History of the participation of the State and civil society in the formulation of the State Policy of Food and Nutrition Security in Ceará, Brazil

Abstract

Before the need of knowing the past to understand the present and plan for the future, we elaborated a memory to explain the participation of civil society and the State in the formulation of the State Policy on Food and Nutrition Security in Ceará. This paper presents the results of a bibliographic survey conducted in books, articles, and newspapers addressing the theme of drought and famine in Ceará, as well as of a semi-structured interview with the Councilors of the Food and Nutrition Security Council and members of the Human Right to Food. The (re)told story begins by recovering facts that are still unknown to most of Ceará’s inhabitants, such as concentration camps during droughts, the formulation of the state policy on food security interspersed with social movements, strengthening of social participation, and the conquest of the right to food as a human right in Brazil and in Ceará. Despite these advancements, the continuity of this history still has to overcome some challenges, such as investing in the quality of social participation, strengthening participation spaces, gaining political support, guaranteeing financing, giving visibility to legislation, and enforcing mechanisms that ensure the human right to adequate food.