Liaison in the Support Mechanism of the Global Alliance, highlighted Brazil’s leading role in building the initiative, which was created in 2024 during Brazil’s G20 presidency. “The fact that the Global Alliance was born in Brazil shows the priority given by the Brazilian government to the fight against hunger, not only at the national level but also in foreign policy and international cooperation,” she said. Charlotte Bilo also emphasized that the goal is not to automatically replicate models from Brazil’s experience in other contexts, but to adapt their principles to local realities.
Photo: MDS/Mayara Vita