Events

Press Release Nº317/2015

6th Africa Day for Food and Nutrition Security commemorated

Description: picKampala, October 30, 2015- The commemoration of the 6th Africa Day for Food and Nutrition Security (ADFNS) took place on 30 October 2015 with a call for enhanced efforts to fight hunger and malnutrition in Africa, through women’s empowerment.

This year’s celebration themed “Empowering Our Women, Securing Our Food, Improving Our Nation,’’ is organized by the African Union Commission in collaboration with the Government of the Republic of Uganda, New Partnership for Africa’s Development Agency, United Nations Agencies and other implementing partners, to cultivate collective responsibility toward increasing sustainable access to safe, nutritious and healthy foods amongst Africa’s countries. The ADFNS serves as a rallying point to intensify political and financial commitments at all levels in order to address current challenges of food and nutrition insecurity in Africa.

Officially opening the commemoration, President of the Republic of Uganda, H.E Yoweri Museveni, represented by Uganda’s Minister of Gender, Labour and Social Development, H.E Muruli Mukasa called for the empowerment of women in social, economic, environmental and political terms, for wealth creation and prosperity for all.

President Museveni further noted that sustainable food and nutrition security could only be achieved through social transformation.

‘’There can be no dignity for a hungry man, a sick child, a burdened and marginalised woman, handicapped person or an angry youth,’’ he said. ’In order to get a solution, we must harmonise our thinking….we must adopt a double approach, with developing and developed nations each taking responsibility.’’

President Museveni reiterated his Government’s commitment to the eradication of hunger and malnutrition and also to eliminate negative cultural practices that undermine nutritional security of sections of Uganda’s population.

Description: Pic 2Also speaking during the official opening, AUC’s Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture, H.E. Mrs. Tumusiime Rhoda Peace reiterated that eradicating hunger was possible, if only countries could make interventions for improving food and nutrition security a priority.

She pointed out that Africa's Leaders had declared 2015 as the "Year of Women Empowerment and Development towards Agenda 2063, a fact, H.E Tumusiime said, underscored the realisation that with women empowerment, cutting extreme poverty and hunger was attainable.

‘’Under its commitment to reduce poverty by half by the year 2025, the Malabo Declaration categorically calls for supporting and facilitating women and youth in "gainful and attractive agribusiness opportunities," she observed.

Commissioner Tumusiime recognized and thanked H.E. President Museveni’s contribution to the Malabo Declaration and his guidance to build and support the agricultural transformation goals that were agreed upon in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, that define the next decade of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Plan (CAADP) within the context of the first 10 years of Agenda 2063 and Vision 2025.

Other dignitaries present during the official opening included, Uganda’s Permanent Secretary representing the Minister of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, Mr. Vincent Rubarema, Acting Director for Monitoring from the Office of the Prime Minister, Mr. Ssansa Mugenyi, NEPAD Agency representative, Ms. Isatou Jallow, FAO Sub-Regional Coordinator and Representative of the Development Partners’ Group, Dr. Patrick Kormawa and Honorable Victoria Sekitoleko, Executive Director, Uganda Agribusiness Alliance.

Calls to action from the technical discussions held since October 28, include:

Ø Investment in nutrition

Ø Advocacy for nutrition

Ø Sustainability of nutrition programming

Ø Partnerships and mutual accountability

Ø Coordination and harnessing synergies

Ø Nutrition evidence

Ø Capacity building

Ø Community and women’s empowerment

Ø Adopt climate resilient agriculture in line with the Malabo declaration on climate change and adaptation

Ø Make agriculture work for nutrition.

The commemoration of the 6th ADFNS drew the participation of high-level leaders from global, regional and national agriculture associations, African and other governments, civil society and farmer organizations, the private sector, scientific and research institutions, and development partners.

