21 November 2012: The African Union Commission (AUC), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) and Brazil’s Instituto Lula have announced a partnership to assist hunger and undernourishment eradication in Africa.

The partnership will take advantage of the AUC’s leadership in the region, FAO’s technical expertise and the political support of former Brazilian President Lula Da Silva to share experiences, including through convening a high-level meeting on “New, unified approaches to end hunger in Africa.” According to the AU, the high-level dialogue will reinforce political commitment for combating food insecurity and malnutrition, and serve as a platform for the wider engagement of other agencies, the private sector and civil society. This engagement will aim to ensure peer learning, and capitalize on new forms of innovative partnership and solidarity. Other activities include working on an AU flagship programme – the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA) – to promote infrastructure on the continent.

The partnership also will focus on: scaling up and building on existing successful initiatives; promoting knowledge-sharing; strengthening the participation of women in agriculture; investing in children and youth; improving coordination, allocation and deployment of financial and human resources; strengthening regional and national institutional capacities; and identifying political, economic, social and human factors leading to sustainable improvements in inclusive growth, food security and nutritional outcomes. [AU Press Release] [FAO Press Release]