WHO/FAO Codex Trust Fund Project
The Codex Trust Fund supports countries to build strong, solid and sustainable national capacity to engage in Codex Alimentarius Commission. From 2004 to 2015, the FAO/WHO Project and Fund for Enhanced Participation in Codex (Codex Trust Fund) has supported over 2300 participants from developing and transition economy countries to participate in the international standard development process, and provided FAO/WHO Codex training to over 1200 people to boost the effectiveness of their participation in the Codex Alimentarius Commission.
Since the beginning of the Codex Trust Fund, the number of members has increased from 169 to 188. Applications from eligible countries or groups of countries are assessed through a fair and transparent process and successful applications receive support for a period of up to three years. The countries or groups of countries selected will receive funding to run activities geared towards building strong and sustainable national Codex systems with the ultimate aim of increasing their participation in the work of Codex.
Outcome of the CTF Application Round 4
Following the application submitted in 2019, the FAO/WHO Codex Trust Fund Secretariat has announced eight successful applications from five Codex regions.
• Africa: Republic of Mauritius
• Asia: group application from Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar
• Europe: Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan
• Latin American and the Caribbean: Guyana, and group application from El Salvador and Guatemala
•Southwest Pacific region: Samoa, Tonga
The Republic of Mauritius was thus, the sole country selected for the project in the African Region. Following the approval of Mauritius CTF application, two additional documents, namely the Summary Project Form and the Budget Excel Template were sent by the CTF secretariat for completion by the selected country. These documents were completed under the supervision of Dr Mwambaka Lusubilo, from the World Health Organisation, consultant designated by CTF Secretariat. The Summary project document explains the goals and objectives of the project, define the milestones and the timeframe of the project over the 3 years period. The excel budget template details the different activities and sub activities and components of the different activities and their estimated cost to achieve the expected outcomes.
Brief of the Codex Trust Fund Project (Mauritius) Summary Template:
The goal of the project is to build a strong, vibrant and sustainable Codex structure in Mauritius. The different outcomes are as follows:
i. Better management of the CCP and working procedures (Mauritius Codex procedural manual)
ii. Availability of resources to carry core functions and responsibilities of the CCP
iii. Clear procedures, budget line and legal status for operation of the NCC
iv. Establish Processes and procedures for submission of comments, national positions, and participation/follow-up in Codex committees
v. Enhanced understanding and awareness of the importance of Codex among high-level policy and decision-makers, industry and scientific community, government officials and consumer activists.
vi. Improved dissemination of information on the relevance of Codex and preparedness to generate data to contribute to the right level of information in development of global standards.
vii. High level political support for Codex work
viii. Policy document to set out the country's objectives and priorities for Codex
ix. Better implementation of updated Codex standards in the country
x. Synchronise and adapt codex standards to our national legislation
xi. More active participation and engagement in Codex standards drafting and greater confidence in contributing to meetings at national and regional level
xii. Better compliance with international standards and hence, improved access to international trade in food
xiii. The NCC of Mauritius becoming a more active player in food safety issues at regional level
The CTF project will finance Codex Mauritius a sum of USD 146,000 over a period of 3 years.
For year 2021/22, emphasis is being laid on organisation of events pertaining to World Food Safety Day, elaboration of a website for Codex Mauritius, with an interactive platform for NCC members (including training on use of platform), establishment of a working group for Drafting of an MOU for sharing of data amongst different stakeholders and recruitment of a local communication expert to support the development of advocacy materials.
