The cooperation between Brazil and the member countries of the Community of Portuguese Language Speaking Countries (CPLP)¹ has been a priority on the country’s current Foreign Policy agenda. This is reflected in cooperative partnerships that Brazil has, in the context of the actions that comprise the Brazilian Cooperation for International Development (CoBraDI).

CPLP member states belong to the group that gathers the largest number of projects in the African continent managed by the Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC), in the context of technical cooperation among developing countries (CTPD)². In addition, they are partners in the Brazilian humanitarian cooperation carried out by the General Coordination for International Actions against Hunger (CG-Fome). Those countries should also be listed as destination of educational cooperation (notably as recipients of scholarships) especially Guinea-Bissau, East Timor, Mozambique and Cape Verde; as well as peace operations, such as in East Timor.

Furthermore, there are also many intra-bloc initiatives for cooperation, which are monitored by representatives of all nine member states. Member state representatives meet twice a year (in the context of) for the Focal Points Cooperation Meeting (RPFC) in order to provide assistance to government sectorial institutions concerning issues related with cooperation for development³.

It should be emphasized that cooperation is one of the three pillars of the Community, along with two others, namely: a concerted action between its member states at both the political and diplomatic level in matters of international relations, and the promotion and dissemination of the Portuguese language. Moreover, as per the principles of the Community, the promotion of a mutually advantageous cooperation should be encouraged in order to promote democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights. Among the existing thematic areas that comprise the illustrative list of actions of cooperation provided for in the Statute of the CPLP (article 4, paragraph “b”) are: education, health, science and technology, defense, ocean and sea affairs, agriculture, food security, public administration.

Community cooperation

Cooperation projects developed by the CPLP for the benefit of its member states are funded by the Community Trust Fund for the development of its member states. The Fund manages the financial resources from contributions to the Community by member states as well as other private and public sources, according with article 26 of the Statute of the CPLP. Contributions to the Fund are voluntary and different from those for the functioning of the Executive Secretariat of the Community, which are mandatory fixed quotas per country.

Cooperation actions of the CPLP are primarily guided by the General Strategy Cooperation, set during the VI Summit of Heads of State and of Government of the CPLP, held in Guinea Bissau in 2006. At that time it was recommended that cooperation was in close harmony with the Millennium Development Goals. In 2009, the use of methodologies to formulate projects which focused on the contact with target populations and sector cooperation programs, such as the Strategic Plan in Health Cooperation, was established as post-Bissau strategic vision.

The CPLP General Cooperation Strategy, in turn, guides the formulation of the Indicative Cooperation Program (ICP), which is a medium term planning tool whose priorities result from sector and ministerial meetings of the CPLP and that are essential for fundraising. In the context of the ICP, it is established that for cooperation:

Areas of community cooperation [are identified] based on needs shared by states in accordance with their respective National Strategies for Poverty Reduction and relevant sector programs;

Predicts that the projects will integrate “overarching themes”, such as gender equality, environment or governance”;

As part of its implementation, it is also expected to be possible to commit the state sectors and "the involvement of civil society and the private sector, as agents that contribute to poverty reduction” ⁵

The Executive Secretariat and the Annual Meeting of the Cooperation Focal Points are responsible for coordinating and managing actions undertook in the framework of community cooperation.

Regarding initiatives involving projects for cooperation within the framework of the ICP, the Annual Meeting of the Cooperation Focal Points, Dili, July 2014, accounted for over €10 million for specific actions and projects for the period of 2000 to 2014. €5 million are destined to projects in execution phase, and over 6 million to projects already executed. According to the press release of the meeting the proposals for cooperation are as follows:

• “Plataform Skan CPLP” mechanism for sharing of knowledge and technology between states for the development of the agrifood sector”, phase 1;

• “Capacity Building Program of the National Statistical Systems of PALOP countries and East Timor, phase 3;

• Specific action “Technical Assistance to the Information Centre on Social Protection – CIPS”, phase 3;

• “Training of Trainers on combating of human beings trafficking for professionals of the Criminal Justice System”.

These initiatives are guided by the “structuring proposal”, which seeks to accelerate levels of competence, sustainability and ownership.

Focal Points concluded that during the Presidency of Mozambique (2012-2014) the dynamics observed in the community cooperation as well as the impulse that sought to introduce the topic of food and nutrition security were very positive.

