Documentaries in two regions of Brazil portray challenges to strengthening indigenous school feeding

A village surrounded by "seas" of soy, GMO corn and sugarcane in the Midwest. A community ruled by the times and distances of the Amazon rivers. A Guarani and Kaiowá population, a majority Tikuna population. Two distinct realities, with their own and common challenges. This is what the mini-documentaries The Small Plantation, the River and the Steps – Indigenous School Meals in Alto Solimões and The Tekoha and the School Plate – The Pnae in Te'yikue Village, produced by FIAN Brazil, together with the production company Extrato de Cinema, portray. Both are available with subtitles in Spanish and English, in addition to Portuguese.

With 14 minutes each, the films document initiatives for the fulfillment of two guidelines of the National School Meals Program (Pnae): the adaptation of the menu to the culture of each community; and priority to indigenous family farmers in the supply.

The interviews with teachers, cooks, rural producers and students also show obstacles such as the bureaucracy that makes documentation difficult, the lack of structure in the kitchens, and the advance of ultra-processed food products, with the diseases associated with the increase in their consumption.

Pnae represents one of the main policies for the food and nutritional security of children and adolescents. Both in supporting school performance and the formation of healthy habits, and at the most urgent level, the fight against hunger. Furthermore, it is an example of the possibility of using public purchases to achieve objectives such as local development, improving the living conditions of vulnerable populations, and strengthening agro-ecology.

The Small Plantation, the River and the Steps was filmed in the Belém do Solimões community, in the Eware 1 Indigenous Land, in Tabatinga (AM). It brings accounts of daily life in the municipal indigenous schools (EMIs) Eware Mowatcha and Ngetchutchu Ya Mecü, where local production has its space, but school meals are scarce or missing at various times. The production also shows the work of Mapana, a Tikuna women's association, with collective gardens and training, which already has more than 200 members.

The Tekoha and the School Plate takes place in the Te'yikue village, in Caarapó (MS), with the EMI Ñandejara community. The school introduced traditional foods in the menu and made the preparations healthier, but testimonials call for a more structured transition, alongside the purchase of local produce. The documentary presents two projects of food and nutritional education (EAN): the Taste of the Earth, with preparation of typical dishes by students and families; and the Poty Reñoi Experimental Unit, in which children and teenagers plant, care for, and harvest - and taste what they have grown.

"These recordings with the indigenous ethnic groups in Amazonas and Mato Grosso do Sul were quite transformative," says the films' director, Marcelo Coutinho. "Not only in terms of unique professional experiences, but, above all, in the importance of spreading the culture and political resistance of those peoples who, more than ever, deserve and need the attention and respect of Brazilian society."

The track features music tracks by Djuena Tikuna and the Memória Viva Guarani project.

Equity and health

Each minidocumentary links to a case study, which generated a diagnosis and recommendations to the actors involved, especially the public authorities of the two municipalities. "We expect that the materials produced will help overcome the bottlenecks and impact the local reality. And that they contribute to the struggle of indigenous peoples in other regions," says FIAN coordinator Mariana Santarelli.

This work is part of the project "Equity and health in food systems", which also includes a national mapping of how inequities are reflected and worsened in this field. The initiative is supported by the Global Health Advocacy Incubator (GHAI).

You can access the content on the entity's website, in Portuguese, here and here.