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Background
Over the last decade the incidence of poverty in the Southern African region has escalated. The 2001/2002 drought and the ensuing humanitarian crisis that affected at least six countries highlighted this issue. It has since become evident that while the drought contributed to the crisis, there are longer-term underlying issues that need to be acknowledged. It is these underlying issues that agencies working towards enhanced food security and the reduction of poverty in the region must consider and address.
The goal of SARPN is to contribute to the sustainable reduction of poverty through effective pro-poor policy, strategy and practice in the SADC region. SARPN believes a key factor in improving policy processes in the region is the deepening of policy debates. This is achieved through
widening access to discussion platforms and facilitating stronger links between role players.
SARPN will be convening a one day workshop later this month in which prominent civil society agencies active in monitoring various aspects of the food security crisis can share their experiences with fellow civil society agencies.
This particular workshop intends to:
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share national experiences in selected SADC countries, thereby stimulating cross-country perspectives;
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share experiences of the various methodologies involved in monitoring;
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share reflections on the policy impact which the various national processes might have had (or not);
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establish greater linkages and networking amongst participants for their future work in this sector;
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establish better linkages between civil society agencies and the RVAC/NVACs on the issues of common concern around monitoring of food security issues.
The presentations will cover experiences by Cisanet (Malawi);the Programme Against Malnutrition (Zambia) and the Community Monitoring Programme (Zimbabwe). The event will be supplemented by a presentation from the Regional Vulnerability Assessment Committee and a presentation on a nascent South African FIVIMS project. More details of the workshop will be released soon.
The workshop will be held on the 24th May in the Greater Johannesburg area.
It will be followed by a joint ODI/FANRPAN/SARPN workshop on the 25th May to launch an action research project entitlted “Look, Listen and Learn: promoting the use of CSO evidence in policies for food security”. More details of this workshop will be released in the next few days.
Contact details
Southern African Regional Poverty Network (SARPN)
Physical address:
1250 Pretorius Street, Office W2
ProEquity Court, Hatfield 0083
Postal address:
PO Box 11615,
Hatfield 0028,
South Africa
Tel: +27 (0)12 342 9499
Fax: +27 (0)12 342 5636
E-mail:
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