From March 19 to 22, Curitiba will host the 3rd edition of LUPPA LAB, an event where municipal officials from many parts of Brazil will dive into the urban food agenda, share their progress and challenges with other cities, and acquire tools that strengthen their food policies. The event is organized by Instituto Comida do Amanhã, co-organized with ICLEI América do Sul and the City of Curitiba, through its Municipal Department of Food and Nutrition Security (SMSAN).

LUPPA LAB is one part of the LUPPA journey, the world’s largest food policy lab, which comprises a collaborative platform and an ongoing learning program to support and help cities advance food policies with a systemic, intersectoral, coherent and participatory approach.

For Juliana Tângari, director of Comida do Amanhã, it is a joy to land in Curitiba for the 3rd edition of LUPPA LAB. “We hope the participants of this gathering will go home with a suitcase full of ideas and relationships that will help them for many years to come in fulfilling their duties and ideals in their cities,” she said.

Each edition of LUPPA lasts one year, with activities that include workshops, seminars, exchanges of experience, the development of a diagnosis of each city’s urban food system, livestreams open to the public (LUPPA web) and a cycle of mentoring between participating cities and the program’s partner cities, known as mentor cities, where a great deal of exchange and learning takes place. The lab currently has 43 participating cities, spread across 18 states in all 5 Brazilian regions, totaling more than 14 million inhabitants.

“Food systems are a great opportunity to transform cities, especially in the context of climate change and the urgency of access to healthy food in adequate quantity and quality. LUPPA and the Food Compliance Portfolio reflect our capacity to transform food systems into more sustainable, fair, resilient and circular systems,” highlighted Rodrigo Perpétuo, Executive Secretary of ICLEI América do Sul.

For the first time in Curitiba, a LUPPA mentor city and a partner of the project since its 1st edition, the event will take place at two venues in the city – the opening at the Memorial de Curitiba and the remaining days at the Mercado Municipal (Municipal Market) – and will also include technical visits to Curitiba’s Food and Nutrition Security (SAN) facilities so that participants can learn about and be inspired by the city’s well-established experiences.

According to Luiz Dâmaso Gusi, Municipal Secretary of Food and Nutrition Security, it is an immense source of pride for the City of Curitiba to be the inspiring city and the setting for this grand edition of LUPPA LAB. “We are offering the opportunity to foster an environment of exchange covering every dimension of knowledge during LUPPA, with emphasis on guided visits to the city’s various SAN facilities, which are the result of a remarkable portfolio of urban SAN public policies, recognized and awarded nationally and internationally,” he highlighted.

In all, the LAB expects to bring together around 150 people, including municipal officials and civil society representatives, to put food at the center of the municipal agenda.

About LUPPA:

LUPPA is a project of Instituto Comida do Amanhã, co-organized with ICLEI América do Sul, with full support from Instituto Ibirapitanga, ICS – Instituto Clima e Sociedade, Fundação José Luiz Egydio Setúbal and Porticus, institutional support from FAO Brazil – Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and methodological partnership with Reos Partners Brasil.