Food and nutrition policies and programs under the Colombian market’s logic

Abstract

This paper aims to understand the meanings of food and nutrition policies for be-neficiary mothers and for technicians designing and implementing said policies. The Grounded Theory method was employed. The data collec-tion techniques adopted were the semi-structured interview and the focus group. The participants were beneficiaries of food and nutrition programs, with a minimum two-year experience, and technicians with five-year experience in designing or implementing these policies and programs. Food and nutrition policies are conceived and managed under a market logic, which has required an insti-tutional framework that adopted this commercial model to provide public services, which is imple-mented in the scheme of outsourcing third par-ties, especially private companies, who implement these policies to achieve financial profitability. The market is imposed as the benchmark for the State’s actions, and, therefore, the State’s action is limited the oversight of outsourced actions, and food policies become devices for the diversion of public resources to the private sector.