{"id":11804,"date":"2021-02-26T16:08:01","date_gmt":"2021-02-26T16:08:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/?p=11804"},"modified":"2021-02-26T16:08:01","modified_gmt":"2021-02-26T16:08:01","slug":"secam-african-civil-society-and-faith-leaders-raise-concerns-prior-to-eu-au-summit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/2021\/02\/26\/secam-african-civil-society-and-faith-leaders-raise-concerns-prior-to-eu-au-summit\/","title":{"rendered":"SECAM: African Civil Society and Faith Leaders Raise Concerns Prior to EU-AU Summit"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Sr. Jecinter Antoinette Okoth, FSSA<\/em><\/p>\n

Prior to the forthcoming sixth Summit of the African Union (AU) and the European Union (EU) that was postponed from last year due to Covid-19 pandemic and is scheduled for this year, representatives of various Faith-Based Organizations (FBOs) and Civil Societies Organizations (CSOs) in Africa have raised concerns following diversion from the previous proposed agenda.<\/p>\n

In a joint statement<\/a> by members of a broad alliance of CSOs and FBOs published on Thursday, February 18, the organizations lament that the 2020 EU Strategy with Africa has \u201cfailed to address agriculture and food systems,\u201d but has rather concentrated on \u201ccreating a conducive environment for large scale private sector\u2019s business interests.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the leaders, even though the aim of creating a conducive environment is to \u201cbuild a more prosperous, peaceful and sustainable future for all,\u201d the EU Strategy with Africa is \u201clargely silent on the needs of the more than 60% of African households who depend upon family farming and small-scale food production for livelihood.\u201d<\/p>\n

The organizations include among others the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences in Africa and Madagascar (SECAM), Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa (AMECEA), the Mill Hill Missionaries, Caritas Africa and the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission (CJPC) an executive arm of the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) for justice and peace issues.<\/p>\n

Representatives have noted further that \u201cpolicy spaces are crowded by external actors,\u201d while \u201csmallholder farmers, pastoralists, artisanal fisherfolk and forest communities dominate the demographics of rural Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the CSOs and FBOs leadership, agriculture is the pillar of economy and provides a livelihood and living space for the majority of the African people. Besides, agriculture plays an important role in community cohesion and culture and the \u201cway that agriculture is considered through policy, funding and implementation has a profound impact on the economy, food systems, nutrition, social justice and the environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

In this regard, the CSOs and FBOs have asked the European and African policymakers to ensure there is \u201cspace for civil society actors both inside and outside decision-making spaces.\u201d<\/p>\n

They expounded that \u201cCivil society actors are struggling to take their rightful seat at the table, while others may opt to remain \u2018outside\u2019 yet \u201cboth must be able to freely and safely make their voices heard, and to influence decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Additionally, the EU-Au strategy need to \u201crecognize, value and support the huge potential of agroecology to sustainably increase food security and food sovereignty, reducing poverty and hunger while conserving biodiversity and respecting indigenous knowledge and innovation.\u201d the statement reads in part.<\/p>\n

According to the statement, the African declaration has been supported by the International Cooperation for Development and Solidarity (CIDSE), Act Alliance EU, and the African Europe Faith and Justice Network (AEFJN).<\/p>\n

The leaders also proposed that the strategy needs to protect and promote women\u2019s rights to land.<\/p>\n

They noted that even though women are recognized as the main contributors of labour in small scale farming systems, they (women) \u201crepresent a tiny fraction of agricultural land holders across Africa,\u201d hence \u201cwomen must be guaranteed a strong voice on land governance and large-scale land acquisitions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Besides, the EU, AU and civil society should work together \u201cto ensure the land remains in the\u00a0hands\u00a0of its legitimate users, and its management respects nature and reflects the needs and aspirations of the communities who live off the land.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Sr. Jecinter Antoinette Okoth, FSSA Prior to the forthcoming sixth Summit of the African Union…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11789,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-amecea-news","category-kenya"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11804"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11804\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11805,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11804\/revisions\/11805"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}