Johannesburg, South Africa.

Southern Africa's efforts to combat hunger and malnutrition and achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development could be strengthened by the formation of a regional parliamentary coalition on food security and nutrition. 

In response to an invitation of the Southern Africa Development Community Parliamentary Forum (SADC PF), FAO experts were auditioned at the Statutory Meeting of the Standing Committee on Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources (FANR) of the sub-regional parliamentary body. 

The audition aimed at enhancing the understanding of SADC parliamentarians on the role of parliamentary networks for food security, nutrition and food system transformation, and FAO’s approach to catalyze parliamentary action to foster collaboration and drive policy reforms in these sectors. 

FAO experts expressed appreciation for the opportunity to engage with the participants and recalled the importance of parliamentarians in terms of elevating the agriculture and food security agenda, which FAO supports Member States with. Noting the close relationship between FAO and the SADC secretariat in Gaborone, they added that SADC PF is a natural partner for FAO to connect the dots in order to advance and strengthen the role of Member States in the agriculture and food security sector, for example, in terms of engaging and guiding the Executive in terms of resource allocation to the agriculture and food security sector. 

They also outlined in greater details why and how FAO partners with parliamentary networks to promote the adoption of policies, establish appropriate legislative and regulatory frameworks, raise awareness, and promote dialogue among relevant stakeholders and allocate resources for and ensure the oversight over the implementation of policies and programmes to achieve healthy diets through sustainable food systems. They shared FAO's experiences with networks and institutions from the region, for example with the Pan African Parliamentary Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition to develop the first African Model Law on Food Security and Nutrition. Experiences with sub-regional networks such as the Eastern Africa Parliamentary Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition, the Network of Central African Parliamentary Alliances on Food and Nutrition Security or the ECOWAS Network of Parliamentarians on Gender Equality and Investments in Agriculture and Food Security were also shared. 

This audition included a question-and-answer session during which attending parliamentarians raised several points related to gender, land, seeds, nutrition, among others, while some shared their national perspectives and experiences. For example, a participant from the Zambian National Assembly shared the experience of the Zambia parliamentary caucus on Nutrition which provides parliamentarians with a platform to engage with key stakeholders, thus facilitating access to evidence-based information necessary to carry out their constitutional mandate. 

FAO’s global engagement with parliamentarians 

FAO, through its Partnerships and UN Collaboration Division and decentralized offices, will continue to explore partnership and closer collaboration with parliamentary networks in Southern Africa, Africa and at global level in support to the implementation of the Global Parliamentary Pact against Hunger and Malnutrition adopted last year during the Second Global Parliamentary Summit against Hunger and Malnutrition. The Pact represents a historic milestone in the fight to end hunger and achieve food security for all, as the first global parliamentary pact on the progressive realization of the right to adequate food and the transformation of agrifood systems.