Knowledge key to reporting on Malabo Declaration

A workshop was held to help strengthen the understanding and monitoring of the Malabo Declaration amongst key stakeholders.

The Malabo Declaration was adopted by the African Union (AU) assembly heads of state and government in June 2014.

It provides the direction for Africa’s agricultural transformation for the period 2015-2025, within the comprehensive African agriculture development programme (CAADP), as a vehicle to contribute to the achievement of the objectives of the first 10-year implementation plan of Africa’s Agenda 2063.

“Namibia has only met the targets of the Malabo Declaration once and this situation needs to be addressed through wider stakeholder involvement and improved sharing of information at national level,” the agriculture ministry’s executive director Ndiyakupi Nghituwamata said.

She made the remarks at the national workshop on ‘monitoring Malabo commitments on accelerated agricultural growth and transformation for shared prosperity and improved livelihoods, and knowledge management’.

Nghituwamata said the CAADP framework has recognised that enhanced agricultural performance is key to food security and poverty reduction.

This is achieved through job creation and increasing opportunities, especially for women and youth, as well as food security, improved nutrition and strengthening food system resilience, she said.



Commitment

According to the executive director, Namibia - as a member of the AU - adopted the Maputo Declaration on agriculture and food security in Africa by committing to allocate at least 10% of public expenditures to the agricultural sector to achieve 6% annual growth in agricultural gross domestic product and attain food security.

This commitment was reaffirmed in 2014 through the Malabo Declaration, during which heads of states and governments adopted concrete agriculture goals to be attained by 2025.

The implementation of the CAADP and Malabo commitments is being tracked through biennial review reports and presented to the AU summit.

Nghituwamata said the overall objective of the workshop was to create awareness on the importance of knowledge management in reporting on the Malabo commitments and the review process to key stakeholders.

She added that the ministry has recognised the importance of knowledge management in achieving the Malabo Declaration targets.

“I am, therefore, appealing to all stakeholders to make concerted efforts in order to improve the status quo. Let us be the change agent and improve the current status in order to achieve the goals of the Malabo Declaration by 2025, which will contribute to achieving Agenda 2063.”

According to her, the ministry is working towards developing a knowledge management strategy which will be a guiding tool for policies, work plans and programmes for enhanced and sustainable agricultural productivity.

“There is a need for concerted efforts aimed at improving and strengthening coordination among the stakeholders in the country.”

One way to strengthen coordination is through the implementation of knowledge management initiatives by developing a knowledge hub and establishing a community of practice for the provision of knowledge materials and technical support respectively, the executive director said.

“This will also simplify the preparation of our biennial reports,” she said.