On December 1, 2022, AFSA held a successful Annual General Meeting in Younde, Cameroon, where members discussed the organization’s annual narrative and financial reports and voted on new board members.
Following a democratic election process, the AFSA Annual General Meeting 2022 elected Hakim Baleraine, ESAFF Chair, as the next Chairperson of the AFSA Board of Directors. AFSA members also elected three new board members to replace the outgoing board members who had served on the AFSA board for six years.
As a result, the newly elected board members are Hakim Baliraine, Chairman, ESAFF; Amadou Kanoute, Member, CICODEV; Anne Maina, Member, BIBA-Kenya; Joyce Brown, Member, HOMEF.
For the first time this year, AFSA decided to include associate members in its governing bodies, and Anne Maina of BIBA, Kenya, and Amadou Kanoute of CICODEV, Senegal, were elected to serve on the AFSA Board of Directors.
AFSA members also opted to keep the previous board’s three members to continue the remainder of the term and appointed Fidele GANDONOU HOUSSOU, FECCIWA as General Secretary and Mariama Sonko, NSS as Treasurer and Dr.Fasil Gebeyehu, ABN, as a member.
After his election, Hakim Baliraine, AFSA’s new Chair, delivered his acceptance speech, thanking everyone for their active involvement and for entrusting him with such a large responsibility. “I want you to know that we will carry on the previous board’s legacy of service, change, and impact, and we will take AFSA to even greater heights and influence, championing our smallholder food producers, advocating for agroecology, and campaigning for resilient, healthy, and just food systems in Africa,” he said.
Dr. Million Belay, AFSA General Coordinator, thanked the outgoing Board of Directors for their impeccable leadership over the past years, and he expressed confidence that the new board will build on the legacy and marshal a unified and louder voice on issues of food sovereignty and agroecology in Africa.
The AFSA secretariat also gave gifts and certificates to the exiting board members in recognition of their impeccable service over the past six years.