ECOWAS, FAO AND PARTNERS MEET ON ZERO HUNGER INITIATIVE FOR WEST AFRICA

ECOWAS, FAO AND PARTNERS MEET ON ZERO HUNGER INITIATIVE FOR WEST AFRICA

 ECOWAS in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and other partners, will launch the West Africa Zero Hunger Initiative, which targets the eradication of hunger in the region and adopts a new approach to the governance of agricultural, food and nutrition issues in West Africa during an inception workshop scheduled for Accra.

The Workshop to be held from 24 to 26 February 2014,   will enable the stakeholders to forge a common understanding of the nature of the Initiative, a country-focused and results-oriented set of actions that reinforces and strengthens existing strategies and programmes for eliminating food insecurity and malnutrition in ECOWAS Member States.

Governments in West Africa, at regional and country level, have expressed political commitment to eradicate hunger, through the various regional and national agriculture investment plans, among others.

Participants will discuss how the Zero Hunger Initiative can add value to regional and county level Food Security and Nutrition (FSN) efforts and how the initiative relates to efforts with similar objective, and the definition of involvement of actors.

The West African Zero Hunger initiative subscribes to the UN Secretary-General’s vision for a future where no person is hungry, where every woman, child and man enjoys their right to food; women are empowered; priority is given to family farming; and food systems everywhere are made sustainable and resilient.

Despite the rapid population growth rate in the region between 1990 and 2013, the level of undernourishment dropped from 45 million between 1990 and 92 to approximately 34.5 million between 2011 and 2013, the most striking being the drop from 24 per cent to 11 per cent  between 1991 and 2012. 

This implies that as a region, West Africa has achieved the Millennium Development Goal of halving the proportion of people suffering from hunger by 2015, with six States - Benin, Ghana, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Togo already attaining this objective. 

The initial strategy for the Initiative was prepared after consultations between ECOWAS and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which forms the basis of discussion at the Accra Inception workshop.

Presentations at the workshop will include Situation analysis and mapping of key initiatives in the region to food security and nutrition; rationale for establishing a zero hunger initiative; ECOWAS Programming in health, agriculture and social protection and the expected achievements of the initiative in the short- and long-term.

ECOWAS and FAO believe that moving towards a zero hunger West Africa is a bold political commitment that needs to be maintained for one to three decades.

It is expected that the political commitment would be translated into increased budgetary allocations for activities related to food and nutrition security and increased private investment reflecting the core principles of the Initiativewhich are strong political commitment, country focus, results-oriented, inter-country learning and exchange, broad stakeholder involvement, complementarity and subsidiarity.