African Union Commission and ONE Africa sign MoU on the development of agriculture, food and nutrition security

The Africa Union Commission (AUC) and the ONE Campaign today formalized the partnership between the two institutions by signing a Memorandum of Understanding to collaborate on the development of agriculture, food security and nutrition across Africa, amongst other common development objectives the two organizations share.

The MoU was signed by the AUC's Commissioner of Rural Economy and Agriculture, H.E Tumusiime Rhoda Peace and the interim Executive Director of ONE Africa, Ms. Nachilala Nkombo, at the AUC Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The partnership seeks to ensure that ONE is enabled to systematically support the AUC to eradicate poverty in Africa by building supportive grassroots and relevant civil society platforms that follow up the development and implementation of AU Member States' decisions and commitments aimed at fast-tracking social and economic development in Africa, for example, the 2014 Malabo Declaration.

ONE has already been active in supporting the African Union Commission particularly since 2012. In 2013, in collaboration with the Department of Rural Economy and Agriculture (DREA), it launched its independent agriculture accountability report that demonstrated progress in African governments meeting their Maputo commitments to invest at least 10% of their budget in the agriculture sector. In 2014 and 2015, ONE mobilised civil society, private sector, grassroots citizens and political leaders in supporting and promoting the 2014 AU Year of Agriculture and Food Security, as well as the 2015 AU Year of Women Empowerment and Development towards the AU Agenda 2063.

During the signing ceremony, H.E Tumusiime thanked and commended ONE for its advocacy work and campaigning for poverty reduction, disease prevention and control and other social causes in Africa.

“The signing of this MoU marks a significant milestone in our relationship and also in our collective bid to promote agricultural development and reduce poverty in Africa. Majority of our people are farmers; so any effort to boost agriculture has a positive effect on their incomes and wellbeing,” she said. “Since your organization is very much concerned about poverty reduction in Africa, the Commission will work with you in achieving some of the targets envisioned under the Malabo Declaration.”

Ms. Nkombo said, “We are thrilled by the formalisation of this partnership. It is a reflection of ONE's commitment to support the Africa Union's Agenda 2063 and its Sustainable Development goals commitments in the Member States. We laud the AUC's efforts to promote principles of transparency and economic governance, and in particularly the creation of opportunities for civil society, the youth, and women to participate in decision-making.”

She highlighted that in addition to advocacy in AU Member States, investing in women and agriculture, and the fight against HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis were also important areas where ONE's unique advocacy model could help engage African citizens, so that they in turn, could urge and encourage their leaders to accelerate progress towards the end of poverty by 2030.