The governor of Buenos Aires, Axel Kicillof, today announced the launch of the MESA program that seeks to guarantee food security for more than 2 million families who attend 11,000 soup kitchens and assured that “the State’s commitment to the well-being of the people is unremitting “.
“We have suffered attacks on public health, vaccination, public education, the role of the State, but the State’s commitment to the well-being of the people is unwavering, we are going to continue working for our people,” Kicillof said during the act in Florencio Varela’s Thevenet recreational, sports and cultural park.
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The Buenos Aires president shared the act together with the ministers of National Social Development, Juan Zabaleta, and Community Development of the province of Buenos Aires, Andrés “Cuervo” Larroque.
The MESA program (Extraordinary Module for Food Safety) in Buenos Aires will consist of the delivery of one food module per month through the educational establishments included in the School Food Service (SAE).
MESA Bonaerense will reach more than 2 million families of children and adolescents who attend the 11,000 school canteens in Buenos Aires, with the aim of guaranteeing food security for sectors in conditions of social vulnerability.
“In the entire province of Buenos Aires, the infrastructure, the health system, the educational system is being transformed, after so long we are transforming the life of the Province,” he said.
Kicillof reviewed the effort made by the provincial government to maintain food assistance in schools during the coronavirus pandemic.
“I know that many do not want to understand it, there are those who do not agree, ideologically it hurts them, but schools not only provide education but are also the center of the Buenos Aires community and that is why they accompany each other, they feed themselves” , he highlighted.
He remarked that “for the first time the boys and girls and their families went to school to look for their module, to continue studying and to look for their food module.”
He explained that “when we took over, 720 million were allocated per month for the School Food Service; with the announcements we make today, and as of May, we went from 720 million to 11,189 million, the School Food Service in the province of Buenos Aires, more amount, more ration, more quantity, more beneficiaries”.
“The canteens will work and 2,032,000 boys and girls will have an extraordinary module to guarantee access to food. The two things together are the backbone of food security in the province of Buenos Aires and have to do with this extraordinary moment that occurs at the international level, of the pandemic, of the war, of prices,” he pointed out.
For his part, Zabaleta stressed that “all together we are going to continue working to invest social policies in those who have the least and need the most and we are going to continue working to redistribute wealth in Argentina, that is the way that those who have the most understand that there are 17 million poor people and we came to take charge”.
“We did not come to these places to be civil servants only, but to be soldiers every day with responsibility, telling 2,032,000 kids and libas that they are going to eat better, with a nutritionist, with breakfast, lunch and snacks, working to recover Argentina and give it those 17 million poor people the present and future they deserve,” he remarked.
Larroque stressed that “it is an important day, but we have mixed feelings, since if there has to be this level of assistance it is because things are not good, they are complicated.”
“This module is extraordinary, because I don’t think this policy will last forever, we want it to return to normal work, purchasing power, so that this type of policy is not needed,” he said.
The recipients of this program will also receive a guidebook, prepared by the team of the Directorate of Nutrition and Food Quality of the Ministry of Community Development, with nutritional information for each of the food groups and also with practical recipes so that families can cook delicious and healthy food in their homes.
Regarding the registration to the program, there will be a nominalization of the recipients of the program and then a registration instance will be opened by the executing entities.
Since 2020, the provincial investment in the SAE has been increasing with the aim of expanding the universe of recipients, the delivery of food modules during the period of isolation due to the pandemic, and the increase in the value of benefits.
For January 2022, the investment was $83,825 million pesos accumulated and reaches more than 2,215,700 children and adolescents throughout the province. (Telam)