IGAD, FAO strengthen ties in a bid to end hunger in the Horn of Africa region.
Joint Statement IGAD and FAO for joint action in support of on-going efforts to end hunger and achieve resilience in the IGAD region.
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12 August 2015, Nairobi - The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) have agreed on a new framework in a bid to scale up efforts to end hunger in the East and Horn of Africa region by 2025.
Estimates indicate that 10 million people in the IGAD region are severely affected by the major food security crisis and in need of assistance.
The Horn of Africa region suffers from the effects of recurrent and devastating droughts. Such prolonged droughts hit the region in 2011 leading to severe food insecurity, especially Somalia where 260,000 people were killed, according to FAO data.
In regional response, political leaders and development partners convened a summit, which culminated in the launching of the IGAD Drought Disaster Resilience and Sustainability Initiative (IDDRSI), to be implemented under the leadership and coordination of the IGAD Secretariat.
Senior officials and technical staff from IGAD and FAO met in the Kenyan capital Nairobi to review their collaboration, with a view to reinforce their partnership and identify key areas for joint action in support of on-going efforts to end hunger and achieve resilience in the IGAD region.
“The biggest outcome of this meeting is a harmonized package of interventions that we have agreed together to be a framework and basis for our enhanced partnership,” said Ambassador (Eng.) Mahboub Maalim, IGAD Executive Secretary.
The Horn of Africa region is home to about 240 million people, in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda. Recurrent droughts represent a major challenge to achieving long-term nutrition and food security. Further, trans-boundary crop and livestock diseases and underinvestment result in low infrastructure and underdevelopment.
IGAD-FAO joint efforts builds on the regional Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP), which is aimed at increased agricultural production and will contribute toward reduction of hunger and IGAD’s Drought Disaster Resilience and Sustainability Initiative which aims to address the effects of drought and related shocks in the IGAD region in a sustainable and holistic manner.
“With this meeting, we believe that the journey towards achieving a hunger free Horn of Africa has begun and this will also be a contribution towards the AUC Malabo Declaration to have an Africa free of hunger by 2015,” said Dr. Patrick Kormawa, FAO’s Subregional Coordinator for Eastern Africa and Representative to AU and UNECA.
In the meeting, IGAD and FAO identified strategic areas of collaboration, including joint programme development and implementation, mapping of resources, and agreed on methods of work to enhance their partnership and contribution toward member states’ effort in the fight against hunger and poverty. This joint move is also in line with Africa Union Malabo Declaration, which commits member states to implement a number of essential policy reforms toward ending hunger and cutting poverty in Africa in half by 2025.
More information:
http://www.fao.org/africa/perspectives/resilience-in-drylands/en/
http://www.fao.org/africa/news/detail-news/en/c/320006/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/faooftheun/19831767503/in/album-72157654722045713/
Contact: Nyakairu, Frank (FAOSO) <[email protected]>; Mulinge, Judith (FAOKE) <[email protected]>