Photo: João Prudente (Gravatá, PE) Until 09/10, applications are open for municipal officials, mentor cities and partner institutions to take part in the 1st LUPPA Lab, a series of virtual meetings with an immersive program aimed at debating and discussing the challenges cities face; sharing each other’s experiences and difficulties; and learning about the topics and processes involved in building the healthy and sustainable food systems that governments want to deliver and that citizens want to live in. Who can participate:

• This first LAB will include Brazilian cities with up to 1.5 million inhabitants that commit to moving forward with the development of public policies related to food systems. Territorial diversity will be ensured so that cities from all Brazilian regions are represented. 40% of the places will be reserved for cities in the Legal Amazon.
• City governments that have already consolidated food systems policies and wish to help mentor participating cities may also apply.
• We will also accept partnership proposals from governmental and non-governmental non-profit institutions that wish to support LUPPA.
• LUPPA is made for cities: both for city governments and for organized civil society at the municipal level.
• LUPPA is non-partisan; it is not funded or promoted by any government or political party. Participation in LUPPA is free of charge.

The full call for applications and all information on how to apply are available here.

Launch of the 1st call for applications for cities and partners

In order to bring cities to the center of the discussion on the right to food and to highlight the importance of building sustainable municipal food systems, an online event was held last Wednesday (08/18) to mark the launch of the call for applications. The event was attended by key stakeholders and municipal officials from various regions of the country. The project is aimed both at cities and at local governments and institutions that wish to join the initiative as partners, with the goal of providing operational and institutional support for structuring food policies in the selected cities. ‘We need to understand that food is an urgent issue for cities and local governments,’ said Rodrigo Perpétuo, executive secretary of ICLEI América do Sul (ICLEI South America), at the opening of the event. ‘The ideas that will be shared during the LUPPA sessions shed light on good practices already being carried out by some cities here in Brazil and make it possible to scale up and replicate these models.’ Juliana Tângari, director of Instituto Comida do Amanhã, also celebrated the launch of the initiative. ‘LUPPA was created to be a meeting platform for cities, a place where they can support one another and create an environment of innovation, exchange and planning for food systems public policies,’ she emphasized. LUPPA marks the beginning of joint work between Instituto Comida do Amanhã, creator of the project, and ICLEI América do Sul, a key partner in the initiative, and is supported by ICS – Instituto Clima e Sociedade and Instituto Ibirapitanga. Why is action at the local level important? The launch event also featured the experiences of the cities of Curitiba and Belo Horizonte, members of ICLEI América do Sul. Felipe Thiago de Jesus, director of the Municipal Department of Food and Nutrition Security of Curitiba, shared the city’s experiences. “There are many barriers and challenges, but with the exchange of experiences that LUPPA will provide, we can broaden the vision of the municipality and of officials in other departments connected to food,” he highlighted. In addition to sharing the city’s experience, Darklane Rodrigues Dias, Undersecretary of Food and Nutrition Security at the Municipal Department of Social Assistance, Food Security and Citizenship of the City of Belo Horizonte, presented how the history of Belo Horizonte’s Food and Nutrition Security Public Policy, which turns 28 this year, can provide positive and inspiring examples for other cities. Watch the full video of the call for applications launch here.

Program

The 1st edition of LUPPA will run activities between the second half of 2021 and February 2022, followed by virtual meetings to engage the network. LUPPA WEB is the first scheduled activity; it has already held its first virtual meeting and will feature four more webinars open to the general public, addressing the main contemporary themes and challenges in shaping urban food systems. LUPPA LAB will begin in November 2021 with the participation of the Brazilian cities with populations of up to 1.5 million inhabitants selected for the first edition. In addition to public officials from the participating cities, representatives of organized civil society will also be invited. In the first quarter of 2022, the results of the 1st LAB will be released and the 2022 schedule will be defined.