Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1698084913248.pdf (Swaziland)
HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN MOTHER RECEIVING HER EXCELLENCE AWARD FROM FARNPRAN BOARD CHAIRPERSON DR SINDISO NGWENYA.

HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN MOTHER RECIEVES FOOD SECURITY POLICY LEADERSHIP AWARD (By: Bonisile Dlamini- MOA Editor) Her Majesty The Queen Mother did the nation proud when she received the FANRPAN’s Food Security Policy Leadership Award 2011 in honour of her strides in agriculture and food security issues.
The award was given during the Food, Agricultural and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network’s (FANRPAN) annual awards of excellence in agriculture.

The event was part of the FANRPAN’s 2011 High Level Food Security Policy Dialogue hosted by Swaziland and held at the Royal Swazi Sun’s Convention Centre.

This award is given to any leader who has worked hard in fighting poverty, ensuring food security, humanitarian issues and others.
Making the announcement FANRPAN Chief Executive Officer Dr Lindiwe Sibanda said the Queen Mother was awarded for, among, others, her leadership with various agricultural innovations in Swaziland.

These include the mushroom farming project which was originated on her request and was run by TICA in cooperation with Thailand’s Phra Dabos Foundation and Swaziland’s Ministry of Agriculture.

The project addresses food security and generates income for the country’s farmers and creates jobs for local women.
She also secured a goat market for Swazis in the Seychelles.

As part of this initiative, Swazi goat breeders export their goats to the Seychelles.

The Queen Mother also initiated a project for the further use of Marula fruit seed.

These are crushed and the nuts harvested.

Oil is then extracted from these, packaged in Swaziland and exported as cosmetic products.

The Swazi indigenous products project produces the Swazi Secrets range of products under the patronage of the Queen Mother.
It helps poor, rural Swazi women to generate income from natural products.

It is now owned by member groups of rural suppliers and also assists with social development by supporting self-help groups and a rural livelihoods programme.

She also has a dream for Swazi women to own a bank.

It will empower women to venture into business in a more professional manner and with a more professional approach.

Efforts to make this dream come true are underway.


Other award recipients who also did the country proud were Mrs Happy Shongwe, a small holder farmer who received the Civil Society Policy Mover and Shaker Award for her project which is part of the Harmonized Seed Security Project (HaSSP).
She has since become a certified seed producer and has registered a company through which she sells her legumes and assists fellow community women by sharing information and knowledge to move away from planting maize into drought tolerant crops due to the challenges of climate change.

A Senior Reporter from The Nation Magazine Mantoe Phakathi received the Excellence in Agricultural Journalism Award for her extensive reports on food, agriculture, natural resources and climate change issues.
FANRPAN is the Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network.

FANRPAN is a multi-stakeholder, multi-national policy network that supports the development and implementation of better food, agriculture and natural resources (FANR) policies in Africa.

Its members include universities, research institutes, the business sector, farmer groups and other civil society organizations that have a stake in FANR policies.
FANRPAN’s membership is organised into national nodes in fourteen (14) countries: Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.