INVITATION TO REPRESENTATIVES OF THE MEDIA

What:           Inception Workshop for the African Union- FAO Technical Cooperation Project (TCP) on Ending Hunger in the Horn of Africa: Moving from Rhetoric to Action.

When:             28 – 29th June, 2016

Who:            African Union Commission and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations

Where:           African Union Commission New Conference Centre, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Background: In the Horn of Africa, the recurring and severe droughts and other natural disasters have over the years caused widespread famine, ecological degradation and economic hardship. Although individual countries made substantial efforts to cope with the situation and received support from the international community, there are still signs that the problem is still far from over. Some researchers and experts in disaster analysis and early warning have argued strongly for a regional approach to supplement national efforts. The attention given to the 2011 humanitarian crisis in the Horn of Africa led to a reassessment of intent and priorities among governments, donors and implementing partners so that more emphasis would be given to addressing the underlying causes of food insecurity and malnutrition in the entire Horn of Africa.

Subsequently, in June 2014, the African Union Summit in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, endorsed the Malabo Declaration on Accelerated Agricultural Growth and Transformation for Shared Prosperity and Improved Livelihoods. One of the main tenets of the Declaration is the “Commitment to Ending Hunger in Africa by 2025.”

Furthermore, FAO’s regional initiative on Africa’s Renewed Commitment to End Hunger by 2025 aims to support and capacitate governments to engage in multi-sectoral planning, coordinated implementation, monitoring and evaluation of financial commitments to food security and nutrition policies and programmes under the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP).

As a result of these and other efforts to end hunger and build resilience in the Horn of Africa and the need to translate these commitments into action on the ground, the African Union Commission and the FAO Sub-regional Office for Eastern Africa (SFE) through FAO’s Technical Cooperation Programme (TCP), have developed a project titled, Ending Hunger in the Horn of Africa: Moving from Rhetoric to Action. This is a one year project aimed at catalyzing concrete action on the ground to end hunger and domesticate the Malabo Declaration in six (6) Horn of Africa countries, namely; Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan and Uganda.

Objectives:    The overall workshop objectives will be to introduce the project on Ending Hunger in the Horn of Africa: Moving from Rhetoric to Action and also to discuss and review the project work plan and key activities to ensure smooth implementation in the target countries and across the Horn of Africa.

Participants: The participants will be drawn from the AUC, FAO, Regional Economic Communities, representatives from Ministries of Agriculture in the Horn of Africa and other technical and development organizations.

Journalists are invited to cover the opening ceremony on June 28, 2016 at 09:00 a.m.