02 Case studies Photo : Cecilia Rocha BELO HORIZONTE ’s approach to food security BELO HORIZONTE IS A PIONEER IN IN- TEGRATED URBAN POLICY TO ADDRESS FOOD INSECURITY. THE CITY’S APPROACH BRAZIL HAS ENDURED FOR OVER 20 YEARS, WITH ITS CORE PRINCIPALS INTACT. ITS LON- GEVITY IS DUE LARGELY TO INSTITUTION- ALIZATION WITHIN CITY GOVERNMENT Belo Horizonte (IN A DEDICATED MUNICIPAL AGENCY KNOWN AS SMASAN), A DEDICATED CAD- RE OF CIVIL SERVANTS, AND INSTITUTION- ALIZATION OF THE RIGHT TO FOOD AT THE FEDERAL LEVEL, LEADING TO SUPPORTIVE FEDERAL POLICY FRAMEWORKS. CASE STUDIES 01 WHAT MAKES URBAN FOOD POLICY HAPPEN? 21 BELO HORIZONTE In the early 1990s, Brazil was in the grip of gardens, community plots, container economic crisis and food prices were rising growing. beyond the means of many citizens. In Belo • Food and nutrition education, e.g. online re- Horizonte, a city of 2.5 million people, around sources and a policy knowledge centre. 11% of the population was living in poverty • Job and income creation, e.g. profession- and 20% of chil dren were going hungry each al food courses in schools and for mature day (Lappe, 2009). In an efort to redress the students. inequality and improve citizens’ access to suf- fcient, healthy and nutritious food, in 1993 Through these programmes, Belo Horizonte the city established an integrated approach has built a government-led alternative food to food security policy that remains in place system that runs in parallel to the conven- today. tional, market-led system (Rocha & Lessa, 2009; Rocha, 2007). Programmes are deliv- The guiding principle behind the policy is the ered in partnership with civil society and human right to food. This means that instead private companies, as well as other munic- of focusing on charitable or emergency food provisioning, it has mainstreamed the pursuit ipal departments. Between them the pro- of inclusive, universal food and nutrition secu- grammes reach around 300,000 Belo Hori- rity into public policy. zontinos — 12% of the population — every day (Souza et al., 2014). The policy encompasses a range of diferent programmes, which are managed by SMASAN According to SMASAN, in 2015 the School — the ‘Municipal Secretariat for Food and Nu- Meals programme served 155,000 children trition Security’6. The programmes fall under in the public school system, while the Pop- six workstreams: ular Restaurants served over 11,000 meals per day. SMASAN supported 133 school veg- • Subsidized food sales, e.g. four Popular etable gardens and 50 community gardens, Restaurants that serve nutritious meals at while the Straight from the Country pro- (or below) cost. gramme supported 20 family farmers and • Food and nutrition assistance, e.g. the School there were 21 grocery stores in the ABaste- Meals Programme; the Food Bank. Cer programme. • Supply and regulation of food markets, e.g. ABastaCer (low-cost food) stores that sell According to the Human Development Atlas food staples at a price fxed by the munic- of Brazil7, poverty rates in Belo Horizonte have ipality; Straight from the Country, through steadily declined from 17.23% in 1991 to 5.6% which associations of small-scale producers in 2010. Infant Mortality Rates declined from sell directly to consumers. 34.6 per thousand in 1993 to 13.9 in 2010, while • Support for urban agriculture, e.g. school Child Mortality rates (under fve years) declined 6. Secretaria Municipal Adjunta de Segurança Alimentar e Nutricional 7. Atlas do Desenvolvimento Brasileiro (www.atlasbrasil.org), a publication by the UNDP in partnership with research institutions in Brazil. 22 CASE STUDIES 01 WHAT MAKES URBAN FOOD POLICY HAPPEN? BELO HORIZONTE FIGURE 4 - SMASAN’S SIX FOOD AND NUTRITION SECURITY WORKSTREAMS Food and Subsidized nutrition food sales assistance Support Job & for urban income agriculture creation Supply & regulation of food markets Food & nutrition education from 39.6 to 15.2 over the same period. These ESTABLISHING THE POLICY AND statistics indicate that the approach has been ENSURING INFLUENCE efective, although they cannot, of course, be attributed solely to SMASAN. Belo Horizonte’s food and nutrition security policy began in 1993 when Mayor Patrus Ana- This case study examines how Belo Horizon- nias created the Municipal Secretariat for Food te’s food security policy was established and Supply8 (SMAB, now known as the SMASAN9), how its infuence was ensured. It shows how an agency under which all food-related poli- cross-departmental integration and public le- cies and programmes were to be centralized. gitimacy were achieved, and how this unique approach to food security has managed to The context for its creation included favourable survive for over 20 years, through several policy winds at the federal level, in response to changes in municipal leadership, with its core both political and public pressure for action over principles intact. food insecurity. The opposition Workers’ Party, 8. Secretaria Municipal de Abastecimento 9. The name was changed in 2011 to represent the broader concept of food and nutrition security and the connection with the human right to food. CASE STUDIES 01 WHAT MAKES URBAN FOOD POLICY HAPPEN? 