Strengthening the Right to Food in Africa Through Rural Development Initiatives
FAO’s Right to Food Team joins development partners at the 2025 SNRD Africa Conference
Participants ⎮ Visual: © GIZ
FAO’s Right to Food Team participated in the Sector Network Rural Development Africa (SNRD) Conference, held in Lusaka, Zambia, from 16 to 20 June. The event brought together development practitioners working across Africa under the German Agency for International Cooperation, GIZ, to exchange experiences and advance rights-based approaches to sustainable rural development. The conference provided a platform to explore synergies, share lessons learned, and promote integrated strategies to strengthen food systems and ensure the realization of the right to food across the continent.
As part of the conference, FAO delivered a dedicated training session titled The Right to Food—Right Where We Stand. The session focused on strengthening the practical integration of the Right to Adequate Food into rural development programmes, in line with human rights principles and international commitments such as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), General Comment 12, and the Right to Food Guidelines.
During a half-day session 16 participants explored the role of legal and policy frameworks in protecting the Right to Food, the importance of participation, inclusion and empowerment of vulnerable groups and how development programmes and projects can contribute to the progressive realization of the Right to Food.
Participants also applied the draft Right to Food Assessment (RAFA) Tool, a practical instrument designed to assess how projects align with core Right to Food principles. Through group discussion, they identified strengths and gaps within real projects, exploring practical entry points for improvement.
The session reinforced the importance of collaboration between the FAO Right to Food team and GIZ to support making food systems more inclusive, just, resilient, and rights-based, ensuring that dignity and the Right to Food are central to sustainable development efforts.
Contact
- Anna Schelling, anna.schelling@giz.de
- Bernice Mueller, bernice.mueller@giz.de
