Collaboration at the heart of the work of Rome based Agencies in Rwanda

Ambassador Kip Tom, the United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations Rome based Agencies (RBAs) met with heads of the Rome-based agencies based in Rwanda; the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and World Food Programme (WFP). The three agencies support the Government of Rwanda to achieve its goals in areas of food security and agriculture.

The meeting focused on the collaboration between the three agencies, and the impact of the partnership on improving the livelihoods of Rwandans. Agriculture remains the main economic activity in Rwanda with over 70% of the population engaged in the sector, and around 72% of the working population employed in agriculture.

During the meeting,  each head of agency  presented their  individual projects as well as the on-ongoing joint programmes aimed to support the Government of Rwanda address youth unemployment, poverty, malnutrition, climate change and reduce hunger.

The three UN agencies have designed joint projects around youth employment, post-harvest-handling, gender empowerment, food security, and nutrition among others.

Currently, Rwanda has a 38 percent stunting rate, according to the latest economic update. Rwanda is also experiencing the double burden of malnutrition with 21 percent of women and 8 percent of children under 5 years suffering from overweight and obesity (National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda & Ministry of Health, 2015).

A joint community led innovation project “Joint Rural Economic Empowerment Project (JRWEE) is being implemented in Rwanda by, FAO, WFP, IFAD, and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (UN WOMEN). Each agency applies its comparative advantage to better encourage positive change among the community members particularly women.

 FAO Rwanda works on further improving the sustainability of agricultural production and food systems in-country. This entails supporting the development of agricultural production and food systems that do not degrade natural resources, create wealth and employment.

“FAO in Rwanda - from farm to institutional levels - has achieved with its national counterparts success stories, among others, integrated poultry production systems that have taken beneficiaries out from extreme poverty, created jobs and improved nutrition; and Information and Communication Technologies for Agriculture making agricultural production more efficient, glamorous and attractive to youth” FAO Representative, Gualbert Gbehounounoted during the meeting.

“In Rwanda, WFP has a holistic, food systems approach to addressing food security. For example, by empowering smallholder farmers in post-harvest handling and storage, farmers are able to store maize and beans safely for their own consumption, while ensuring that their marketable surplus is of superior quality to earn premium prices. WFP also help link smallholder farmers directly to private sector buyers such as Africa Improved Food (AIF) to enhance their profitability. WFP then purchases fortified food from AIF for its operations in Rwanda and the greater region. Food procured from local smallholder farmers feeds children through the home-grown school feeding programme in Rwanda”, said Edith HEINES WFP Representative and Country Director. WFP supports the Government’s vision for transforming and commercializing agriculture by contributing to national efforts to enhance the food security and incomes of smallholder farmers.

IFAD has three ongoing projects in climate resilience, rural income development through exports, and diary development, each running between 5 - 10 years. By 2018, Rwanda had received a total financing of USD $2,135 million for projects from IFAD.

“IFAD allocates USD $55.4 million worth of loans to Rwanda every three years. We have two new projects that will soon be launched in the country, the Kayonza Irrigation and Integrated Watershed Management Project - Phase I with IFAD financing totaling to US$ 17.79 million and Partnership for Resilient and Inclusive Small Livestock Markets project (PRISM) with IFAD funding of US$ 14.9 million,” said Sara Mbago-Bhunu, Director of IFAD’s East and Southern Africa Division.

Ambassador Kip Tom highlighted the crucial nexus between the humanitarian and development efforts and the significant role the RBAs play in this regard. Ambassador Tom also stressed the importance of data collection and the quality of data in measuring achievements.

At the global level, collaboration among RBAs, is a core priority for all the three organizations at local, regional and global levels. There are ongoing joint efforts that support countries around the world in achieving the goals of the 2030 Agenda.

Ambassador Tom was in Rwanda to attend the 2-day Africa Food security Leadership Dialogue: Adapting Africa's Agriculture to Climate Change that took place from 5 –6 August in Kigali. The dialogue was convened by five core partners —the African Union Commission (AUC) in partnership with the African Development Bank (AfDB), FAO, IFAD, and World Bank (WB).

Hosted by the Government of Rwanda, the event gathered heads of state, Ministers of Agriculture and Finance, Nobel laureates, and eminent scientists, with the goal of catalyzing actions and financing to help address Africa’s worsening food security crisis, which is affected by climate change.  The five co-convening institutions signed a Communique recognizing the need to strengthen coordination at the country, regional, and continental levels, and to scale up forms of partnership.