July 2012, Rome (Italy) – A milestone of institutional strengthening was reached on 21 March 2012, when the the Comissão Interministerial da Função Pública approved SETSAN’s Organic Statute which has been made official through the Decree No. 7/2012. The new Statute gives SETSAN juridical status, higher administrative independence - including in the management of human and financial resources, and enjoys an official mandate which protects its coordination role, also in a decentralized structure.

The right to food dimension is fully enshrined: the Statute explicitly mentions SETSAN’s role on this fundamental human right as it promotes education and best practices on the right to food; guarantees and develops legislation on food security and nutrition (FSN), and right to food projects; and ensures that financial and human resources are managed to support the coordination of the food security and nutrition, and the right to food agenda. The new Organic Statute therefore has strengthened SETSAN and with it the capacity of implementing the right to food in Mozambique. The Statute offers SETSAN new opportunities to systematically integrate the right to food into food security and nutrition policies, strategies and programs.

SETSAN will be referred from now on as “a legal entity with legal personality and administrative autonomy”. This status will contribute to improving the coordinating role of SETSAN, providing substantial spaces for dialogue on FSN policy and reinforcing the effective implementation of FSN strategy through line-ministries.

With the Decree No. 7/2012, human and financial resources have been allocated to SETSAN, which can now enjoy its own budget line in the National Budget. SETSAN can now officially coordinate, promote, take administrative actions in the field of assessments, compliance and approval on matters of food security and nutrition. In a way, the new Organic Statute implements the Decree No. 24/2010 which formally established SETSAN.

Lastly, the new Organic Statute confers SETSAN a decentralized structure as “at the local level, SETSAN can be represented by provincial and / or district-level Technical Secretariats of Food Security and Nutrition.”

In the past five years, Mozambique has been well advancing on the right to food. In 2010 the country adopted an overarching Government Five Year Plan (PQG 2010-2014), and in 2011 a Poverty Reduction Action Plan 2011-2014 (PARP), which include rights-based food security as a cross-cutting issue; in 2007 approved a Food Security and Nutrition Strategy and Action Plan 2008-2015 (ESAN II and PASAN) that can easily be called the “Right to Food Strategy” of Mozambique; lastly, in July 2011 coordinated the development of a draft of the right to food framework law which was finalized and endorsed in a highly participatory process that involved all relevant ministries and civil society organizations, in consultation with vulnerable groups from urban municipalities and remote rural districts.

FAO has a long history of cooperation with SETSAN since its creation. 
Presently, it continues its works with SETSAN in the area of the right to food.

For more information, please contact: Serena Pepino, Project Officer, Right to Food Team.

For more information on SETSAN, please visit the following website 
http://www.setsan.org.mz

Photo © Stig Nygaard / FlickrCC