The Madagascar Country team was honoured for its example efforts in responding to the severe droughts and climate threats related to El Niño that hit the southern region in 2015-16, with about 1.4 to 1.6 million people left food insecure.

The joint response deployed by the RBAs turned out to have been particularly effective and timely. Winners of the award are Country teams representing all three Rome-Based Agencies in their shared vision of promoting world food security for all, both at global and country level, with every Agency bringing its own comparative advantage and moving beyond its individual mandate towards the common global Zero Hunger goal.

The European Commission provided about €518 million to Madagascar, as part of its development cooperation programmes to help reduce poverty in the African country covering the period 2014-2020.

In their last joint public appearance, the three heads of the Agencies attended the ceremony, with WFP and FAO signing a joint Memorandum of Understanding between their respective agencies aimed at boosting interagency cooperation to achieve the 2030 Development Agenda.