Cooperation between Brazil and CPLP countries

The CoBraDi Report presented the expenditures of the federal government of Brazil in 2010 organized by modalities such as technical cooperation, scientific-technological, educational and humanitarian cooperation, peacekeeping operations and contributions to international organizations. Regarding the expenditures according to world region, 22.6% were linked to actions carried out in Africa, behind South America and the Caribbean that represented 68.1%. We should not ignore the earthquake in Haiti in January 2010, which directed a great deal of actions for cooperation to that country. 

In this context CPLP member states (except for Portugal)⁶ occupy a prominent role in their regions, namely: East Timor gets 52.3% of the entire cooperation with Asia and the Middle East; in Africa, Cape Verde (24.4%); Guinea-Bissau (21.2%); Mozambique (13.3%); Sao Tome and Principe (10.4%) and Angola (7.2%), totaled 76.5% of all Brazilian cooperation (BRASIL, 2013)⁷.

Some of the most iconic projects in the context of technical cooperation between Brazil and CPLP⁸ countries:

• Installation of antiretroviral drug factory in Mozambique;

• Implementation of vocation training center in Sao Tome and Principe based on the SENAI model, which opened recently;

• Strengthening Angola’s healthcare system PROFORSA through the development of human resources in the Josina Machel hospital, health centers and revitalization of primary care;

• The second phase of the food security program of East Timor, with school feeding, family farming, cisterns, food education and school gardens;

• More Food Africa in Mozambique combines technical cooperation with concessional loans to purchase Brazilian equipment;

• Food Acquisition Programme (PAA) Africa in Mozambique that aims to strengthen the family agriculture through the creation of local food supply chains. The program also coordinates local food purchases promoted by projects such as Purchase for Progress and Home Grown School Feeding, initiatives of the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO);

• Pro-Savannah Project focused on agricultural development of Mozambique’s tropical savannah in partnership with both countries and JICA, Japan Cooperation Agency;

• The creation of the University of International Integration of the Afro-Brazilian Lusophony (Unilab);

• PEC-G that provides scholarships to undergraduate students in Brazilian private and public higher education institutions (in 2010 scholarships accounted for 74% of the R$ 31 million budget for the program).

Food and Nutrition Security in the CPLP 

There is a convergence between the frequency at which this issue appears on the agenda of the technical and humanitarian cooperation between Brazil and its partners and its inclusion on the cooperation agenda of the Community.

The Council of Food and Nutrition Security (CONSAN) is the CPLP consultative body of the Conference of the Heads of State and of Government of CPLP to implement Food and Nutrition Security Strategy (ESAN), which was approved in 2011.

The vision and objective of ESAN is the human right to adequate food. This right is of great importance in the eradication of hunger and poverty in the Community through enhanced coordination between member states and greater governance of policies and sector programs for food and nutrition security. Thus, its performance is based on the following milestones:

• 9th Conference of Heads of State and of Government of the CPLP, held in Maputo around the central theme “CPLP and the Challenges of Food and Nutritional Security”;

• United Nations officially declared 2014 as the International Year of Family Farming¹⁰;

• The UN Secretary-General’s initiative with regards to the UN Zero Hunger Challenge;

• The international initiative “Scaling up Nutrition” (Movement to Promote Nutrition);

• The establishment of the CPLP Farmer’s Platform in the context of Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development;

• The initiative to create the CPLP Rural Women’s Forum, during the 9th Conference of Heads of State and of Government of the CPLP, held in Maputo;

• The creation of a working group on family farming in the CPLP;

• The launching of the Human Right to Adequate Food Observatory in the CPLP and its role in supporting the implementation of the Food and Nutrition Security Strategy (ESAN).

As examples of major initiatives in Food and Nutrition Security there is the project “Promoting Food Security in the CPLP cities through the development of sustainable urban farming” and the participation of civil society in discussions coordinated by the Council.

The project, which is financed by the CPLP Trust Fund, is largely centered in the cities of Maputo and Bissau and supported by the Agrarian School of Coimbra (Portugal) for the implementation of actions aimed at establishing community gardens and for the involvement of different actors and families who are more vulnerable. In addition, the project aims to support both countries to achieve their goals, guided by the first Millennium Development Goal (MDG).

