A new office for Eastern Africa
The FAO Conference - the Organization's supreme governing body - at its 33rd Session held Rome, 19- 26 November 2005 approved further decentralization within the framework of the reform agenda. The Government of the Republic of Ethiopia-FAO Agreement to establish the Sub-regional Office for Eastern Africa (SFE) in Addis Ababa was signed on 31 January 2007 and the office established in February 2007. SFE covers the following eight countries: Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda. FAO's main objective of decentralization is to establish sub-regional centers to become more responsive in delivering service to member countries.
Key Challenges in the Sub-Region
The major challenges in the sub-region are related to the following:
- Small-scale subsistence production;
- The relatively high degree of dependence on food aid;
- Low level of agricultural production for specific commodities and policy orientation towards modernizing agriculture;
- Natural resource degradation; and
- Need for capacity building, particularly in post-conflict countries.
