Africa: Horn of Africa Ministerial Roundtable On Food Security Addis Ababa

10 February 2023
African Union (Addis Ababa)
press release

On 10 February 2023, the African Union Commission's Department of Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy and Sustainable Environment (DARBE), and the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), co-convened the Horn of Africa Ministerial Roundtable on food security in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. In attendance were the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia; the Republic of Kenya; the Federal Republic of Somalia; the Republic of South Sudan; and Red Cross and Red Crescent National Society leaders.

Acutely affected Member States of the Horn of Africa, namely; Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and South Sudan, DARBE and the IFRC joined forces to solidify both urgent humanitarian action and long-term resilience-based programming to curtail the persistent food security situation as a result of five seasons of failed rains and localised conflict, among other factors. As a result, a joint programme to strengthen food and nutrition resilience in the Horn of Africa was developed which was endorsed at the Ministerial Roundtable. This was accomplished in full cooperation and support of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD).

DARBE and IFRC welcomed the continued strong cooperation and collaboration between the two organisations in bringing forward the worrying and worsening food crisis in Africa through organising a High-level Food Security and Nutrition Conference in collaboration with the Africa Development Bank Group (AfDB) and Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) at the Headquarters of the African Union on 10 October 2022 to propose enduring solutions presented in the form of a 'Call for Action'.

The Food and Nutrition Resilience Initiative brings together several instruments developed by the AU over the years, and two Pan-African initiatives launched in 2021 by IFRC. The Horn of Africa Food and Nutrition Resilience Programme aligns with individual country programmes and policies to ensure alignment to each country's unique needs and response requirements. It has also taken into consideration the need to capitalize on the cross-border initiatives within the framework of the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreements (ACFTA).

The initiative also introduces an innovative approach and sets emphasis on nature-based and ecosystem solutions for disaster risk reduction and resilience building that is targeting 34.2 million people in the four Horn of Africa countries over a 10-year period. The programme looks at all aspects of livelihoods and the food chain (production, distribution, market access and consumption) spectrum and, crucially, to the state of the natural environment upon which an entire food system ultimately rests.

The proposed Food and Nutrition Resilience Programme recognises the need to address immediate humanitarian needs and setting foundations for recovery and resilience building, offering safeguarding/protection required to vulnerable groups, whilst involving them in reshaping their recovery and resilience. To attain this objective, the programme outlines three key and mutually reinforcing thematic priorities aimed at addressing the multiple drivers of food insecurity, principally: (i) encompassing livelihood support and water management, (ii) environmental sustainability, and (iii) community health and nutrition.

Innovation is central to the approach and was further emphasized in the roundtable as this programme, metrics will be geared towards decision-making and learning, more than compliance and accountability. Thus, the programme will ensure a synergistic and complementary partnership-driven response to the current food insecurity, malnutrition, humanitarian and instability challenges.

At the roundtable, AUC, IFRC and the four intervention Member States committed to scaling up their ambition and will coordinate their policy, media advocacy and fundraising activities to match the proposed Horn of Africa Food and Nutrition Resilience Programme.

Done in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, this 10th of February 2023

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