ESAFF general summit scores success, new office bearers in place

16/04/2011

After every three years Eastern and Southern Africa small scale Farmers’ Forum (ESAFF)  is supposed to holds a general summit (TGS). The most recent one – actually the first one, since the body was established was held on 13th to 15th April 2011 in Morogoro,
The event brought  37 members together from all 12 countries forming ESAFF. The main agenda was to fulfill constitutional requirement and hold elections of office bearers. Also the summit decided to amend the constitution to make the body more forward looking and approved its new strategic plan. It was also an opportunity to appoint its banker and auditor for the next three years.
The Summit amended some of the articles of the constitution to give all delegates present the right to take part in electing the ESAFF office bearers. They are chairperson, vice chair, general secretary and treasurer.  Secret ballot was used to elect the new officials.
Those elected are Chairperson (Moses Shaha- Kenya), Vice Chair (Elizabeth Mpofu- Zimbabwe), General Secretary (Hakim Baliraine – Uganda) and Treasurer (Goodwell Chiteya – Malawi).
The constitution also was amended to state that the chairperson of each member country de facto smallholder farmers body becomes board members of the ESAFF regional board. The financial year was also altered to commence on 1st July and end in 31 June 2011.
The summit appointed EXIM BANK Morogoro Branch as its banker and Trio & Co. Certified  Public Accountant of Dar es salaam as auditor of the Forum for the coming three years.
The vision and mission of the organisation were also modified to suit the current situation. Changes came when members were crafting the new strategic plan. The new vision states: “A strong effective forum of empowered Small Scale Farmers with united voices in the policy processes for ecological agriculture and poverty free ESA region.”
The new mission reads: “Empowering small scale farmers in Eastern and Southern Africa to influence development policies and promote ecological agriculture through capacity strengthening, research and networking”
The summit also crafted and approved the ESAFF strategic plan that will run from 2011-2014. The plan has four key result areas (strategic focus); Food security and sovereignty; Trade and markets; Cross cutting issues: Gender,  youth and  HIV/ AIDS and Institutional and organizational strengthening.
The next summit will be held in April 2014 in South Africa