Buen apetito, Bolivia! Local food project, by ICCO & the Postcode Lottery 1 Buen apetito, Bolivia! Local food project, by ICCO & the Postcode Lottery In Bolivia, deprived youngsters are trained as chefs who promote the traditional cuisine. The demand for locally produced food increases and local farmers receive more money for their produce. The result is a better life for poor farmers and for the youngsters who have better job-perspectives as chefs. In short Project name Buen Apetito, Bolivia! Applicant ICCO Country Bolivia Objective Increasing the demand for local, sustainably produced food by training youngsters as chefs who promote local dishes Target group Deprived urban youngsters and poor farmers in Bolivia Duration 3 years Requested budget € 1 325,607 Themes Local market development, food security, poverty reduction, vocational education, sustainable agriculture and health Photos Gustu, MPB, ICCO 2 Buen apetito, Bolivia! Local food project, by ICCO & the Postcode Lottery Menu Starter Introduction 4 Chef's special The project 5 For who? 6 What we are going to do 8 Planning 10 Dessert Results & impact 11 Dutch dishes Communication plan (summary): Tasty and Local 12 Our chefs Who are we? 13 Price list Budget 16 Annex: specified budget communication plan 18 Buen apetito! 3 Buen apetito, Bolivia! Local food project, by ICCO & the Postcode Lottery “ I have unlimited confidence that we can improve the world through food. My dream is that we can inspire a generation of young Bolivians to create prosperity and hope by working together to exploit Bolivia’s food commodity basis” Claus Meyer, co-founder of the best restaurant in the world, NOMA INTRODUCTION Food concerns everyone and everything. Because everybody eats. We need food to survive and stay healthy. It is also a social event and a way to express culture and traditions. Food production is a source of income, but it is also closely linked to climate and nature. In short: food is related to people, health, culture, environment, society, economy and climate. Changing our eating habits affects all abovementioned elements. Food can also be a way to initiate development. For this project we use food to create positive effects in Bolivia. Bolivia is one of the poorest countries in Latin-America, where more than half of the population lives below the poverty line of less than $ 2 per day. That represents 5 million people! And even though Bolivia is changing, the economy is slightly improving and democracy is consolidating, the daily reality for most people remains challenging. The population grows rapidly. Many farmers move to the cities because of the miserable income in rural areas. But unemployment in the city is soaring. Problems like child mortality (1 out of 15 children doesn't reach the age of 5), malnutrition, bad health and low life expectancy are omnipresent. Young people in particular have few opportunities to improve their future and often get entrapped in crime. This project uses the Bolivian local cuisine to overcome these social and economic issues. We are going to cook against poverty and for a better life! How is that possible? Ensuring sustainable production and sustainable consumption of food by setting up a cooperation between the most important stakeholders 4 Buen apetito, Bolivia! Local food project, by ICCO & the Postcode Lottery in the food chain: farmers who produce food, chefs who prepare food and consumers who eat food. Because together they can change the Bolivian food culture. And all the (positive) consequences ... THE PROJECT With this project, deprived youth in Bolivia are trained to become chefs and culinary entrepreneurs so they can build a better future for themselves. This is part of a broader strategy in Bolivia with which we aim to increase the market for locally produced food. But instead of starting with the farmers, whose income is very limited and who often struggle to survive, we start with the market by creating more demand for their products. In their training as chefs, the youngsters cook with local ingredients, based on the traditional local cuisine. As chefs they serve high quality healthy food, prepared with local and sustainably grown produce. They are pioneers when it comes to promoting these local dishes and making the traditional cuisine popular again. The ultimate goal is to increase the demand for locally, environment friendly and animal friendly produced healthy food. That means that not only these young people benefit from the project, but also the other stakeholders in the food chain: local farmers who produce the ingredients and the consumers who eat the meals. The importance of this project lies in generating economic opportunities for small farmers in Bolivia who grow healthy produce in a sustainable way