On 13 March 2023, FAO’s Inclusive Rural Transformation and Gender Equality Division, Regional Office for Africa, and Development Law Service addressed the Gender Committee of the Pan-African Parliament (PAP) to highlight key legal challenges to gender equality in agrifood systems and provide recommendations for the development of a new model law.  Proposal of a model law on gender equality in agrifood systems comes as part of an ongoing collaboration between FAO and PAP to develop regional framework laws to improve food security and nutrition in Africa. FAO and PAP have had a Memorandum of Understanding in place since 2016 under the...

The XXVIII Ibero-American Summit of Heads of State and Government approved key instruments to address common challenges in the areas of environment, food security and rights in digital environments, as well as 16 special communiqués, including a proposal for fairer international financing for developing countries. The Heads of State affirmed that Ibero-America needs to advance in a post-COVID recovery that leads to a reduction in inequalities and at the same time aligns the region's commitments with the global development agenda. The instruments approved at the XXVIII Ibero-American Summit are of key importance on this path: the Declaration of Santo Domingo (1),...

Presidents and parliamentarians from eleven Central African countries came together in a meeting that was held over two days (27 and 28 February 2023), and back-to-back with the third international conference of the Network of Parliamentarians for the Sustainable Management of Central African Forest Ecosystems. Taking stock of the progress made in pursuing the network's objectives and renewing its political commitment, discussions included an assessment of the food and nutrition situation in Central Africa, the role of parliaments in promoting...

Addressing the 350 participants of the joint conferences of the Presidents of the Parliamentary Alliances of Central Africa and the International Conference of Parliamentarians on the Sustainable Management of Forest Ecosystems in Central Africa, FAO Chief Scientist, Ismahane Elouafi, reminded the Assembly that, according to predictions, the world is still far from achieving the goal of ending hunger and malnutrition in all its forms by 2030. With only seven years to go, the African continent, in particular the Central African sub-region, is still far from meeting the United Nations’ 2030 deadline for reaching Zero Hunger. The latest data suggests that severe...

Rome – A delegation from the Pan-African Parliament (PAP) visited FAO Headquarters on the 13 and 14 December 2022 to discuss FAO support for a series of new model laws under consideration by the African nations.  The meetings in Rome follow the PAP’s...