Rita B. Pacheco, M.A. Food Studies

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Italy

I had the valuable opportunity to do an internship with the Nutrition and Food Systems Division (ESN) of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). My main tasks included reviewing draft documents of training materials, which would eventually become publications. I also developed an analysis on food logistics. This internship opportunity strengthened my conviction that poverty, food insecurity and malnutrition issues are no longer exclusively rural concerns; they are serious urban developmental problems that need to be addressed by country authorities and development agencies worldwide. In order to achieve FAO’s three main goals: eradication of hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition, elimination of poverty and the pursuit of economic and social progress, there has to be an improvement in food systems and food consumption patterns, among other factors.