In Rome, Janja defends the Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty.

247 - Brazil's First Lady, Rosângela Silva, known as Janja, participated this Thursday (16) in the celebrations of World Food Day at the headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in Rome. During the event, she represented the country in the coordination of the Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty, highlighting that the initiative goes beyond the fight against hunger and also aims at reducing social inequalities.

In interview with RFIJanja emphasized that the biggest challenge for countries in the Global South is access to resources that enable structural public policies. "The greatest difficulty that countries in the Global South face is connecting to funding to develop their public policies to combat hunger and poverty in a structured way. The Global Alliance is not just an alliance to combat hunger, but to reduce inequalities. That is the Alliance's main objective," she stated.

Brazil's role in leading the project.

The First Lady explained that Brazil has already presented concrete proposals and that the Alliance team is currently seeking funding for their implementation. "Now the Alliance team is working on securing funding for the implementation of these proposals," she said.

The Global Alliance was created in 2024, during Brazil's presidency of the G20, with the mission of accelerating the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. In less than a year, it already has 201 members, including 81 countries, financial institutions, and philanthropic entities.

Structure and differentiation in relation to the FAO

In the interview, Janja emphasized that the Global Alliance's work is independent of the FAO. "It's not the Global Alliance's goal for all FAO member countries to be part of it. Our focus is on delivering results. From the start, we have almost 80 countries and many institutions. The Alliance's pillar is knowledge, which is connecting what is being developed in universities and academies to transform it into public policy," she explained.

Ambitious goals by 2030

The Alliance's goals are ambitious: to reach 500 million people with income transfers and provide quality school meals for an additional 150 million children. The project relies on the joint mobilization of governments, the private sector, civil society, and international organizations, promoting a "Policy Basket" with effective instruments such as basic income and school meal programs.

Pope Francis' warning

During the event at the FAO, Pope Francis delivered a forceful speech against the use of hunger as a weapon in armed conflicts. "The scenarios of current conflicts are leading to a return to the use of food as a weapon of war, increasingly distancing us from the consensus expressed by states that considers deliberate hunger a war crime," he declared.

The pontiff called for more solidarity and concrete actions to guarantee global food security. "Sadly, we witness the continued use of this cruel strategy that condemns men, women, and children to hunger, and we cannot continue like this," he stated.

A call for social transformation.

Pope Francis also highlighted the need for profound social transformation. "We cannot aspire to a more just social life if we are not willing to free ourselves from the apathy that justifies hunger as if it were background music to which we have become accustomed. Through our inaction, we become complicit in promoting injustice. We cannot expect a better world if we are not willing to share," he warned.

The speech took place a few days before the publication of his first apostolic exhortation, Dilexi te, which reinforces the global call for greater commitment to tackling inequalities.