School children at Thema I Primary School getting ready to receive their meal. Photo credit: Janaina Plessmann/IPC/UNDP

21 May 2015, Malawi - Earlier this month, government and UN officials from Malawi and Mozambique came together as part of a three-day knowledge sharing workshop on the Purchase from Africans for Africa (PAA) programme. The workshop provided a platform for participants to deepen their knowledge and share important lessons to help design effective public policies addressing institutional markets and linkages to smallholder farming production in their countries.

As described by Israel Klug, FAO PAA Africa Coordinator, during the workshop, the PAA Africa programme is based on three important pillars: support to production and capacity building for farmers; local food procurement, providing easy and fair market access to farmers associations and support to schools under the schools meals programme. Through these pillars, it seeks to integrate agriculture interventions with social protection initiatives, namely school feeding, focusing on encouraging the consumption of locally produced food, generating impacts on food and nutrition security of school children and building more resilient farming communities.

The seminar was convened at the request of Malawi and Mozambique as a way to share and learn from their unique experiences with PAA Africa. The exchange demonstrates the countries’ commitment to South-South collaboration, a development model for equal partners among the least developed countries of the global South. It has also the potential to strengthen African Union and NEPAD’s regional efforts to foster action and learning by public institutions and non-state actors to end hunger in Africa by 2025.

The participants visited Thema I Primary School, Kankhande Junior Primary School and Chibwerera Farmers Association in the district of Mangochi to learn from the schools and smallholder farmers on how the PAA project is being implemented.

Edgar Cossa, Head of Department of Communications and Food Promotions at the Mozambican Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, hailed the knowledge-sharing workshop, saying it will go a long way in improving the programme implementation in his country. He cited budget allocation to local governments, involvement of the civil society and communities, introducing nutrition programme at the local level and ensuring sustainability of the project as some of the key take-aways that he will be bringing back with him to Mozambique.

“Where we went, famers told us that after being trained by FAO and WFP, they now can stand on their own; we have also noted that programmes are mainstreamed in government structures, which is very good and we will try it,” said Mr. Cossa.

Building partnerships for strong impact

In Malawi, the PAA Africa programme is being jointly implemented in the two districts of Mangochi and Phalombe by the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), in partnership with the Government and civil society organizations like the Malawi Lake Basin Programme (MLBP). It supports six farmers organizations to provide food to over 10,000 primary school children.

Brazilian ambassador to Malawi, Mr Gustavo Nogueira, feels the PAA Africa programme is an important initiative which could have a strong impact on livelihoods in both countries.

“We believe this is the sort of project that can assist in this region,” he remarked at the close of the workshop. “We are happy that the two partners are not only involved in implementing the project but also share experiences in order to build partnerships and strong results,” said the Ambassador.

Speaking on behalf of FAO and WFP, Coco Ushiyama –WFP Representative in Malawi - emphasized the need to build strong partnerships at all levels to ensure maximum benefits during project implementation. 

“Much of the success of the PAA programme has been directly correlated to the complementary way it brings together the expertise of different actors to have a truly holistic impact. It starts with agricultural inputs and technical support from FAO, along with the government and local NGO partners like Malawi Lake Basin Project, to support the agricultural capacities of smallholder farmers,” she said.

She added: “South-South cooperation and knowledge sharing is, of course, not just a once-off exchange, and I look forward to continuing these conversations as we work together towards a common future.”

Focus of the PAA Africa programme

A joint initiative of FAO and WFP with funding from the Brazilian government and the UK Department for International Development (DFID), the programme is implemented in close collaboration with national governments and civil society.

It supports subsistence family farmers to break into local markets by providing a guaranteed market and a local source of food for schools. As emphasized by Mr. Albert Saka, Chief School Health, Nutrition, HIV and AIDS Officer in the Malawi Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and a participant in the workshop, the programme has had great impact particularly on school children who are able to remain in school, perform well, take nutritious foods and grow healthy.

“The project will be sustained because there is total involvement of the community and this is important because they have to own it,” he said.

The Brazilian government and DFID have been working with FAO and WFP on the PAA Africa programme since 2012. Its creation was inspired by the successful Brazilian experience with the “Food Purchase Programme”, which has been in place since 2003 as part of Brazil´s Zero Hunger Strategy. PAA Africa is currently being implemented in five countries across Africa, namely Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique, Niger and Senegal.

Related links: http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/279734/icode/

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