The appointment was made during LUPPA LAB 4, held in the city from May 19 to 23 The municipality of Barcarena, in Pará, has been officially named a mentor city of LUPPA, the Laboratório Urbano de Políticas Públicas Alimentares (Urban Food Public Policy Lab). The appointment was announced during the closing of LUPPA LAB 4, on May 23. The event brought together more than 100 officials and representatives from various Brazilian municipalities to discuss municipal food public policies. Mentor cities are those that have already made significant progress in designing and implementing public policies for food systems and therefore contribute their accumulated expertise and experience to support other municipalities that are in the process of strengthening these policies. The choice of Barcarena as a mentor city was made official by Juliana Tângari, director of Instituto Comida do Amanhã and general coordinator of LUPPA. “It was very important to have mentor cities with the same regional diversity that we have among the participating cities. Over the years, we have been working with the cities and seeing how they have evolved. And here in Barcarena it became very clear that all the programs and actions the municipality has put in place already meet the requirements we consider for a city to become a mentor,” she highlighted. Barcarena previously took part as a mentee city and now takes on a new role, offering its experiences and good practices to other municipalities. This is recognition of the municipality’s track record, as it has been strengthening its food policies and contributing to building fairer, healthier and more sustainable food systems,” she highlighted. With this recognition, the city in Pará joins the program, which is a national reference in promoting food public policies, alongside cities such as Belo Horizonte, Curitiba, Osasco, São Paulo and Recife. With the appointment, Barcarena takes on a strategic role in LUPPA, contributing to strengthening food policies throughout the country and promoting the value of local practices from the Amazon. The mayor of Barcarena, Renato Ogawa, celebrated the appointment and stressed the importance of cooperation between cities for strengthening public policies. “Now our responsibility grows; we are the first city from the north of the country, the first from the Amazon. That carries a very strong meaning. It is an enormous satisfaction to be able to present a bit of Barcarena’s experience and inspire other municipalities,” he says. Methodology At LUPPA, mentoring is a technical cooperation strategy in which mentor cities organize and lead a cycle of workshops with mentee cities. These are virtual meetings held throughout the year, focused on exchanging experiences, deepening learning and sharing both success stories and the challenges faced. About LUPPA LUPPA is a collaborative platform and an ongoing learning program to support and enable cities to promote food policies with a systemic approach, in an intersectoral, coherent and participatory way. Conceived by Instituto Comida do Amanhã and co-organized with ICLEI Brasil, it receives full support from Instituto Ibirapitanga, ICS – Instituto Clima e Sociedade, ITAÚSA, Fundação José Luiz Egydio Setúbal and Porticus, as well as institutional support from FAO Brazil – Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and methodological partnership from Reos Partners Brasil.