and with a good market potential. Our approach stimulates that market potential by increasing the demand for these products. When the demand increases, the income of the local farmers and the living conditions of their families improve. At the same time, the trained youth will also have a better future as they can find a stable job as a chef. The project contributes to the improvement of public health too by means of healthier food. It contributes to environment and animal friendly food production and to a revaluation of the cultural heritage, the traditional cuisine and traditional knowledge about food. Obviously we won't do this alone but in collaboration with others who have joined the Bolivian culinary movement. Besides producers, chefs and consumers, there are also other relevant actors involved in the movement such as companies, knowledge institutions, the public sector, service providers and NGO's. With this movement, Bolivia follows in the footsteps of Peru where chef Gaston Acurio turned Peruvian dishes into haute cuisine for which he was awarded the Prins Claus award in 2009. The movement is already well established in Peru, but in Bolivia it is still in its infancy. With this project, the Postcode Loterij can give the movement in Bolivia a huge boost and promote the Bolivian cuisine. 5 Buen apetito, Bolivia! Local food project, by ICCO & the Postcode Lottery EATING HABITS IN BOLIVIA More than 63% of the Bolivian population has bad eating habits. Essential sources of nutrients such as fruit, vegetables, dairy products and cereals are barely included in their diet. A survey on World Health Day in April 2013 showed that only 15% of the questioned people had eaten the above-mentioned products on that day. Meat is very popular for lunch and dinner, but the consumed meat is not very nutritious. The popularity of fast food has strongly increased in Bolivia too. Roasted chicken, fried potatoes and rice with ketchup is nowadays the most popular dish in Bolivia. These eating habits are reflected in what's available: 7 out of the 10 food stalls in El Alto sell junk food. Fast food is mainly popular because it is so cheap, but it’s not nutritious. Because fast food has ousted the traditional dishes, the nutritional value of an average meal in Bolivia has dropped considerably. The changing food culture is also tangible in rural areas where the demand for refined natural produce decreases more and more. This in spite of the fact that Bolivia has a great biodiversity, with an abundance of natural produce. The highly nutritious quinoa for example, many types of fruit and vegetables and a large variety in cereals. Moreover, as many different indigenous people are represented in the country, Bolivia has a wonderful cultural diversity and plenty of traditional dishes. The ideal base for a versatile, high quality and nutritious cuisine! “Bolivia is a country where you grow up having to fight hard for both your own and your family’s chances in life. But there is hardly a place in the world with greater biological diversity than Bolivia. To a chef Bolivia is a treasure. Together we will find the key, so that Bolivia’s food culture can become a driving force for social and economic progress and a source of unity and pride.” Claus Meyer. FOR WHO? This project targets the three most important groups in the food chain who will benefit from the project: chefs, producers and consumers of food. I. Chefs The chefs in this project are deprived youngsters from the city of El Alto. The majority of these young people is born in rural areas but has moved to urban areas due to a lack of future prospects. Once in the city, they face poverty, crime, bad living conditions and a lack of perspectives. Most of them are of indigenous origin (Aymara, Quechua or another ethnic group). In general, most young people in El Alto can read and write, but on average they have been to school for 9 years only which means that most of them don't finish secondary school. And that greatly reduces their chances of a job with a reasonable income. Not finishing secondary school mainly has economic reasons: they can’t afford it (20%) or they have to start working (47%) but also family circumstances or pregnancies are often a motive to abandon school. Of the girls that quit school, 49% drop out because they have to do housework at home. The 6 Buen apetito, Bolivia! Local food project, by ICCO & the Postcode Lottery youngsters who do have a job, often have temporary or unstable jobs. The lack of opportunities for these young people makes them vulnerable for a life in crime. El Alto has the highest crime rate in Bolivia. EL ALTO El Alto is a suburb of La Paz, situated on the plateau of the Andes. It is one of the highest cities in the world and has a cold climate.