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Description
The project aims to empower the organisation, to strengthen its role in society and increase its impact in promoting greater public recognition of adequate food as a fundamental right to a dignified life and active citizenship. The capacity plan has three main approaches: i) improve communication management processes and support the integration of new tools and digital platforms for a greater impact of action; ii) acquire communication skills with the media that promote a greater dissemination of the work done, a positioning and own discourse that facilitate the accessible and appealing transmission of information about the results achieved; iii) strengthen and deepen policy advocacy skills, negotiation skills, communication with government actors and production of rigorous evidence-based information and investigation. The training is based on a logic of "learning by doing", in which the knowledge and skills acquired will be applied throughout the project in concrete actions within the framework of a campaign for the implementation of the human right to adequate food in Portugal, mobilising opinion makers to influence public opinion, support the debate between different influential actors; and mobilize convergence between civil society organisations, experts, and citizens, around alliances capable of influencing public discussion and government decision-making.
Summary of project results
In 2021, ACTUAR carried out an organisational diagnosis which, among other things, highlighted the need to better communicate, giving greater visibility to the work carried out and its results, and to articulate advocacy work with other areas in order to boost the organisation''s sustainability, including the diversification of funding models. Another challenge is the need to strengthen institutional cooperation in favour of advocacy work, creating strong and effective alliances of CSOs capable of generating political influence. This work is fundamental when in Portugal there is still a generalised lack of recognition of food as an object of law that establishes state obligations to guarantee the absence of hunger and access to adequate food for all people, which is reflected in an institutional, legal and public policy framework that is deficient in safeguarding Food and Nutritional Security in the face of crisis situations, be they health-related, geopolitical conflicts, etc. A diverse, nutritious and healthy diet is a protective factor for health, but it is not accessible to everyone. Despite signing up to the main international commitments for the implementation of the Human Right to Adequate Food and Nutrition (HRAFN), Portugal is not fulfilling its obligations. The absence of regular official monitoring of this right and the participation of CSOs and citizens results in a lack of objective information to understand the extent and depth of food poverty and the threats to food insecurity, and prevents the discussion of improvements and alternatives. The Portuguese Constitution only recognises food implicitly; consequently, the policies that contribute to guaranteeing food and nutrition security are scattered across sectoral policies and programmes (health, social security, agriculture, education, etc.), generating omissions in the face of the evolution of food insecurity in the country and sometimes overlaps, contributing to a waste of public resources and a loss of efficiency in public action efforts. However, food has gained more media attention in public opinion, especially its environmental impacts, the search for technological innovations, traditional gastronomy and consumer food education. But the discussion of the unequal distribution of the effects of the current food system, from a human rights perspective, is still very localised among experts and specialised CSOs. There is no clear and shared understanding, including among public opinion, of the correlation between the threats and concrete violations of HRAFN and other related rights, within the framework of the relative living conditions of Portuguese society. As a result, citizens'' literacy on this right is also low and existing civic actions are focused on charitable actions. It is, therefore, essential to create spaces for enlightened and effective debate that allow for a change in the way public opinion perceives this issue, in order to support CSO advocacy work for the full implementation of HRWS in Portugal through legal and institutional changes.
The results of the above-mentioned organisational diagnosis called for the acquisition of communication skills, both internally (management of the information produced, improvement of practices and use of tools for digital presence) and externally, in order to improve their positioning and increase their impact on the promotion of HRAFN in Portugal.
At the start of the project, research and several meetings were held to find consultants with a profile suited to the needs and mission of the organisations and digital transformation training activities began, including a diagnosis of the digital situation (websites) of the organisations. During this period, efforts were made to ensure ACTUAR''s participation in parliamentary hearings and participation in the constitution revision process.
The project''s promotional video was created, based on a script developed during the mentoring and training sessions for digital transformation, which recorded the moments of the street action to collect signatures for the petition for the basic law on the right to adequate food. For campaign purposes, posters were created for the social media campaign and an opinion piece was published as part of the mentoring and training in social communication and media.
In the last four months of the year, there was a greater focus on advocacy actions, with ACTUAR contributing to the Constitutional Review process by presenting proposals to include the human right to adequate food in the Constitution.
