**4.5 Guinea-Bissau**

Guinea-Bissau is a country that is building relations with CPLP University Mechanism, through the University Amílcar Cabral (UAC). It is a public institution of higher education, created in 2003 and reinstalled in 2012 after a long period of stoppage.

It is the first and only public university in Guinea-Bissau. Its mission is to create, transmit and disseminate the culture of humanistic, artistic, scientific and technological knowledge, contributing to the promotion and scientific development of Guinean society. Its goal is to improve the ability to anticipate and respond to social, scientific and technological changes with a view to community development and increasing social cohesion.

#### **Figure 7.**

*Children's video prepared by INTERSSAN, in partnership with CPLP University Mechanism, 2020. Available at: https://youtu.be/8rrfeNcspgw*

*Networking and Participatory Research Promoting Quality of Life and Well-Being… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.97730*

**Figure 8.** *Fair for the promotion of agroecological practices held by Uni-CV, Cidade de Praia, 2018.*

The UAC also aims to promote and contribute to the consolidation of the values of freedom, the culture of peace, citizenship and human rights. In its administration, it is governed by principles of democracy and participation based on respect for identity and balance between the polytechnic and university subsystems, aiming to promote doctrinal independence in relation to any philosophical, political, ideological, esthetic or religious conceptions.

It also favors pluralism of opinion, freedom of expression and thought and promotion of intellectual tolerance. Along these lines, it encourages the active participation of all university bodies in ordinary academic life.

It is considered that the role of students and their organizations should not be neglected, with special emphasis on the essential functions performed by non-teaching staff. For this reason, strategic action is directed towards teaching and scientific research, at the national and international level so it is important to attend to human resources with respect for their adequacy and good management. Thus, UAC has not measured efforts to favor a good synergy with CPLP University Mechanism since 2015, to expand its international operations and partnerships.

#### **4.6 Mozambique**

Mozambique's participation in CPLP University Mechanism has been ensured by a representative and alternate from the Zambeze University (UniZambeze). It is a Mozambican public higher education institution founded in 2009, located in the city of Beira, which has six faculties, four of which are located in the central provinces of Manica, Tete and Zambézia, and the rest in the province of Sofala.

Most undergraduate courses, especially those taught in the first three provinces, have the potential to contribute positively to sustainable food systems and to increasing the availability of diverse and nutritious foods.

Thus, in these places, the training of small producers in the communities has been prioritized, with a view to equip them with better productive practices, as well as training young people in vocational courses, with the objective of facilitating self-employment in the civil construction and agro-livestock production sectors, enabling the expansion of conditions for access to food.

In its participation in Food and Nutrition Security Council of the CPLP, UniZambeze, in addition to strengthening its staff, has been a vehicle for raising awareness among Mozambican society regarding the need for sustainable eating practices and public policies with a view to improving access to food. In this context, in 2019, UniZambeze hosted the second edition of the CPLP University Mechanism Summer School, held in the city of Tete.

In 2020, in cooperation with UNESP, UniZambeze hosted the first specialization course in Food and Nutritional Security, taught in this country, which explains the very high demand. 130 students participate actively in this course, including managers from the public and private sectors, as well as social activists belonging to different Civil Society Organizations, coming from different parts of the country and from different areas of knowledge that dialog with Food and Nutrition Security.

This diverse participation gives the course a peculiar characteristic and potential for the promotion and search for sustainable solutions to community and population challenges in general. This includes preventable diseases and nutritional deficiencies, with a view to achieving individual and collective well-being, within the scope of local development.

Hence, the option for participating research was appropriate to the context. The experience in this course allowed UniZambeze to think about the possibility of introducing a stricto-sensu Postgraduate course, especially for students who complete the specialization, who can continue with the training, if they want to.

This fact may happen in the near future, and may have some support from Professors indicated by CPLP University Mechanism, in addition to professors of the institution. Some of these professors participate in the Participatory Research in Food and Nutrition Security course and/or have concluded recently training in the Course of Trainers in Digital Scenarios in Sovereignty and Food Security, both taught by UNESP.

Due to its participation in CPLP University Mechanism, UniZambeze was invited to join the National Council for Food and Nutritional Security of Mozambique, created in 2017, which has the task of advising the Government on inter-ministerial coordination and promotion of Food and Nutrition Security and right to adequate food. And because Food and Nutrition Security Council of CPLP is intended to unfold at the provincial and district level, UniZambeze will be able to actively participate in the training of these Councils and will share the experiences learned by the countries that are part of CPLP University Mechanism and that have consolidated their councils.

