Networking and Participatory Research Promoting Quality of Life and Well-Being in Portuguese-Speaking African Countries

Abstract

Spread across the planet each human being, individually or in community, aspires for well-being and quality of life, according to the ideal of each one. However, we all believe that there are always ways to live better. For many people the measurement of a better life translates into the guarantee of social rights, the right to basic services, good land, seed and sufficient nutritious food for their community members. The Mechanism to Facilitate the Participation of Universities in the Food and Nutrition Security Council of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries is a cooperative academic network fomented by the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP) with support from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. This mechanism works with teaching, research and extension in the CPLP Food and Nutrition Security Strategy. The pillars of CPLP Strategy are the strengthening of the governance of public policies on Food and Nutrition Security at all levels of government, social protection based on guaranteeing access to food and family farming with a strategy to increase the availability of good quality food, promoting social and environmental sustainability. CPLP University Mechanism has provided training processes for technicians who work in public policies for Food and Nutrition Security and has contributed to the strengthening of postgraduate programs in Portuguese-speaking African countries. As consequence, it has favored participatory research and mixed methods as a theoretical methodological approach. Therefore, it seeks to focus on the territories of Food and Nutrition Security practices to transform reality, as recommended by CPLP Strategy, however, with the autonomous assumptions of the collaborative network. This chapter presents how local researchers perceive the results of a process of inducing an academic network to transform the local reality and promote Food and Nutrition Security in the context of the CPLP.