Voices from Parliamentary Networks partnering with FAO
Honourable Françoise Uwumukiza, Chairperson of the Committee on Agriculture, Tourism and Natural Resources of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA)
How do you plan to concretize your commitment to follow up on the Global Parliamentary Pact against Hunger and Malnutrition, particularly in the context of food security and nutrition? Can you share specific steps or initiatives you will undertake to ensure its implementation?
As the Chairperson of the Committee on Agriculture, Tourism and Natural Resources of the EALA, I will take forward existing – and push for new – EAC legislations on food loss and waste, transboundary zoonotic diseases, plant and seeds, agroecology, climate change, and the right to adequate food for all. These efforts will build on East Africa Community motions and bills prerogatives, but also on the Model Law on Food and Nutrition Security recently adopted by the Pan African Parliament.
In close collaboration with my fellow Members of Parliament, I will make sure to incite joint oversight and sensitization activities at national level to encourage governments to ensure that their policies, plans, and actions are geared towards ensuring food security and nutrition, as well as honouring their international commitments, such as the Maputo and Malabo Declarations.
In these regards, I will also continue to engage with citizens and representatives of farmers, especially small-scale farmers, as well as the most vulnerable groups, such as women, youth and children, through awareness raising and advocacy activities.
In your experience, how can parliamentary networks, such as EALA, play a catalytic role in strengthening national commitment towards food system transformation and promoting regional integration mechanisms? What specific strategies do you propose to achieve this goal?
The role of parliamentary networks, such as the Eastern Africa Parliamentary Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition (EAPA-FSN), is to provide a sustainable, inclusive and agile platform of collaboration for parliamentarians with other stakeholders engaged in food systems transformation for family small-scale farmers, like FAO. Parliamentary networks can foster collaboration between governments, the private sector, academia and civil society, and facilitate engagements with national and international fora and policy dialogue spaces.
EALA’s close collaboration with the EAPA-FSN allows it to further leverage its legislative, oversight, and advocacy functions to facilitate the regional integration and harmonization of food security policies across EALA Member States, ensuring consistent and mutually reinforcing strategies toward food system transformation.
As the chair of the Agriculture Committee of EALA, how do you prioritize and advocate for food security and nutrition within the parliamentary system? Can you share any specific initiatives or policies that EALA has championed or will champion in the near future?
As Chairperson of the Agriculture Committee, I spearhead the development and implementation of comprehensive legislative frameworks that address the identified issues. This can involve drafting and promoting motions and bills that aim to enhance agricultural productivity, support smallholder farmers, and improve access to nutritious food, such as the resolution of the EALA Assembly to urge its Members States to honour their commitment to implement the African Union Malabo Declaration on Accelerated Agricultural Growth.
We have also organized or participated in several policy dialogues and international events to discuss and raise awareness with stakeholders on the role, challenges and opportunities of parliamentarians to tackle food security, nutrition and agrifood system challenges in Africa. These events have also allowed us to boost the knowledge of Members of Parliament on strategic issues.
We have also actively engaged with journalists and media to bridge the gap between what we do as an institution and the East African people.
Can you share some successful initiatives or policies that EALA has championed to address gender disparities in food security and nutrition? How do you ensure that gender equality is integrated into EALA's work on agriculture and food security?
Members of EALA use their legislative and oversight powers to promote gender equality in agriculture and food security, including advocating for equal land ownership and inheritance rights for women and for women’s access to credit and finance.
In particular, the EALA Women’s Caucus plays a vital role to consolidate our approach and messages when it comes to gender equality, which resulted, for example, in the motion “for a resolution of the Assembly urging the Council of Ministers to recommend the Partner States to enhance equitable access to Food Nutrition Security in the Community”. This includes gender specific provisions, such as directing the EAC Secretary General to “ensure gender equality and women’s empowerment principles are central in the EAC agricultural strategic plan”, including access to finance, land rights and equal earnings.
Ways forward with FAO?
We will continue to actively engage together with FAO at country, regional and global level on issues of common interest, in particular those outlined above, through policy and advocacy, capacity development, knowledge management and dissemination, as well as joint resource mobilization activities to consolidate and continue supporting parliamentary action for food system transformation.
About the EALA: The East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) is one of the seven Organs of the East African Community, being the legislative arm of the Community. The Fifth Assembly (2022-2027) includes 63 Members from Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Uganda and Tanzania.
About the Parliamentarian: Hon. Francoise Uwumukiza is the Chairperson of the Agriculture, Tourism and Natural Resources Committee of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA), advocating for Food Security and Climate Change in the region. She has been a member of EALA since 2017. From 2016-2018, she was the President of the National Women’s Council of Rwanda. She holds a Master’s Degree in Gender and Development and is a PhD. student at the Open University of Tanzania.
