The politics of the internationalisation of Brazil’s ‘Zero Hunger’ instruments

Abstract

Brazil became a prominent player for policy dialogue on food security and social protection in the 2000s and started to share its policy instruments with developing countries. However, the consequences as well as the mechanisms of such political effort have been little analysed. This paper draws on the case of Mozambique to examine the adoption process of Brazil’s instruments of public food procurement from family farmers and home-grown school feeding. It shows that despite political and institutional constraints at the national level to adopting the initiatives in Mozambique, local actors managed to adapt them to their contexts. It aims to contribute to recent policy transfer literature, which is particularly interested in the role of ‘translation’ mechanisms in the circulation of policy ideas and practices across nations.