Brazil has been recognised for its Fome Zero (Zero Hunger) strategy for reducing poverty and food insecurity and its school meals programme, which reaches about 45 million children per year.
The Brazilian Centre of Excellence Against Hunger, located in the capital, Brasilia, will assist governments in Africa, Asia and Latin America by drawing on the expertise of WFP and Brazil in the fight against hunger, while promoting sustainable school feeding models and other food and nutrition safety nets, the UN reports.
**A Wealth of Experience**
“As a world champion in the fight against hunger, Brazil has a wealth of experience that can be shared with governments eager to learn how they achieved that success and adapt it to their own countries,” said WFP Executive Director, Josette Sheeran, during an official visit to Brazil.
The Centre will provide a unique “South-South bridge” to ending hunger, she noted in a WFP news release on November 7, 2011.
“Brazil has taken the fight against hunger and malnutrition seriously and is now among those defeating hunger faster than any nation on earth. We will partner to leverage this success to other nations seeking to end hunger and malnutrition.”
The new Centre will be headed by Daniel Balaban, who has helped to provide school meals to millions of children when he was the President of the Brazilian National Education Development Fund.
Funded entirely through voluntary donations, WFP is the world’s largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger. Each day in 60 countries around the world, WFP provides school meals to around 22 million children.
*Source: [www.un.org](http://www.un.org/apps/news/printnews.asp?nid=40324)
2011 [Human Wrongs Watch](http://human-wrongs-watch.net/2011/11/08/3407/)
