Monica Guerra

The Food of Tomorrow Institute is transforming food systems by qualifying the debate for the population and providing infrastructure to think about and articulate public policies on the topic.

Around 10% of Brazilians suffered severe food insecurity from 2020 to 2022, taking Brazil back onto the Hunger Map, although this figure has been falling since 2023. This scenario highlights a crucial debate for the country's social development, traditionally dependent on the federal administration. The hegemonic food system, which does not guarantee food security for all and is responsible for approximately 70% of greenhouse gas emissions, also contributes significantly to the loss of global biodiversity. It is now known that, since 2017, around 70% of the food produced globally is consumed in urban areas and it is predicted that 68% of the world's population will live in these areas by 2050, which repositions cities at the center of the food debate. Despite the difficulties faced by public policies and food distribution practices in keeping up with these changes, rapid urbanization continues to affect all aspects of the food system, from production to waste, with little coordination between government entities and civil society organizations in the fight against hunger.

The Comida do Amanhã Institute (ICA), co-founded and co-led by Mónica, works around seven principles: 1) production, systematization and dissemination of knowledge; 2) international integration; 3) promotion of dialogue and public debates; 4) advocacy based on practical experience; 5) accessible communication and dissemination; 6) representation in strategic national and international spaces; 7) working with networks of partners. To put the seven principles into practice, the Comida do Amanhã Institute is developing two main strategies: the Urban Public Policy Laboratory - LUPPA, the main program for qualifying urban food public policy - and activities for producing intelligence and promoting debate for advocacy and strengthening narratives around food.

The Urban Public Policy Laboratory (LUPPA), recognized as the largest food policy laboratory in the world, is a collaborative platform that transforms food security management in Brazilian municipalities through an educational and practical approach involving public managers and representatives of civil society. The initiative, which welcomes 10 municipalities each year (40% from the Amazon region), promotes training and networking, culminating in a face-to-face social laboratory, fostering an integrated network of agents working for the human right to healthy and adequate food in cities from a systemic perspective. LUPPA aims to energize and integrate municipal policies with existing federal structures, always sharing good practices and knowledge between participating, mentoring and previous cities, in order to strengthen municipal food systems. Highlighted in important international reports such as the State of Food Insecurity and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report1 of 2023, in which it is mentioned as an outstanding example to be followed to achieve SDG 2, on zero hunger and sustainable agriculture, and the report of the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE - FSN)23 as an important example of the imperative of multilevel and multisectoral governance and the relevance of city networks, which provide support to municipalities to promote the management of food systems. Thanks to its significant contributions, LUPPA has gained national and international recognition, generating a waiting list for future participation by Brazilian cities.

The Food of Tomorrow Institute (ICA) confronts the agribusiness and food industry lobby in Brazil by producing materials and promoting events that challenge narratives such as that ultra-processed foods are not harmful, or that the challenges posed to food systems will be solved with simple solutions or without the need for articulation and integration. Meetings such as Poliniza and Poliniza Buzz work on food issues through book production labs and events, and have already produced six publications. ICA integrates strategies to encourage cities to develop food security plans in a systemic way, with an integrated approach and social participation. Counting the impact on LUPPA cities alone, ICA's work has already benefited a network that reaches 14 million Brazilians. ICA's approach is systematic and replicable, making a lasting impact on public policy and raising awareness about the challenges of global food systems and their impacts at the local level. Mónica's vision is to strengthen and expand the institute's impact, with a focus on the urban food agenda, and to do this by expanding partnerships and spaces for collaboration, extending the reach and resilience of the institute's activities.

Despite being a major food producer, Brazil has significant disparities in access to a healthy diet. Recent data reveals persistent challenges of hunger and malnutrition in Brazil, especially among marginalized groups such as rural populations, indigenous peoples and low-income communities, such as peripheral urban territories. A 2023 FAO report shows that from 2020 to 2022, 21.1 million Brazilians (9.9% of the population) experienced hunger and more than 50% of the population hhad some degree of food insecurity. In urban areas, where 42.2% of the population struggles with hunger, the influence of industrialized food marketing makes it even more difficult to access natural and healthy foods, which are four times more expensive than processed options in South America. In addition, nutritional insecurity, caused by the lack of regular consumption of healthy food, increases cases of obesity and all forms of long-term malnutrition, generating a huge cost for public health and the quality of life of the most vulnerable. In Brazil, more than a quarter of the adult population is obese due to inadequate eating habits and limited access to healthy food. This data demonstrates the need for intersectoral and systemic plans to tackle food and nutritional insecurity.

