Zimbabwe News Update
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Getting yourTrinity Audioplayer ready…Kigali, Rwanda, 29 October 2025– Zambia has demonstrated that it is leading the way in domesticating the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) Kampala Agenda through strong national coordination.This emerged at the opening of the 21st CAADP Partnership Platform (PP) and 16th Africa Day for Food and Nutrition Security (ADFNS) held in Kigali, Rwanda, yesterday.Countries across Africa are gathered in Kigali to share progress and strategies for implementing the Kampala Declaration, which is the next phase of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP).In a session moderated by Dr Manyewu Mutamba of AUDA-NEPAD, Zambia’s experience took centre stage as a model for country readiness and institutional coordination in transforming food systems.Presenting Zambia’s experience, Mr Victor Mbumwae, the UN Food Systems Convenor in the Office of the Vice President of the Republic of Zambia, underscored that Zambia’s food systems transformation predates the UN Food Systems Summit of 2021, which catalysed similar reforms across the continent.“For Zambia, the transformation began much earlier since it is embedded within our political and legal framework.
The National Food and Nutrition Act No. 3 of 2020 placed coordination of food and nutrition directly under the Office of the Vice President. That law was a game-changer.”The legislation granted the Vice President the legal authority to coordinate all sectors across government, addressing long-standing issues of fragmentation in policy implementation. It also built upon earlier legal instruments such as the Disaster Management Act of 2015, which had already positioned the Vice President as the coordinating authority for disaster risk reduction and emergency response.“When you combine these mandates: nutrition, climate change, and disaster management, you see the convening power of the Office of the Vice President.
It allows us to bring everyone to the table, not to replace their mandates, but to align them towards one national agenda,” Mr Mbumwae said.Zambia’s model is remarkable for its high-level political anchoring and cross-sectoral integration. The Vice President chairs the Committee of Permanent Secretaries, which brings together all ministries under a single coordination framework.“This means that any policy passed through the Office of the Vice President cascades across all sectors through the Secretary to the Cabinet.
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