23 BELO HORIZONTE FIGURE 5 - SMASAN’S SIX FOOD AND NUTRITION SECURITY WORKSTREAMS LOSAN NATIONAL LAW ON FOOD & NURTITION SECURITY 2006 Brazil’s SISAN CONSEA constitution National system for Food & nutrition (Right to food) food & nutrition security policy - 2010 security CAISAN FBSAN CONSEA Inter-sectoral Intersectoral PAA Food PNAE Brazilian forum National council chambers of Food & nutrition Acquisition National School food & security for food & food & nutrition security council Program Meals Program (1998) nutrition security security Public Policies System (agriculture, agrarian, health, education, environmental, social assistance budgetary international COMUSAN CAISAN BH (2015) CAE BH SMASAN Municipal council Inter-sectoral School Meals Secrétariat for for food & nutrition chambers of food & Program food & nutrition security nutrition security Municipal Policy Plan for food on food & & nutrition nutrition security security led by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Lula), had been Hunger and the creation of the National Council advocating for a national policy on food security for Food and Nutrition Security (CONSEA), made from the early 1990s, while bottom-up pressure up of civil society and federal ministry represen- came from the Citizens’ Action Campaign Against tatives10. Together with the Brazilian Forum for Hunger and for Life, led by popular activist Her- Food and Nutrition Security that was formed in bert de Souza (Rocha, 2001). The response of 199811, it would eventually be responsible for President Itamar Franco (of the Brazilian Demo- some of the country’s most innovative federal cratic Movement Party) was the 1993 Plan Against food security programmes (Rocha et al., 2016). 10. Conselho Nacional de Segurança Alimentar e Nutricional. Two thirds of members are from civil society, and the rest are from diferent federal ministries. The frst council lasted only two years as it was dismantled by incoming President Cardoso, but it was re-established by President Lula in 2003. 11. Fórum Brasileiro de Segurança Alimentar e Nutricional, made up of social organizations, researchers, government staf, and other food security and nutrition professionals. 24 CASE STUDIES 01 WHAT MAKES URBAN FOOD POLICY HAPPEN? BELO HORIZONTE This movement across Brazil was refected liver the School Meals Programme in the school in Belo Horizonte, where civil society groups setting), and overseeing quality assurance (e.g. were advocating for local policy to address the Agency for Urban Cleaning and Municipal food insecurity and forging contacts within Environment ensures safety, hygiene and qual- the city government. Such popular support ity of ABastaCer produce). According to Rocha meant that food security was, politically, a (2001), the very existence of SMASAN enables very powerful idea. Mayor Ananias (a mem- the municipality to address food issues more ber of the Workers’ Party) made addressing efciently, and in a more integrated way, than food and nutrition security in Belo Horizon- in cities where responsibility for food is split be- te his keystone project. By determining that tween several municipal departments, such as SMAB was to have equal standing alongside education, public health, and social welfare. traditional municipal departments, such as Education, Public Health and Social Welfare, GOVERNANCE AND PUBLIC Ananias sent a clear signal that food was a PARTICIPATION municipal priority and imbued the new agen- cy with political clout to start delivering on its Today SMASAN employs 180 civil servants, in- mission (Rocha, 2001). The Mayor’s support cluding nutritionists, agronomists, technicians for this agency was unwavering throughout and social workers. It is led by a director who is his fve-year term and he allocated municipal appointed by the Mayor of Belo Horizonte. This funds to it: the initial annual budget under means that each change in municipal leadership Ananias was around US$18m. is likely to bring a change in SMASAN’s leader- ship — and appointees do not necessarily have a The Mayor decided that the new agency would background in, or knowledge of, food and nutri- be responsible for all policies and programmes tion security issues. The director is ultimately re- related to food in Belo Horizonte, including sponsible for the approach and activities of SMA- those that previously fell under the remit of oth- SAN, but