#### **4.7 Portugal**

Portugal joined the CPLP University Mechanism in 2015. Since 2018, the Polytechnic Institute of Viseu and Universidade Aberta have represented Portugal in the CPLP University Mechanism Coordination Committee. The University Mechanism of Portugal is also part of the CPLP University Mechanism representation in the Working Group on Nutrition and Food Systems, created within the scope of the CPLP Food and Nutritional Security Council, in January 2019.

The Polytechnic Institute of Viseu is one of the polytechnic higher education institutions in Portugal, located in the central region, which actively participates in activities linked to society, with emphasis on projects developed at the level of family farming and sustainable food systems. Within its schools, it offers different levels of higher education in different scientific areas, namely in the area of environmental, agronomic, forestry and veterinary sciences and social and economic sciences (https://www.ipv.pt/acesso.htm).

#### *Networking and Participatory Research Promoting Quality of Life and Well-Being… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.97730*

The Universidade Aberta (UAb) is the public distance learning university in Portugal. It is a member of the Distance Education Association of Portuguese Speaking Countries. Due to its vocation and nature, UAb uses in its teaching activities, the most advanced distance learning methodologies and technologies aimed at education without geographical borders or physical barriers, and with a special focus on the expansion of Portuguese language and culture in Portuguese-speaking countries (migrant communities and Portuguese-speaking countries).

Thus, UAb offers, anywhere in the world, higher education (degrees, masters and doctorates) and Lifelong Learning courses, in the following domains: Sciences and Technology, Social and Management Sciences, Distance Education and Humanities (https://portal.uab.pt/). In the context of food, the Master's course in Food Consumption Sciences (https://www2.uab.pt/guiainformativo/detailcursos. php?curso=25) stands out in its online offer.

The University Mechanism network in Portugal is composed of eight Higher Education Institutions, and 18 researchers, with different scientific backgrounds: agronomy, zootechnics, biology, food engineering, pharmaceutical sciences. This network actively participates in regular online (monthly) CPLP University Mechanism Coordination meetings, for better planning and better execution of the Mechanism work plan. It also participates actively in the different activities developed by University Mechanism, at the level of the following axis: teaching, research, extension.

In this regard, the participation of different researchers from the CPLP University Mechanism network in Portugal stands out in the lato-sensu specialization course in Food and Nutritional Security, proposed by UNILAB and UNESP. It is also worth mentioning the participation of researchers in the different Special Interest Groups: SIG Sustainable Agri-food System, SIG Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries, SIG Obesity.

The CPLP University Mechanism network in Portugal actively collaborates with the Civil Society Mechanism of the CPLP Food Security Council, highlighting in this regard the recent actions: International Forum on Relevant Territories for Sustainable Food Systems (July 2019); Workshops: Human Right to Adequate Food and Public Policies at the Local Level (2018), Conversations @ table: International Exchanges on the Post-COVID-19 Food System (2020).

Likewise, a number of research projects related to family farming and right to adequate food are underway within the Decade of Family Farming, in partnership with CPLP civil society mechanism and several other partners from academia and civil society (for example, the project "Contributions from Family Farming to the Promotion of Sustainable Food Systems and Diets", within the scope of the National Rural Network and the cooperation project "TERRASafe - Healthy Territories with Family Farmers", which involve Brazil, Guinea Bissau and Mozambique).

### **4.8 São Tomé and Príncipe**

The University of São Tomé and Príncipe (USTP) is a public institution of higher education that resulted from the need to create a structure capable of bringing together the different institutions and training centers in order to provide functional and institutional uniformity to higher education in São Tomé and Prince. USTP was created in 2014 and has been a member of CPLP University Mechanism since 2015. USTP assumes itself as the institution responsible for the scientific, cultural, social and economic development of this geographic and linguistic space with around 200 thousand inhabitants. The objective of the USTP is to provide quality higher education, research and extension that enable the formation of citizens with

the capacity for entrepreneurial action and independent reflection, necessary for the country's sustainable development.

Within the scope of the CPLP University Mechanism, USTP, Uni-CV and UniZambeze hosted the Specialization Course in Food and Nutrition Security promoted by UNILAB and UNESP. USTP has been working closely with the civil society network for Food and Nutrition Security, Food and Nutrition Security Council of the STP, Center for Agricultural and Technological Research (CIAT-STP), as well as with the government in order to ensure Food and Nutrition Security, and improving the living conditions of the rural population through participatory research. Currently, USTP in cooperation with UNILAB and UNESP is working to implement a Master's course in Agroecology and Rural Development with a focus on Rural development, Agroecology, public policies for food security and the Empowerment of rural Women.
