Bolstering climate resilience in Southern Africa: innovating, partnering, and investing for sustainable agrifood systems

HARARE – The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Subregional Office for Southern Africa (SFS) is this week holding its annual 18^th multidisciplinary (MDT) team meeting in Zimbabwe. The main objective of the MDT meeting is to take stock of what has been implemented since the last MDT meeting and to plan for next year.

This MDT meeting is a platform for different FAO units and Member States, Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and development partners to jointly review achievements and challenges, while designing innovative approaches for sustainable agrifood systems transformation. The five-day meeting is held under the theme “Bolstering Climate Resilience in Southern Africa: Innovating, Partnering, and Investing for Sustainable Agrifood Systems

“This meeting serves as an important platform for us to review our progress, share our successes, and strategize together for the future. Recognizing that innovation and resilience can only be promoted through partnerships with government, private sector, and development partners, we must shift from dialogue to delivery,” said Patrice Talla, FAO Subregional Coordinator for Southern Africa.

The 18^th MDT meeting is organized through a concerted effort to break from traditional meeting formats to embrace a more dynamic and interactive approach. The meeting agenda is structured with innovation at its core, enabling participants to highlight achievements, facilitate investment discussions, while showcasing practical solutions. With this format, the meeting aims to celebrate progress through exhibiting the success stories of partnerships and investments across the region that are advancing the collective goals of FAO, development partners and SADC members states.

“This gathering is of paramount importance, not only for FAO but for the entire region. Here, we will make critical technical decisions and formulate strategies that will shape the future of our regional agrifood systems,” said Honourable Vangelis Haritatos, Deputy Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development in Zimbabwe during his official opening remarks of the MDT meeting.

Recognizing the critical importance of partnership with FAO in jointly enhancing agricultural productivity and resilience among member states, the SADC Secretariat, represented through its Food, Agriculture, and Natural Resources (FANR) department will be participating during MDT meeting.

“As SADC, we count on FAO's technical support in numerous areas of agriculture and agrifood systems development to progress with our regional integration process. Our longstanding partnership, formalized through a functional partnership agreement, underscores the strength of our collaboration,” said Domingos Gove, Director of the FANR department.

Support and recognition of partnerships and UN cooperation was affirmed by the participation of Edward Kallon, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Zimbabwe who reiterated the importance of strategic partnerships.

“In the spirit of partnership, the UN is steadfastly committed to implementing joint programs, coordinating the efforts of various UN agencies, and collaborating with national governments, civil society, the private sector, academia, and other development partners. Let us leverage these capabilities and recognize FAO's crucial role within the UN system in providing technical leadership to address the multifaceted challenges facing our agrifood systems,” said Kallon.

The 18^th MDT meeting consists of sessions co-chaired and also facilitated by colleagues from FAO’s Regional Office for Africa and Headquarters in Rome, Italy.

“FAO’s track-record delivering both on emergency response and on building resilience as well as harnessing economic opportunities will be our footprint and a signature for further commitment and partnerships and collaboration. Our approach and business model should be fit for this high purpose,” said, David Phiri, Special Advisor to the FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Africa affirming the support of the regional office and headquarters to the subregion.

The MDT meeting is expected to strengthen cohesion and coordination within the subregional multidisciplinary team while fostering innovative spirit to deliver as ONE FAO to better address the challenges faced in the subregion. At the end of the meeting, the subregion will adopt measurable recommendations anchored on innovating, partnering, and investing for sustainable agrifood systems transformation in Southern Africa.