Improving resilience and building capacity for food security in the
East African Countries (RECS)

The RECS program was launched in April 2018 at a joint inaugural workshop held in Nairobi with other food security initiatives in the region specifically the Caritas Africa Mobilization Enhancement Support Project in Advocacy for the Promotion of the Right to Food (PARCAP). The Resilience Enhancement and Capacity Building for Food Security (RECS) program is being implemented in four East African countries, namely Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and Southern Sudan. Caritas Africa’s advocacy strategies on food security are based on Catholic social teachings, Caritas Africa’s core values, and its commitment to fighting dehumanizing poverty in the region.

The overall objective of the project is to address food security, improve nutrition, and build resilience of vulnerable communities at the household level, particularly female-headed households and the most vulnerable communities in East Africa.

Food security is at the heart of Caritas. In 2013, Caritas Internationalis launched a global Caritas campaign called “One Human Family, Food for All,” aiming to end hunger by 2025. The right to food protects the right of all human beings to live in dignity, free from hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition.

One of the challenges facing East Africa today is food insecurity, exacerbated by climate change, natural disasters such as floods and droughts; poverty and poor governance and insecurity. The RECS program focuses on food security, improved nutrition, and building the resilience of vulnerable communities at the household level in the four East African countries. This project aims to improve information sharing through consultative forums among Caritas members in this region on food security, knowledge sharing on best practices, and learning to strengthen members’ capacity to improve food security at the household level in East Africa.

Caritas Africa will also engage in advocacy and policy dialogue at the global and regional levels to influence and shape policy practice on food security and nutrition in the East African region, developing periodic position papers and engaging with other international actors on food security. To enhance resilience and capacity building for food security, Caritas Africa will consolidate a community of practice (COPS) at the community level to learn from each other and engage in practices that improve food security at the household level.