Since 2002, Brazil has had incentives for the creation of food and nutrition security councils. However, the National Food and Nutrition Security System (SISAN) was established as a voluntary system for states and municipalities. Consequently, only around 1% of Brazilian municipalities had their Food and Nutrition Security (SAN) Plan in place, as pointed out by the 2018 survey by the Ministry of Social Development, MapaSAN - which was applied frequently until 2018, when it was discontinued by the Bolsonaro government. The Covid-19 pandemic, coupled with the reduction in federal budgets for the main structural programs to combat hunger, has led municipalities to increasingly take on the food security agenda and create measures to ensure the resilience of food systems, with a notable growth in interest in investing in programs such as community kitchens and popular restaurants, as well as food banks and even municipal food procurement programs.

The current food production model is both amplifying the climate crisis and suffering the consequences of these changes. Public managers are often unprepared or do not see themselves as capable of responding to these rapidly changing scenarios. According to República.Org, an institute dedicated to improving people management in the Brazilian public service, there is a historical lack of resources and governance structures that allow public servants, at the most diverse levels and spheres, to be properly recognized, which hinders their willingness to improve or innovate within the public sector. Knowing that there are organizations to count on and reinforcing their role as agents of social transformation is essential for maintaining motivation and, therefore, action. Cities must be supported to structure food systems that are healthy for people and the planet, resilient to climate and economic vulnerabilities and that promote social justice.

Still on the subject of constructing narratives, in Brazil a problematic phenomenon in recent years has been the opposition of agribusiness to truthful and important information shared with the population about food production. An example of this is how Netlab's research showed that the Parliamentary Front of Agriculture, the ruralist caucus in the Brazilian Congress, published ads on social media in 2023 with content that was disinformative, decontextualized, distorted and/or that minimized the negative impacts of the sector, in order to promote its political agenda in the legislature. Among the recurring themes was the attempt to criminalize social movements, such as the Landless Workers' Movement, for attempting to invade farmers' land, without differentiating between small producers and landowners. Another common theme was the denial of the environmental impacts of agribusiness, with a focus on promoting bills that relax environmental legislation, such as pesticides and infrastructure projects.

Thinking about new narratives is intrinsically linked to political changes and the ability of ICA to drive systemic change. Most of the world's food production is consumed in cities. However, one of the biggest challenges facing urban areas, particularly the most densely populated ones, is establishing sustainable food systems and ensuring access to healthy diets for all residents. The way cities approach food consumption has the potential to reshape food systems, acting from the local to global scale impacts. While solutions can come from diverse sources, the critical role of government responses remains undeniable.

The Food of Tomorrow Institute (ICA) works on two fronts: influencing food-related policies and shaping public perception by producing intelligence and curating content. The Urban Public Policy Laboratory (LUPPA) is ICA's program with the aim of reactivating and strengthening underused legal and constitutional structures that guarantee the right to food at the local level. These structures were established in 2002 by the Zero Hunger Plan, but between 2017 and 2022 they were dismantled, discontinued, underfunded or left aside by the Federal Government, their main promoter.

LUPPA, and all of ICA's work in qualifying public food policies, is protecting the right to food from the vulnerability of government policies by expanding the number of Brazilian cities with robust, multi-year food policies, designed from an intersectoral approach and with social participation, that promote healthy, resilient and socially just food systems. The initiative aims to create democratic and integrated policies that address urban food challenges, promoting a network of committed cities that are redesigning their decision-making architecture to implement a renewed vision of Food Security and Nutrition (policies. Both through LUPPA and in the work of vocalizing the agenda in national and international spaces, ICA has supported cities to expand data on local food systems and promote intersectoral partnerships, political and social commitment and mutual learning to fight hunger and advance the national agenda on food and inclusive government. In addition, by strengthening connections between public administrators and civil society while building a support network, LUPPA is transforming the culture of public management and aligning local food policies with climate action and other agendas structuring food systems, which contributes to various sustainable development goals.

LUPPA's annual activities follow a structured process: (1) selecting participating cities, (2) conducting interviews and diagnostic assessments, (3) hosting preparatory seminars, (4) facilitating a collaborative laboratory, (5) providing mentoring and follow-up workshops and, finally, (6) sharing the results with society.The selection process begins with open calls. Ten cities with up to 1.5 million inhabitants are chosen from among those registered. In addition, 40% of the places are reserved for cities in the Legal Amazon. The requirements also include the mayor signing a letter of commitment and answering a quick survey to understand the local government's dedication to the food agenda and its topics of interest in relation to food. The chosen municipalities are represented by a team made up of at least two public managers from different secretariats appointed by the government and invited representatives from civil society organizations that participate in the Food and Nutrition Security Council - CONSEA4 , or another food-related council in the absence of such a Council.

