Malawi MPs join CAADP peer learning with civil society

Kenya-In partnership with civil society groups, Malawian parliamentarians participated in the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) peer learning platform held under the theme "Amplifying Accountability and Utilization of the CAADP Biennial Review Results", writes Charles Mkoka.

The platform aimed to localize the 2014 dream of a continental-led agriculture economy.

Malawian lawmakers Gladys Ganda and Sameer Suleiman, who chair committees on budget, finance, and agriculture, respectively, teamed up with fellow parliamentarians from other African countries in a capacity-building program aimed at building national champions to advance CAADP and its tracking tool, the biennial review process.

During the two-day meeting, the Malawian legislators proposed the urgency of bringing the third biennial review results to the parliamentary budget committee meeting.

More importantly, they emphasized the need to invite the Ministry of Finance as the account holder to discuss budget allocation for sector-related agriculture using the previous performance report scorecard information.

"Agriculture chair Sameer Suleiman underscored a need for technical capacity to understand the results of the biennial review and their implications for social-economic development at the national level. But more importantly, the financing support in organising issues related to data collection and consolidation, which requires both public servants and non-state actors to lump up together for national representation," said the lawmakers.

Chikondi Chabvuta, Regional Policy and Advocacy Advisor for CARE International in Southern Africa emphasized the need for a more coordinated approach by various partners to work together. She also advised that civil society organizations must work together, unlike the silo approach used in advancing the CAADP agenda.

"There is an urgent need for data from non-state actors to be included in detailing the efforts in terms of how they relate to the indicators such as ending hunger, reducing poverty, improving nutrition, enhancing social protection, sustaining land management, reducing post-harvest losses, and ensuring food safety, among others, on the ground," said Chabvuta.

Other key issues that emerged during the parliamentary meeting were the need to encourage legislators to take part in the country-level validation process, ensure the quality and credibility of data, publicize biennial review reports on social media and integrate women and youth in the engagement process in the agricultural value chain.

The African governments adopted the Malabo Declaration in Equatorial Guinea on accelerated agriculture growth and transformation in 2014.

They set 2025 as the vision for agriculture, implemented with the CAADP framework as a vehicle to implement and achieve the first ten-year plan implementation of Africa Agenda 2063.