Civil society participation takes place through the Regional Network of the Civil Society for Food Security and Nutrition (REDSAN) and the CPLP Farmer's Platform. Both groups are encouraged to attend Council meetings and support the implementation of the Food and Nutrition Security Strategy (ESAN). REDSAN was founded in 2007 and brings together over 400 civil society organizations from all member states, including different subjects and different populations vulnerable to food and nutrition insecurity – community-based organizations, farmers, fishermen, women, people with HIV/AIDS, youth groups, consumer organizations, NGOs, among others. However, despite the formal provision for its participation, civil society still complains about its low performance in the actions of the Community.

In April 2014, REDSAN and Farmer’s Platform sent an open letter to the Executive Secretary of the CPLP in which, among other things, noted: the necessary allocation of resources provided, within the framework for the implementation of the CONSAN for actions involving the ESAN and for the operation of the Civil Society Mechanism; the importance of strengthening the Technical Secretariat of the ESAN, whose mandate is almost entirely unfulfilled; greater attention to inconsistencies between the campaign "United Against Hunger" and the axes of the ESAN, which causes misalignment between resources and efforts towards the goals that have been set; the slowness and inadequacies in the activity plan of the first session of the CONSAN, and in the contingency plan of the Technical Secretariat of the ESAN, held in Cape Verde in 2013.

This theme, however, seems to have lost strength in the last year because the meeting of the CONSAN that would result in recommendations for decision making at the Summit of the Heads of State and of Government held in Dili, East Timor, in July, did not happen. Therefore, further developments are awaited either regarding the participation of civil society or proposals for concrete actions within the Council. Meanwhile, this theme keep going under the community cooperation project mentioned and under the agenda of bilateral cooperation between Brazil and these countries.

Notes 

1.  CPLP, established in July 1996 shall have international legal personality. CPLP member states are as follows: Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, Sao Tome and Principe and East Timor. At Dili Summit, Equatorial Guinea, former Spanish colony, recently joined the Community. 

2.  Despite ABC being the project coordinator, ministries and government agencies perform cooperative actions. Very often, they shape the agenda when they launch strategies to meet requests received from states as well as when they decide to suggest complementary actions of continue with existing projects.

3.  As per article 20 of the CPLP Statute, available on http://www.cplp.org/Files/Filer/cplp/CCEG/IX_CCEG/Estatutos-CPLP.pdfAcessed August 2014.

4.  XXIX Annual Meeting of the Cooperation Focal Points of the Community of Portuguese Language Speaking Countries – CPLP: Nota à Comunicação Social, 2014. Available on: http://www.cplp.org/id-316.aspx?Action=1&NewsId=3279&M=NewsV2&PID=304 Acessed September 2014.

5.  Cooperação na CPLP: uma visão estratégica de cooperação pós-Bissau, 2009. Available on: http://www.cplp.org/Files/Filer/cplp/Pontos_Focais/XIX_Praia_Jun09/CooperacaoCPLP_posBissau_XIXREPFC_OC.pdf Accessed September 2014.

6.  Actions are directed at Portuguese Speaking African Countries (PALOPS) and East Timor. However, cooperation with Portugal distinguishes itself by having a North-South orientation (developed countries with Brazil) and occupying a minor role in Brazilian cooperation. Portugal is not among the countries that are on the agenda of ‘received cooperation’ (CGCR) of the ABC or even as a partner in triangular cooperation to join forces with Brazil to South-South cooperation, such as Japan, Spain and Germany.

7.  Brasil (2013) Cooperação Brasileira para o Desenvolvimento Internacional: 2010, Brasília: IPEA/ABC.

8.  Information available on ABC: www.abc.gov.br/Projetos/pesquisa. Acessed September 2014.

9.  These calculations include allocations for peacekeeping operations. It is estimated that these figures no longer represent the current reality of Brazilian cooperation due to the reduction of available resources from 2011 to CSS (Beghin, N. no prelo). Brazilian Cooperation for International Development in Food Security and Nutrition: Progress and Challenges. Brasilia: INESC and Oxfam). However, we must wait for the next CoBraDi report with new data about cooperation from 2010 to 2014.

10.  The United Nations declared 2014 as the International Year of Family Farming to raise the profile of family farming and smallholder farming by focusing world attention on its significant role in eradicating hunger and poverty, providing food security and nutrition, improving livelihoods, managing natural resources, protecting the environment, and achieving sustainable development.

This article was first published in Brazil and the South Journal's first edition (October 2014).

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