So far, 43 cities have taken part in LUPPA over the three calls for the lab. They are spread across 18 states in the five regions, reaching around 14 million inhabitants in total, based on figures from the IBGE 2022 Census. LUPPA analyzed the legal frameworks for food systems in the cities participating in the first two calls and identified a lack of mechanisms that systematically address food issues, such as action plans or a legal framework for FNS. Of the 33 cities analyzed in the first two editions, 25 had an active FNS Council. However, these figures are even lower when it comes to other support structures: only 17 had a CAISAN, 12 held a FNS Conference in the last four years, 12 adhered to SISAN, 15 had a legal FNS structure and only 7 had a FNS Plan.

The face-to-face laboratory is the culmination of each edition of LUPPA, where representatives from the different municipalities and civil society come together to immerse themselves in systemic mapping tools, exchange experiences and visit projects in the mentor city hosting the laboratory. Among the methodological tools offered and practiced in the lab are the diagnostic matrix and the Anchor Project. Both tools are essential because they teach managers to develop their own solutions, rather than simply providing them ready-made.

The city food systems diagnostic matrix is used to map the initiatives taken by each city in the broad area of food systems and all the structures that could be put in place. This is a good practical exercise to explore the importance of cross-sector collaboration to solve food security problems. Once the matrix has been completed, the information feeds into LUPPA's collaborative map, available on the program's public website, communicating to society each municipality's actions to overcome hunger and create resilient food systems. Throughout each edition of the laboratory, cities are invited to develop their Anchor Projects, a tool that identifies points of intervention that can transform the local food system and contribute to the development of an action plan or project to be prioritized by public management in the short term to leverage impacts in the medium and long term. In the end, the aim is to arrive at an autonomous Municipal Food and Nutrition Security Plan with a systemic vision, which must be intersectoral and participatory. The Anchor Project becomes a tool that supports the creation of a work strategy step by step, giving managers and technicians the autonomy to design their city's FNS plans. The anchor project is developed during the mentoring journey that the participating cities receive from the Lab's mentor cities.

At the end of each cycle, the information on the development of the group of participating cities is systematized and widely shared with society in three formats. The first is the LUPPA map, which systematizes the information mapped by the cities in the diagnostic and diagnostic matrix phases. The second format involves two reports with detailed information on the processes, themes, cities and highlights of the current class: the LUPPA Notebooks, with special attention to Amazonian cities. Finally, a webinar is held to share the year's results - LUPPA WEB.

The content produced is fundamental to ICA's goal of disseminating information. Mónica designed the institute, defined its strategies and has been working on expanding ICA together with her two co-founders, Juliana Tângari (who is also the general coordinator of LUPPA) and Francine Xavier, in a shared and horizontal leadership. Since the Institute's inception, they have implemented various initiatives and projects, always with the aim of qualifying the public debate on food systems. One example is the Poliniza Buzz project - a laboratory on food stories, a methodology developed for the collaborative development of books on food systems based on real stories, with the aim of supporting the construction of critical thinking on the complexity of food systems and the need for their transformation, starting with children and their communities, and which has already published 5 free children's books. The Institute is very much committed to the importance of facilitating intersectoral debate and the capacity for progress based on partnerships and the production of collective intelligence. In this sense, it has led several intersectoral dialogues on food systems (Food Systems Dialogues), in the context of the UN Food Systems Summit (UNFSS) that took place in 2021, and in other opportunities to address the food agenda in an intersectoral and systemic way. The institute has also promoted spaces for exchange and strengthening of the ecosystem of organizations working to transform food systems in Brazil - since 2023 it has led the "Café com o Comida" space, which is attended by dozens of third sector organizations working on the food agenda in the country.

The institute also supports the production of content that guides public debate and advocates for the food policy agenda. In 2019, the institute conceived, coordinated and published the book "This is not just a cookbook - it's a way to change the world", which won national and international awards and was developed with the collaboration of more than 30 co-authors.

The institute has also increasingly positioned itself as an institution that voices the food systems agenda globally and that brings internationally relevant content to Brazil that guides public debate, produced by international reference organizations. In this sense, in 2019 the Institute coordinated the translation and launch in Brazil of the eat-lancet Planetary Diet report, and in 2020 it co-led the launch of the FAO Urban Food Agenda Framework in Brazil.