CJ/MTS

For more information contact:

Mr. Laila Lokosang,

African Union Commission

LokosangL@africa-union.org

Media Contact:

Carol Jilombo, Department of Rural Economy and Agriculture, AUC; Jilomboc@africa-union.org

Molalet Tsedeke; Directorate of Information and Communication, AUC; molalett@africa-union.org;

For further information contact

Directorate of Information and Communication | African Union Commission I E-mail: dinfo@african-union.org I Web Site: www.au.int I Addis Ababa | Ethiopia

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Commemoration of the 6th Africa Day for Food and Nutrition Security
“Empowering Our Women, Securing Our Food, Improving Our Nutrition”
28-30 October, 2015
Kampala, Uganda

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Save the date: 6th Africa Day for Food and Nutrition Security (ADFNS) 28th - 30th October, Kampala, Uganda

Why the Africa Day for Food and Nutrition Security (ADFNS)?

The main purpose of ADFNS is to serve as a rallying point to intensify political and financial commitments at all levels in order to address contemporary challenges of food and nutrition insecurity in Africa. The ADFNS provides a platform at national, regional and continental levels to share experiences, knowledge and mutual learning, as well as measure progress in assuring food and nutrition security for all by governments and multi-stakeholder partners.

Theme and commemoration of ADFNS 2015

The 6th ADFNS will be commemorated under the theme, “Empowering Our Women, Securing Our Food, Improving Our Nutrition”. This theme ties neatly with the declared AU 2015 “Year of Women Empowerment and Development towards Africa’s Agenda 2063".

Building on the selected theme, the following four sub-themes represent areas for technical and policy discussions as well as streamlining messages on the commemoration of ADFNS 2015:

Sub-theme 1: Accelerated action toward improved maternal, adolescent and child nutrition;

Sub-theme 2: Harnessing opportunities for production, access and consumption of nutritious, safe and diverse diets;

Sub-theme 3: Improving and promoting smallholder farmers particularly women farmers’ capacity to access markets;

Sub-theme 4: Strengthening institutional capacities and systems, partnerships and knowledge sharing for enhanced delivery of food and nutrition security interventions.

ADFNS Host Country Uganda will host the 2015 ADFNS continental-level commemoration on the 28th - 30th October, in Kampala. Member States of the African Union are also expected to commemorate the ADFNS in synchrony with the continental-level event and relevant stakeholders are encouraged to support the organisation of the ADFNS at the national level.

Who should attend the ADFNS?

The ADFNS is expected to include a wide range of stakeholders, such as civil society, the private sector, the scientific community, farmers and development partners. As befitting the focus of the commemoration, women groups, women organisations and entrepreneurs will be specially invited to participate.

For more information, please contact:
Mr. Laila Lokosang
E-mail: Lokosangl@africa-union.org

PRESS RELEASE Nº288/2015

COP 12 event calls for enhanced efforts towards the Great Green Wall initiative‘When Africa Calls, The World answers’

Description: 11111Ankara, Turkey 21 October 2015 -H.E. Monique Barbut, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) on Thursday 15 Oct 2015 called for “Scaling up Africa’s Great Green Wall for the Sahel and Sahara Initiative. This was during a side event organised within the margins of the Twelfth Conference of Parties of the UNCCD (COP12) which brought together a multitude of partners involved in implementing numerous initiatives in support of the Great Green Wall for the Sahara and the Sahel Initiative.

The event organised by the Africa Union Commission, UNCCD and Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) was designed with the two-fold aim of sharing with the international community the results achieved so far under the Pan-African initiative, and sharing thoughts on the way forward.

H.E. Monique Barbut took the floor with a passionate appeal on the strategic importance of the Great Green Wall for the Sahara and the Sahel Initiative and her personal commitment to ensuring its success.

“My heart has always been on this initiative. The Great Green Wall is the modern world’s greatest endeavor that symbolizes man and nature coming together to overcome some of today’s most urgent challenges: climate change, food security, migration and, of course, land restoration.” She declared. “The Great Green Wall is far more than simply growing trees, it is about growing solutions and opportunities; growing resilience to climate change; growing ‘green’ jobs that provide a stable income for African women and youth; about growing food security where 20 million people in the Sahel still go to sleep hungry every night.”

