How to engage across sectors: lessons from agriculture and nutrition in the Brazilian School Feeding Program

Autores

  • Corinna Hawkes City University London; School of Arts & Social Sciences; Centre for Food Policy
  • Bettina Gerken Brazil Universidade de São Paulo
  • Inês Rugani Ribeiro de Castro Universidade Estadual do Rio de Janeiro; Instituto de Nutrição; Departamento de Nutrição Social
  • Patricia Constante Jaime Universidade de São Paulo

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1590/S1518-8787.2016050006506

Resumo

OBJECTIVE To provide insights for nutrition and public health practitioners on how to engage with other sectors to achieve public health goals. Specifically, this study provides lessons from the example of integrating family farming and a nutrition into a legal framework in Brazil on how to successfully shift other sectors toward nutrition goals. METHODS The study analyzed policy processes that led to a Brazilian law linking family farming with the National School Feeding Program. Main actors involved with the development of the law were interviewed and their narratives were analyzed using a well-established theoretical framework. RESULTS The study provides five key lessons for promoting intersectorality. First, nutrition and health practitioners can afford to embrace bold ideas when working with other sectors. Second, they should engage with more powerful sectors (or subsectors) and position nutrition goals as providing solutions that meet the interests of these sector. Third is the need to focus on a common goal – which may not be explicitly nutrition-related – as the focus of the intersectoral action. Fourth, philosophical, political, and governance spaces are needed to bring together different sectors. Fifth, evidence on the success of the intersectoral approach increases the acceptance of the process. CONCLUSIONS This study on policy processes shows how a convergence of factors enabled a link between family farming and school feeding in Brazil. It highlights that there are strategies to engage other sectors toward nutrition goals which provides benefits for all sectors involved.

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Publicado

2016-01-01

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Artigos Originais

Como Citar

Hawkes, C., Brazil, B. G., Castro, I. R. R. de, & Jaime, P. C. (2016). How to engage across sectors: lessons from agriculture and nutrition in the Brazilian School Feeding Program. Revista De Saúde Pública, 50, 47. https://doi.org/10.1590/S1518-8787.2016050006506