The project “Agreste Alagoano in Movement: Strengthening Networks of Participation and Healthy Food Policies,” proposed by LAPID/UFAL, a partner center of INCT Participa, has been approved under the CNPq/FNDCT/SGPR/MDS Call No. 17/2025 – Extension and Research in Social Participation in Territories. The project will receive funding of R$280,000 and will be carried out over two years.
INCT Participa interviewed Leonardo Leal, coordinator of the center and the project. “When people participate, policies stop being designed for them and start being built with them. This makes public actions more effective, fairer, and more sustainable over time,” he says.
Read the full interview.
What is the “Agreste Alagoano in Movement” project?
It is a democratic innovation initiative that brings together the university, civil society, social movements, and public managers to strengthen networks of social participation and build participatory healthy food policies, based on popular education and territorial cooperation in the Agreste region of Alagoas.
What types of participatory spaces does the project strengthen or help create?
The project works to strengthen public policy councils, forums, and territorial networks, spaces for civic education, and environments for co-creating policies, promoting continuous dialogue between government and society.
Why does this project matter?
The Agreste region of Alagoas is currently a territory of contrasts and centralities: it combines a growing urban fabric with a strong historical presence of family farming. The project aims to support those who produce, consume, and live in the territory to actively participate in decisions that shape public food policies. By strengthening community organizations, social networks, and participatory spaces, the initiative helps bring public policies closer to people’s lived realities. Because healthy food begins with collective decisions that guide public policies.
What concrete changes does the project aim to generate in the municipalities involved?
The project seeks to promote more participatory food policies, strengthen local councils and networks, expand coordination among municipalities, and include historically marginalized groups in decision-making processes. It will also produce qualified data and information about organizations and networks working in the field of healthy food policies in the Agreste of Alagoas, contributing to the improvement of public actions in the territory.
When we talk about healthy food, what exactly does that mean in the context of the Agreste of Alagoas?
We are talking about food, but also about culture, territory, and social participation. In the Agreste of Alagoas, healthy food involves strengthening family farming, community organizations, local networks, open-air markets, and traditional knowledge. Above all, it involves the right of communities not only to produce and consume healthy food, but also to participate in decisions about the policies that directly impact their lives.
Why is public participation so important for improving food policies, rather than relying only on technical government decisions?
The success of public food policies depends on dialogue with the real lives of the populations they are intended to serve. Communities hold deep knowledge about their territory, eating habits, everyday challenges, and possible solutions. When people participate, policies stop being designed for them and start being built with them. This makes public actions more effective, fairer, and more sustainable over time.
Social participation in the Northeast is in motion. How does this appear in the Agreste of Alagoas?
Medium-sized cities such as Arapiraca and other municipalities in the Agreste are experiencing a recent and intense expansion of public policy councils and conferences. This has changed the participatory landscape of the region. The project recognizes this accumulated experience and works to qualify, articulate, and strengthen these initiatives. The goal is to connect social participation with healthy food policies in the territory.
Which organizations and movements are involved in the project besides the university?
The LAPID/UFAL project brings together a broad network of organizations and social movements in the territory, including: the Brazilian Semi-Arid Articulation (ASA/AL); the Landless Workers’ Movement (MST/AL); the Alternative Farmers Association (AAGRA); the Mutum Network – Alagoas Agroecology Articulation; the Cooperative of Small Agricultural Producers of Community Seed Banks (COPPABACS); and the Agreste and Semi-Arid Contextualized Education Network (RECASA). This diversity strengthens the collective construction of food policies in the territory.
Where and with whom does the project take place?
The project takes place in 16 municipalities in the Agreste of Alagoas, including Arapiraca, Palmeira dos Índios, Igaci, Traipu, Junqueiro, Lagoa da Canoa, among others. It involves local communities, public policy councils, social movements, municipal departments, and UFAL through LAPID.
How does this initiative strengthen university outreach and the role of the public university?
At the intersection of university, communities, and territory, LAPID/UFAL reaffirms its role as a laboratory for research and action in the field of democratic innovation, oriented toward building more just and effective public policies. The initiative is grounded in the principle that knowledge is not imposed, but collectively constructed through dialogue between academic knowledge and lived experiences in the territories.
Mapa com as regiões do estado de Alagoas.