Ms. Barbut committed the UNCCD to embarking on scaling up the Great Green Wall Initiative through partnership with the AUC and stakeholders involved in the cause.

Description: 2222AUC Senior Policy Officer for Forestry and Land, Mr. Dampha Almami welcomed the participants and presented a summary of the key achievements of the Initiative to date. And AUC Great Green Wall for the Sahara and Sahel Initiative Coordinator, Dr. Elvis Paul Tangem pointed out that the initiative had become a global platform for combating land degradation and desertification. He reiterated the general call for a similar initiative in other regions of Africa and taking best practices to the Caribbean and Pacific regions, noting that, “the GGWSSI will play a central role in promoting Global Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).”

A panel question and answer session involving key players in the Great Green Wall for the Sahara and the Sahel Initiative followed the opening session.

By the end of the meeting, the message was clear, “The potential that exists both at the local, national and regional levels needs to be tapped to develop Public and Private partnerships so that through Africa’s Great Green Wall we can ‘grow a world wonder’ –that serves all humanity for generations to come.”

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For more information contact:

Dr. Elvis Paul TANGEM

Coordinator, GGWSSI

ElvispaulT@africa-union.org

Almami Dampha

Sr. Policy Officer Forestry and Land, AUC

DamphaA@africa-union.org

Media Contact

Ms. Carol Jilombo, Department of Rural Economy and Agriculture; AUC; jilomboc@africa-union.org

Mr. Molalet Tsedeke; Directorate of Information and Communication, AUC; molalett@africa-union.org;

For further information contact

Directorate of Information and Communication | African Union Commission I E-mail: dinfo@african-union.org I Web Site: www.au.int I Addis Ababa | Ethiopia

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Directorate of Information and Communication

Directorate of Information and Communication | Information and Communication | African Union Commission
Tel: +251-11-5517700 | Fax: | E-mail: DIC@africa-union.org | Web:www.au.int

Addis Ababa | Ethiopia

INVITATION TO THE MEDIA

PRESS BRIEFING OF COMMISSIONER FOR RURAL ECONOMY AND AGRICULTURE

Within the frame work of the Inaugural Conference of the AU Specialized Technical Committee (STC) on Agriculture, Rural Development, Water and Environment H.E. Mrs. Rhoda Peace Tumusiime, Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture, at the AU Commission together with representatives of Ministers for Agriculture, Rural Development and Water and Environment, will on Thursday 08 October 2015 at 10:30 hold a media briefing. The agenda on the press conference will be:

- Outcomes of the STC expert meetings and objectives of the ministerial session.

The briefing will be held in Briefing Room 1, at the new AU Conference Center, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Journalists are invited to take part in the press briefing tomorrow 08 Oct 2015 at 10:30. The Official opening of the Ministerial Conference will be on 08 Oct 2015 at 9:00am

Media Contact

Mr. Molalet Tsedeke; Media Center Coordinator ; Directorate of Information and Communication; AU Commission ; Tel: +251911630631; E-mail: molalett@africa-union.org

Ms. Carol Jilombo, Department of Rural Economy and Agriculture

Email: jilomboc@africa-union.org

For further information contact

Directorate of information and communication /African union commission/ E- mail: dic@africa-union.org /Web site: www.au.int / Addis Ababa / Ethiopia

Follow us

Face book: https://www.facebook.com/Africanunioncommision

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Africanunion

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Learn more at:

http://www.au.int

Directorate of Information and Communication

Directorate of Information and Communication | Information and Communication | African Union Commission
Tel: +251-11-5517700 | Fax: | E-mail: DIC@africa-union.org | Web:www.au.int

Addis Ababa | Ethiopia