FAO has organized a full-day plenary session at the Parliament of Rwanda to increase the understanding of the Rwandan Parliamentarians on the important linkages between agriculture and social protection. The session will explore concrete actions the Parliament can take to create an environment in which agriculture and social protection can increase efficiency and impact of existing efforts towards reducing hunger and poverty in Rwanda. This event represents a concrete follow up to the high-level policy dialogue that took place in Kigali in May 2016. During that meeting the Ministry of Local Governance (MINALOC) and the Ministry of Agriculture (MINAGRI) discussed, together with UN agencies and development partners such as DFID and the European Union, gaps, needs and opportunities for creating more consistent links between agriculture and social protection policies and programmes.

Agriculture and social protection together can meaningfully reduce poverty and hunger, particularly in rural areas. In the last 2 years, since the Malabo Declaration on Accelerated Agricultural Growth and Transformation for Shared Prosperity and Improved Livelihoods, there has been a significant increase in the awareness and understanding of how the two sectors can work together. The evidence from the region shows that social protection provides liquidity to poor rural farmers and strengthens their ability to manage risks allowing them to engage in more economic and productive activities; at the same time agricultural interventions improve rural farmers’ access to natural resources, markets, technologies as well as increase employment opportunities.

Rwanda has taken concrete steps towards coherence between agriculture and social protection but much more needs to be done as the reality of delivering and implementing policies by the different sectors can be challenging and fragmented. As the social protection sector is relatively new in Rwanda, the event taking place on 29th November is particularly important and can build on the momentum generated by the high-level policy dialogue organized in Kigali in May 2016. Crucial actions to be discussed include: sharing responsibilities and objectives between the MINAGRI and MINALOC; initiating exchanges on technical issues with the support of development partners; and considering a more aligned monitoring and evaluation system and extension networks between the two ministries. The session will bring together members of Rwanda’s Parliament, the Minister of Local Governance, the Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources, technical experts from FAO and the Rwanda Social Protection sector. Participants, members of the Parliament in particular, will have the opportunity to understand what challenges Rwanda faces when bringing together the two sectors, and what is currently being done to address these challenges. But more importantly, they will be able to discuss their role and responsibilities in making agricultural and social protection policies more coherent and efficient in order to achieve concrete results in the fight against hunger and poverty.