Held in the Amazon for the first time, the gathering encourages dialogue between municipal officials and members of civil society, sharing experiences and innovative approaches to food and nutrition security.

From May 19 to 23, the city of Barcarena, in Pará, hosts the fourth edition of LUPPA LAB, the in-person gathering of the LUPPA program, considered the largest food public policy lab in the world. Organized by Instituto Comida do Amanhã and co-organized with ICLEI Brasil, LUPPA is a capacity-building program and a community of cities that holds an in-person gathering every year, LUPPA LAB, which in this fourth edition is co-organized with the City of Barcarena, with support from Gás Pará and Hydro. The initiative brings together representatives from more than 40 Brazilian municipalities for an immersion in building more sustainable, healthy and fair urban food systems. With around 120 municipal officials confirmed, the opening will be held at Barcarena’s Complexo Comercial (Commercial Complex), and the remaining sessions will take place at Escola Checralla Sallim Khayat.

Unlike a traditional conference, LUPPA LAB is an in-person event held in a laboratory format, offering a hands-on, collaborative journey. The program includes workshops, mentoring, collaborative activities, experience sharing, and field visits to local Food and Nutrition Security (FNS) initiatives in the municipality of Barcarena. All activities focus on strengthening municipal action on integrated and coherent food policies and on developing robust, intersectoral plans. In this edition, the lab also highlights the climate agenda, with the development of a joint position of the participating cities for COP30, which will be held in neighboring Belém, the capital of Pará.

LUPPA LAB follows a methodology that is different from all the other events and meetings that public officials and representatives of public policy councils are used to attending. Every year our network grows stronger, people take ownership of themes and opportunities for action they had not previously envisioned, and little by little we are weaving and reinforcing an enormous support community for different areas of municipal public administration connected to the food agenda,” says Juliana Tângari, director of Instituto Comida do Amanhã and general coordinator of LUPPA.
Since its creation in 2021, LUPPA has held three editions of the LAB — the first virtual, followed by in-person gatherings in São Paulo (SP) and Curitiba (PR) — and currently connects 54 cities in 18 states across all five regions of the country, in addition to the 5 mentor cities that partner with the program.

First time in the Amazon

This edition marks LUPPA’s progress across the country, prioritizing cities with consolidated food policies that can inspire other places. Held in the Amazon for the first time, the gathering focuses on Barcarena, a LUPPA city since 2023, recognized for its innovative practices in the field. The choice of Barcarena reflects its prominence in initiatives such as the Programa Municipal de Aquisição de Alimentos (PMAA – Municipal Food Acquisition Program), which connects family farming to the supply of food for hospitals and for families in vulnerable situations, and the Sistema Municipal de Monitoramento da Agricultura Familiar (SISMMAF – Municipal Family Farming Monitoring System), which ensures technical assistance and ongoing support for local production.

For the mayor of Barcarena, Renato Ogawa, hosting LUPPA LAB in the city is recognition of the collective work carried out to guarantee the right to dignified and healthy food. “Here, we treat food security as a strategic priority that connects family farming, economic development, the environment and social justice. I am certain that the exchange of experiences and the collaborative building that LUPPA promotes will further strengthen our public policies and inspire new solutions for all of Brazil,” he says.

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.