Representatives from the UN FAO and members of the Pan-African Parliamentary Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition met in South Africa for a workshop
The FAO and the Pan Africa Parliament signed the Technical Cooperation Project (TCP) last year, which is designed to tackle challenges to Africa's food security.
Government representatives from the Cameroon, Madagascar, Sierra Leone and Uganda, which were selected for pilot projects, were also present.
Most countries in Africa, hurt by malnutrition, are not expected to meet most of the World Health Assembly (WHA) Nutrition targets for the next decade.
“Evidence has shown that food security and nutrition policies and frameworks that are anchored in legislation are more effective and sustainable,” Lewis Hove, FAO country representative for South Africa, said.
Parliamentarians are therefore critical partners in the fight to eradicate poverty and malnutrition given their legislative, budgetary and policy oversight roles, among others.
The TCP, which has a funding of US$350,000, is expected to end by October 2019.
The Malabo Declaration, signed by African leaders in 2014, is committed to reducing stunting to below 10 per cent in Africa and underweight in children under 5-years- old to below 5 per cent by 2025, with the aim of eliminating hunger in Africa in the next decade.
