“The time is NOW” for women, Brazil, and the future of food.

NOW Partners Foundation was honored to organize a special session at the Sustainable Food Products Showcase at Climate Week NYC. Hosted at NPR Studios, the event was a powerful dialogue organized by NOW Partners Foundation in partnership with Food Tank, J.P. Morgan and Itaipu Binacional.

NOW’s Merijn Dols and Ligia Soares of energy producer, Itaipu Binacional, co-organized the session that featured Brazil’s First Lady, Janja Lula da Silva, with Cristina Fróes de Borja Reis of Brazil’s Ministry of Finance.

Cristina Fróes de Borja Reis shared that Brazil is finally off the hunger map, reminding us that sustainability is a holistic concept that includes economic and social progress. 

“We want to make it very clear that for us it is not only about environmental and climate dimensions. Sustainability means also economic and social dimensions. That’s why we understand that we will have to grow and to develop. Meanwhile, we reduce inequalities and all kinds of inequalities, gender and race inequalities, inequalities between the regions of the Brazilian huge territory.” 

Janja Lula da Silva, on behalf of the Brazilian government, spoke with conviction about how fighting hunger must go hand in hand with fighting climate change:

“Public policies, and the political will to act, are how we lifted Brazil from the hunger map in just two and a half years. The will to do things is how we will secure food for all.”

“And it’s very important to highlight implementations of the school meal program and family farming initiatives in which the women hold the special small businesses and they’re able to plant and collect. And so it has all to do with public policies.”

She called on all of us to embrace collective responsibility, rooted in Brazil’s Indigenous traditions:

“At COP30, it’s important that the presidency introduce the word ‘mutirão,’ which means all together in a collective effort. COP has to be embedded in all of us, in everything that we do.”

Her words were a reminder that Brazil’s role in the coming years will be defined not only by its vast forests, crops, and rivers, but by its ability to model ecological transformation rooted in justice, equity, and collective action.

The First Lady’s message resonated with NOW’s founding call to action. In her words, “There’s no more time to wait. The time is actually now.”