Extraordinary Dialogue of ASARECA Patron Ministers

Theme:  Build Back Better Beyond Covid-19 Pandemic: Extraordinary Dialogue of Patron Ministers on Facilitating Food and Nutrition Security in Eastern and Central Africa

Date: November 22, 2021.

Time: 10:00am EAT

Venue/method: The meeting will be via Zoom virtual platform

  1. Introduction

Given its refreshed strategic focus to perform a higher level convening, coordination, partnerships brokerage, communication, and advocacy role in facilitating food systems processes in the Eastern and Central Africa (ECA) sub-region, ASARECA continues to invest resources in coordinating Agricultural Research for Development, leading to food and nutrition security. Against this background, ASARECA through its High-Level Advisory Panel (HLAP) has organized the Extraordinary Dialogue of Patron Ministers to discuss mechanisms for enhancing the momentum towards building back better food systems processes in the sub-region to ameliorate the impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

ASARECA is currently implementing the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme ex-Pillar IV (CAADP-XP4) Programme, which is funded by the European Union (EU), and managed by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). This Programme provides ASARECA the much needed support to convene high-level policy leaders’ fora to deliberate on priorities aimed at enhancing the momentum for food and nutrition security in the sub-region. Given the urgent need to Build Back Better Food Systems processes occasioned by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, ASARECA is seeking to engage with its Patron Ministers for in-depth consultations on the way forward during and post pandemic.

  1. Rationale

The ECA sub-region, just like the rest of the world, has faced an unprecedented threat due to the rapid spread of COVID-19, which has disrupted the food systems and escalated food and the nutrition security situation on the continent. Projections by the World Bank estimate that economies in Sub-Saharan Africa, contracted by 2.8% in 2020, while per capita income declined by 5.3%. The high morbidity associated with the various waves of the pandemic as well as the national and regional-level restrictions have exerted serious implications on food systems processes. This has become a significant threat to ending extreme poverty and eradicating hunger in Africa, and risks wiping out the modest gains made in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, the Malabo Declaration, and Agenda 2063. Countries have responded to the impacts of the pandemic by adopting unprecedented mix of scientific advice and political considerations, which appear to reflect deep-seated national preferences and perceptions against collective responsibility. Unfortunately, some of the responses have escalated gaps in the food systems, especially food value chain and supply systems hence exposing over 200 million people to poor nutrition.

As part of the concerted efforts to deescalate interruptions in the food systems processes, focus is being mainstreamed to harmonize the response to the pandemic through collaborative initiatives by global, regional and national actors. The African Union (AU) together with the European Union, United Nations Agencies, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and other development and resource partners have pioneered actions towards mitigating the COVID-19 pandemic from becoming a food crisis. This is mainly through advocacy and partnerships, data and knowledge sharing, rapid assessments of impacts, and timely engagement of policy-makers. The African Ministerial Meeting held on 16 April 2020 as well as the joint meeting of African Ministers responsible for Agriculture, for Trade, and for Finance that was held on 27 July 2020 provided guidance on priority actions.

Noting the emphasis that the First ASARECA Council of Patron Ministers’ (CPM) Summit of May 2019 placed on fostering joint action, especially for trans-boundary challenges, ASARECA Secretariat through the High-Level Advisory Panel is therefore, convening an extraordinary dialogue of Patron Ministers to support ASARECA in enhancing its momentum in building back better food systems processes and facilitating food and nutrition security in the sub-region.

  1. Objectives

The major objective of the extraordinary Dialogue of Patron Ministers is to facilitate a discussion for supporting ASARECA in Building Back Better Food Systems Processes for Sustainable Agriculture and Food and Nutrition Security in Eastern and Central Africa.

Specifically, this Extraordinary Dialogue aims to provide a platform for the Patron Ministers to:

  • Discuss mechanisms for facilitating sustainable food and nutrition security in the sub-region.
  • Share lessons and experiences in responding to COVID-19 impacts on the agriculture sector.
  • Identify concrete joint actions for building back better economies among smallholder farmers.
  • Enabling ASARECA to coordinate building back better food systems in the sub-region.
  • Identify mechanisms for leveraging resources to support coordinated implementation of agreed actions during and post-COVID-19pandemic period.
  1. Participants

The extraordinary dialogue of Patron Ministers will be attended by the following key stakeholders:

  • The Line ministers responsible for Agriculture within ASARECA member states.
  • Directors General of National Agricultural Research Institutes.
  • ASARECA Board of Directors.
  • ASARECA HLAP.
  • Representatives of Development Partners (EU, IFAD, USAID, World Bank, BMGF, AfDB)
  1. Expected output

The Extraordinary Dialogue of Patron Ministers is expected to generate the following outputs:

  • Mechanisms for facilitating sustainable food and nutrition security in ECA documented.
  • Documented lessons/experiences in responding to COVID-19 impacts on food and nutrition security.
  • Commitment by Patron Ministers to support ASARECA in leveraging resources to build back better food systems processes in the sub-region.
  • Joint Communiqué by Eastern and Central Africa Agriculture Ministers on implementable measures and actions for Building Back Better Food Systems Processes in the sub-region.
  1. About ASARECA

The Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA) is a not-for-profit sub-regional organization of the National Agriculture Research Systems (NARS) of fourteen countries namely: Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, and Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. ASARECA is mandated to coordinate and convene human, physical, financial and institutional capital to implement Agricultural Research for Development initiatives in Eastern and Central Africa.