As part of its strategy to qualify the public debate, ICA also produces materials for the free dissemination of up-to-date information on food systems. "Café Coado" is a weekly clipping, produced in partnership with the Zero Hunger Institute, with the latest news in Brazil and around the world on food systems; the Institute also publishes a monthly newsletter, which collects and summarizes the most important events of the month, and which has reached hundreds of readers since 2020. These are important resources that allow for the strengthening of the connection between practical action with municipalities and the production of knowledge and reflection based on the work carried out, while at the same time allowing for the permanent updating of all the institute's programs based on the permanent production of knowledge, a characteristic of the institute that is foundational to its think-tank profile. ICA's base of social media followers and newsletter subscribers reaches 14,000 individuals. ICA is committed to creating accessible communication, taking care to disseminate content that is always referenced, aesthetically pleasing and creative to attract a wide audience.

The institute also cultivates a network of partners and plays a significant role in representing the national and international agenda in the field of food. These are positions of representation in national and international forums on food that expand its capacity for advocacy and its articulation with other partners and organizations. In particular, these forums put the spotlight on the cities that participate in LUPPA and on the urban food agenda as a whole, guaranteeing the cities visibility and national and international recognition. By demonstrating the results of the practical experiences of the municipalities participating in LUPPA, the ICA involves other actors in a call to action.

ICA is also committed to vocalizing the agenda in strategic national and international spaces. In the debate on food systems and climate, the institute has strengthened its role, taking examples from Brazil, accompanying and actively participating in the conferences of the parties on climate since COP 26, having become an observer organization of the UNFCCC in 2023. In addition to the food and climate agenda, the institute has also been active in debates on food systems and their structures, both in the context of the G20 and in other spaces of international articulation - in 2024, Mónica represented the institute at a regional workshop (Global South) on the feminist approach to food systems, in South Africa, which provided input for the institute's participation in the last CFS meeting with a paper dedicated to the theme from the Brazilian context. The institute became a founding member of the Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty, launched by the Brazilian government in 2024, putting its technical capacity at the service of transforming global food systems.

In order to expand its work to the national level, in 2024 the institute began a process of cooperation with the federal government's Ministry of Social Development and Fight against Hunger to implement the Alimenta Cidades strategy, supporting the municipal governments of 60 municipalities to advance their food agendas. The cooperation allows the institute to reach municipalities beyond those participating in LUPPA and is an opportunity to strengthen the institute's agenda and reinforce its theory of change, positioning itself definitively as a benchmark in the urban food agenda in Brazil and worldwide.

Mónica, an only child, was born and raised in Portugal, where her connection with food began at an early age, influenced by her family's involvement in the local food trade. From an early age, she experienced the importance of local commerce through the work of her grandfather and father in a vendinha, and followed the transition from local supplies to large supermarket chains, which had a direct impact on her family.

As a teenager, Mónica faced eating disorders, which turned out to be the first trigger for her to become an activist. Food, which at the time could have been her cure or her undoing, gradually began to become a tool for transformation. Engaged in animal rights collectives, she has built a path of activism that has permeated her personal life and food choices.

With a degree in architecture, Mónica didn't identify with conventional practice and pursued urban planning, completing a master's degree in Denmark. During her training, she interned at the UN Habitat office in Rio de Janeiro, where she decided to delve deeper into the issues of cities and sustainable development, recognizing the central role of food systems in various socio-environmental agendas.

With the desire to explore food systems from different perspectives, Mónica conceived a seminar in 2016 that inspired the creation of the Instituto Comida do Amanhã (ICA) - the meeting was called "what are we going to eat tomorrow", featured dozens of speakers and activities and promoted a petition that focused on the food agenda of the municipality of Rio de Janeiro, which had hundreds of signatures. The event took place on the eve of that year's World Food Day, October 15, 2016, and this is still the date on which the institute celebrates its anniversary.

In 2017, after quitting her job, she dedicated herself to delving deeper into the subject, organizing a series of meetings on food systems from various sources, organizing festivals such as Comida e o Feminino (Food and the Feminine) with a focus on the correlation between feminism and food systems, and doing more research on the subject. That year, she immersed herself in the subject of urban food in a course at the University of Amsterdam (Urban Food Experience) and became a finalist in the Red Bull Amaphiko selection process. Determined to be a social entrepreneur and realizing that Comida do Amanhã would achieve its impact as a civil society organization, she invited Juliana Tângari and Francine Xavier to found ICA, recognizing the importance of a multidisciplinary approach to the issue and the need for a shared design and leadership. With the motto "what we eat changes the world", since 2018 the three co-founders have led the institute, building significant social impact with a horizontal governance model, with shared decision-making, and seeking to create a management and leadership culture that cares about people, based on transparency, diversity and mutual trust.