The Comida do Amanhã Institute: Championing Change in Brazil’s Food Systems
A think tank which connects more than 400 policymakers in 59 city councils in Brazil is aiming to transform the country’s food system. The Comida do Amanhã Institute claims to pioneer a systemic approach to tackling the country’s urban food system challenges.
Renowned for its innovative methodologies grounded in U-theory, the institute aims to guide policymakers in identifying and addressing the fundamental causes of food-related problems by understanding the mental barriers and structures that hold back systemic change in Brazil.
Its most notable success is Laboratório Urbano de Políticas Públicas Alimentares, or the LUPPA initiative, which it claims is currently the biggest food policy lab in the world. LUPPA is a hub where local government officials from various departments can meet civil society members and local food policy councils. Based on the principles of democratic involvement, political dedication, and the need for policy coherence, the lab encourages policymakers to learn collaboratively and to spearhead essential changes in their cities towards more inclusive, sustainable, and health-focused food systems.
LUPPA’s impact in the Global South has been recognised by IPES-Food (the International Panel of Experts on Food Systems) and by the UN, which called it “a significant tool for transforming food systems”—particularly in its local-to-global approach.
Due to LUPPA’s success, Comida do Amanhã partnered with the Brazilian Ministry for Social Development to implement the Brazilian national strategy on the urban food agenda across 60 major cities (22 of them already in LUPPA network).
Through conducting such work at the local level, Comida do Amanhã became an expert in food policy implementation in Brazil, especially in food policy planning and multi-level governance. One of Comida do Amanhã’s main focus areas in its work with cities and local governments is the implementation of PNAE, the Brazilian national program for school feeding—an important entry point for food systems transformation in cities. Another of the institute’s focus areas is on policies to shape equitable and resilient access to healthy food at the local level.
Based on this expertise, Comida do Amanhã has been playing a key role in advocacy strategies in domestic and international forums, like the G20 Civil Society Engagement Group, the Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty, the School Meals Coalition, and the global community of Urban Food Systems.
As well as disseminating content, information, and policy recommendations, and collaborating with domestic and international researchers, studies, and reports, Comida do Amanhã facilitates platforms for reflection, dialogue, debate, and collaborative proposals on the role of food systems in socio-environmental resilience, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and social justice.
Besides LUPPA, the institute runs three other programs on food policy qualification, along with its intelligence, advocacy, and communications activities. It also collaborates with grassroots movements, watchdogs, national bodies, researchers and academic institutions to encourage dialogue and cooperation around food and climate issues among diverse groups.
By educating individuals, organizations, and decision-makers about the impact broken food systems can have on humans and the planet, it aims to improve food policies that incorporate the right to food for all of Brazil’s citizens. Comida do Amanhã says that it envisions a future where urban food systems enhance the well-being of both people and the planet, and places Brazil as a world leader in sustainable and equitable urban food systems within the Global Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Read more about Comida do Amanhã Institute.
Written by Gilly Smith
Photos provided by the initiative
