Ara and ICBF, preventing food poverty in Colombia
A COUNTRY IN NEED FOR BETTER NUTRITION
Despite being a vibrant country offering a host of opportunities, financial poverty affects 33% of Colombia’s population, who survive on monthly incomes of around 167 euros; what’s more, 31% of children under five live in a situation of food poverty. In 2023 alone, there were 24,226 cases of acute malnutrition, a figure which is probably an underestimate, due to many cases going unreported or untreated. In view of this situation, the partnership between the Colombian Family Welfare Institute (ICBF) and Tiendas Ara seeks to improve family nutrition, offering fairer access to food staples and resuming efforts made in the past by both organisations.
The importance of childcare work is recognised through Ara’s renewed partnership with the Colombian Institute for Family Welfare.
The ICBF is an arm of central government with a track record of more than 50 years in working to protect and care for children, in the face of malnutrition, food insecurity, family instability and other issues. Since arriving in Colombia, back in 2013, Jerónimo Martins has worked with the ICBF sharing the same conviction that children are Colombia’s present and its future, and that they have the right to belong to stories of hope and development.
THE “COMMUNITY MOTHERS” PROGRAMME
In late 2023, the ICBF and Jerónimo Martins Colombia signed a new three-year cooperation agreement, aimed at preventing malnutrition and food insecurity. This agreement will also step up the nutritional component of their efforts and involve educational activities for boys and girls, as well as for community mothers and fathers.
In the words of Astrid Eliana Cáceres, a director at the ICBF, speaking of the agreement, “private sector participation is fundamental to prevent infant malnutrition in Colombia, as it complements the efforts of the government, generating a positive impact on society”. She also stressed that this partnership promotes healthy eating, guaranteeing the human right to food, as established in the 2022-2026 National Development Plan, “Colombia: World Life Power”. She added that there are 39,104 community mothers responsible for caring for infants under the Community Welfare Homes programme, each of which takes in between 12 and 14 children.
During the first year of implementation of the agreement, a total of 2,968 community mothers and fathers identified in municipalities in Nutritional Recovery Zones or prioritised in the National Development Plan will receive a 100,000 Colombian peso (21.5 euros) voucher every month for four months, to be exchanged for healthy foods at Tiendas Ara. This means that a total of 11,872 food vouchers will be handed out.
The partnership also includes a programme of technical training in diet and nutrition for community mothers and fathers, with course content designed by the ICBF on how to identify malnutrition early, measuring the circumference of a child’s arm and managing early warning signs. The plan also involves distributing 1,500 healthy eating play kits, which contain materials for discussing the Food Guides and a replica of a healthy dish, as well as an infographic showing the steps for measuring nutritional oedema in serious cases of malnutrition and a measuring tape, seeking to promote healthy eating habits and teach people to monitor early warning signs and address priority issues.
Speaking of this partnership, Nuno Sereno, CEO of Ara, pointed out that Colombia is a young country, with around 14 million people aged 19 and under, and that the company has decided to prioritise children, especially in their early years, aligning itself with the public policy “From Zero to Infinity”. Sereno spoke warmly of the valuable work done by community mothers and fathers, who not only care for children while their parents work but are also responsible for ensuring they have a healthy diet. “The purpose of Tiendas Ara is to bring food to all in Colombia. This goes beyond our business model and extends into our contribution to society through projects like this”, he added.
For her part, Aura Alicia Mina Garcés, who has been a community mother for 35 years in the Río Naya region, in the commune of Aguamansa in the Cauca Valley, states that “for us it is a great honour to receive this help and we are grateful to the Ara supermarket chain because this will be very useful for our family and for sharing with the community, and because our children will have a balanced diet”.
