First meeting of African Members of the International NGO/CSO Planning Committee

The first meeting of the African Sub-regional Focal Points of the International Non Governmental and Civil Society Organizations Planning Committee (IPC) took place in the FAO Regional Office for Africa in Accra from 12-14 March, 2003.

The IPC was in charge of coordinating the preparations for the NGO/CSO Forum for food sovereignty held in Rome parallel to the World Food Summit: five years later in June 2002. This Forum set the basis of the areas of cooperation outlined in the Action plan adopted by the Forum:

a rights based approach to food security and food sovereignty,

local access to and control of productive resources,

family based agro-ecological food production and agricultural development,

trade and food sovereignty.

During the two-day meeting in Accra, various issues related to these four points were discussed giving special attention to the participation of farmer organizations in the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) and Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP).

African representatives also stressed the fact that civil society participation in national reviews of agriculture and food security policies needs to be enhanced in order to monitor progress in implementing the commitments undertaken by their governments at the WFS.

To read the article about the NGO/CSO Forum for Food Sovereignty published in a previous update of our website, please click here.