A hearing was also held with the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture and Fisheries, responsible for analysing the proposal for a Basic Law on the Human Right to Adequate Food and Nutrition (Bill 220/XV/1), where the organisations presented their arguments in defence of a Basic Law in this area. Also in this area of work, ACTUAR took part in the extended meeting of Portugal''s National Food and Nutrition Security Council, presenting its contributions to the monitoring report on the Food and Nutrition Security Strategy and the Council''s operating model. Two partnerships were established to carry out initiatives aimed at establishing alliance relationships between NGOs, Academia and Municipalities. One of the initiatives was held in partnership with the University of Aveiro and the Aveiro branch of EAPN Portugal (NGO), at the University, with the participation of researchers, students and civil society organisations. The initiative made it possible to establish a dialogue with actors who have been working in sectors related to food in the Aveiro district. The initiative was preceded by prior contacts and an analysis of the situation in the municipality of Aveiro in terms of the implementation of Human Right to Adequate Food and Nutrition (HRAFN), in order to support a strategic reflection between Academia and local NGOs to try to influence the municipal executive.
Following on from this, another partnership initiative was held with the Municipality of Aveiro, on World Food Day, with the aim of supporting the opening of a space for dialogue between different departments of the municipality working in sectoral areas that contribute to implementing the human right to adequate food, as well as an exchange of information and experiences with the Academy and projects developed by civil society organisations on topics of interest to the municipality''s work.
The Social Communication and Media and Digital Transformation training actions were finalised and, in December, the Policy Advocacy training component began.
Finally, a final event was held in Aveiro, an initiative in partnership with an association of young people from Aveiro - Agora Aveiro. The aim of this event was to make a contribution to other local civil society organisations, including organisations with a national level of intervention, by sharing the learnings, challenges and results of the training process carried out under the project. The partnership with this youth association began with an initial contact in June, in which the promoter sought to get to know young people''s views on the right to food and mobilise them for the project.
From the work carried out, the contribution to the sustainability of the project organisations’ stands out, both through the skills and knowledge acquired, incorporated into the technical work and leadership of their leaders, and through the tools developed and maintained in the organisations'' work over time.
The project also planned to carry out activities to ‘support the debate between different influential actors (including parliamentarians and the government) on Human Right to Adequate Food and Nutrition (HRAFN). To this end, policy advocacy actions were carried out at national level (constitution review; CONSANP meeting and parliamentary hearing) and local level (2 events that mobilised the municipality), seeking to create a space for dialogue on local public policies to implement the right to food.
At the national level, due to the unexpected legislative elections, the contributions made to the constitutional review, which it was widely expected that would result in the right to food being included in the Portuguese Constitution, were ‘neutralised’. Positive feedback was received from the contributions presented at the parliamentary hearing and the CONSANP meeting, and these processes should continue in the future. At a local level, the initiatives carried out made it possible to establish an intersectoral dialogue between different actors in Aveiro (academia, government and civil society), and it is planned to hold further meetings after the project.
It should be noted that the Aveiro municipality is characterised by a low participatory culture and that there are no intersectoral public policies on food. These initiatives made it possible to bring together professionals from different departments who were not yet collaborating, despite working in sectors that contribute to food security, as well as stimulating the promotion of joint initiatives between the municipality and local youth associations.
As a result, the foundations were laid for a potential local forum on food, thus making it possible to contribute to the objective of ‘mobilising convergence between CSOs, experts and citizens around alliances capable of influencing public discussion and government decision-making’.
By contacting the media to set up interviews, it was possible to start a relationship that we hope to maintain as a result of the lessons learned, seeking in the long term to ‘mobilise opinion makers to influence public opinion’. The preparation of campaign materials for the networks made it possible to create resources to continue the petition campaign for the human right to food, which gained new signatures, including in the street action, which was also carried out with the aim of fostering a more direct relationship with the population and training the approach to the technical work of the organisations in a more accessible way.
By developing all the above activities a contribution was made for ‘greater public recognition of adequate food as a fundamental right for a dignified life and active citizenship’.