July 29, 2021 - The African Union Development Agency-NEPAD, is engaging with and providing support to National Convenors on the UN Food Systems Summit Process, in order to have a common position as Africa. The Agency has been collaborating with the 4SD and the UN Food Systems (UNFSS) Envoy to ensure coordinated support to Africa’s UN Member States in their efforts to organise and manage their national dialogues in the build-up to the just ended UNFSS Pre-Summit in Rome and the main summit to be held in September in New York.

Rwandan president, H.E Paul Kagame, in his capacity as Chairperson of the NEPAD Heads of State and Government Orientation Committee, gave remarks during the official opening ceremony of the UNFSS Pre-Summit During the opening of the UNFSS, on 26 July.  President Kagame outlined the common African position to transform food systems.

“The African Union Development Agency-NEPAD has worked to create a common African position ahead of the Food Systems Summit in line with the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the SDGS, for Africa to pursue solutions in its priority areas,” President Kagame stated.

“The total number of countries that have been formally supported by AUDA-NEPAD stands at 46,” Dr Ibrahim Mayaki, the agency’s CEO informed participants of the UN Food Systems Summit 2021 Pre-Summit.

AUDA-NEPAD is engaging the various UNFSS Action Tracks and emerging coalitions in supporting ‘Local production for local consumption:’ pitching climate resilient development pathways as a priority for resilient food system and supporting the Coalition of Action for Zero Hunger.

During the session on ‘Building Resilience to Vulnerabilities, Shocks and Stresses,’ Dr Mayaki highlighted the following as key:

• Regional approach: In Africa, strategies need to be regional if they are to provide optimal solutions at national level.

• Governance: Africa needs to empower the frontline active players by providing them with tools to build the resilience needed.

• Multisectorality: A fully adopted multisectoral approach for integrated solutions is also need.

• Investments need to be long-term: Short-term solutions do not work.

On the 28th of July, Dr Mayaki represented AUDA-NEPAD at the UNFSS Pre-Summit as a key speaker during the session called ‘School Meals Coalition: Nutrition, Health and Education for Every Child.’ AUDA-NEPAD has been implementing home grown school feeding programmes for over 10 years. Critical conditions for greater achievements in home grown school feeding include:  Institutional ecosystem – in which multisectorality needs to work; Localisation – with recognition of small-scale producers as part of the chain; Financing – school feeding needs financial priority; and Ethics – which call for stakeholders to ethically behave differently.

It is widely acknowledged that school meal programmes do more than provide food, particularly when they are linked with other health and nutrition interventions that further contribute to children’s education, growth, development and learning. To this end, AUDA-NEPAD signed the declaration in support of the global School Meals Coalition.

Through the African Common Position on Food Systems and emerging coalitions such as the PROTO-COALITION on local production for local consumption, AUDA-NEPAD is keen to leverage collective strengths in driving wider and accelerated implementation for transformation and greater impact.

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