IBRAF defends public research and cooperation in an event of the UN Food Systems Summit Champions Network

The President of the Brazil Africa Institute, Professor João Bosco Monte, engaged on Thursday (25) in the webinar “Public Research for the Public Good”, organized as part of the actions of the UN Food Systems Summit Champions Network. The dialogue was focused on new approaches for the development of public research.

“At the end of the day, the research that we have should be very precise and pragmatic. It should be able to change people’s lives. If we do not have any change, it’s a waste of money, a waste of time,” said the President during the conversation. He argued that the results achieved by the research field should be presented to the public, because only then they can be effectively “tangible”.

The webinar was also attended by  CGIAR Special Representative to the U.N. Food Systems Summit, Dr. Kanayo Nwanze, and Dr. Claudia Martínez Zuleta, Co-chair of the Country Programs of the Food and Land Use Coalition, and Director of E3 – Ecology Economics, and Ethics.

During the dialogue, Prof. Monte also defended the need to strengthen mechanisms for South-South Cooperation and the importance of “to explore similarities, respecting singularities”. 

“My job as President of the Brazil Africa Institute is to shrink the distance of the Atlantic between Africa and Brazil. To put together our two sides, but also to learn. People often say we have answers for Africa, but we can also learn from Africa”, he argued.

The webinar is part of a series of events organized by the Food Tank, the Global Alliance for the Future of Food, and IFAD. You can watch the discussion at the link below.