She is also one of only three experts from Africa (the other two are from Ethiopia and Egypt) appointed to the Committee for World Food Security (CFS) High Level Panel of Experts for Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE). The CFS is the foremost international and intergovernmental platform dealing with food security and nutrition.

Supporting food security decision making is not a new domain for Prof Hendriks who has voluntarily led the African Union and New Partnership for Africa’s Development’s Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme’s (CAADP) Food Security initiatives since 2006. She led the drafting of the CAADP Framework for African Food Security, a continental action plan that is helping transform African agriculture and ensure that African agricultural investment plans and programmes are effectively addressing hunger and poverty for the most vulnerable populations in Africa. The Framework is significantly influenced by Prof Hendriks’ 19 years of prolific research focused on understanding household coping strategies and vulnerability.

Prof Hendriks was appointed to the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences in July 2010 to consolidate food security research at UP and establish a postgraduate programme. The University is already reaping the benefits of her strategic linkages with international and African development and food security experts; development partners; international NGOs; academic institutions and the relationships built with African governments through her engagement in the African Union/NEPAD Programmes.