From Vision to Action, Africa’s Next Chapter

World Economic Forum on Africa 2011

Cape Town, South Africa, 4-6 May 2011
From Vision to Action, Africa’s Next Chapter 

“Partnerships are desirable and necessary and have worked well for us,” Tanzanian President Jakaya M. Kikwete told participants in a session on innovative partnerships for development. Added Kofi Annan “Our vision is not just to help farmers to feed themselves but also to feed the markets so Africa can become part of the global food security system. This is not a pipe dream.”


Dr Lindiwe Majele Sibanda, FANRPAN Chief Executive Officer, participated in the panel discussion.

News Release | Livestreamed Sessions

Despite long-standing commercial ties with Europe, Africa now conducts half its trade with developing economic regions. Against the popular perception of Africa being exploited by resource-hungry China, South-South collaboration is beneficiary to both sides. China and India are both engaging notably in the continent’s development. African countries can particularly benefit from such collaboration by encouraging the transfer of technologies.

Livestream Sessions | Session Summary

“I am sure that you could literally point to each African state almost as a case study of how elections should not be conducted,” said Morgan Tsvangarai, Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, in an interview for the World Economic Forum. He spoke to the Forum about the challenges of stabilizing democracy in Zimbabwe and throughout Africa.

Watch the interview

The leaders of South Africa, Gabon and Kenya pledged to work together and take a united stance at the 17th Conference of the Parties (COP 17) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Durban, South Africa, in November. In a session on the Durban Agenda, the panellists agreed that governments must work with business and civil society to shape a new framework on global warming

News Release | Livestream sessions

A declaration of partnership has been announced between the South Africa Department of Water Affairs and the 2030 Water Resources Group. The announcement was made by Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs of South Africa Edna Molewa, Chairman of Nestlé and Chairman of the Water Resources Group Peter Brabeck-Letmathe. With water demand set to rise by 52% within the next 30 years in South Africa, the South African government joins the governments of Jordan, Mexico and the State of Karnataka in India as a partner with the Water Resources Group, an influential public-private global network on water supported by the World Economic Forum and the International Finance Corporation.

Declaration of Partnership | News Release

The World Economic Forum on Africa 2011 opened with a call for Africa to rethink its global role. “You can no longer talk about the old Africa,” declared South African President Jacob G. Zuma during the opening plenary session. “We need to develop very urgently partnerships that are different from the past, relationships that benefit Africa more.”

News Release | Livestream sessions 

Three leading social entrepreneurs were recognized as Regional Social Entrepreneurs of the Year for Africa. They were presented with their awards by Hilde Schwab, Co-Founder of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, in a ceremony held after the opening plenary of the World Economic Forum on Africa. The winners, who work across Africa, are among a group of 17 Social Entrepreneurs from around the world who are taking part in the meeting.

News Release | Livestream sessions

The Africa Competitiveness Report 2011, jointly produced by the African Development Bank, the World Bank and the World Economic Forum, takes stock of the competitiveness of Africa. The report finds that increasing trade, enhancing higher education, ensuring entrepreneurial opportunities for women and developing the tourism sector are important for improving the region’s economic prospects.

Read the report | News Release | Interviews 

PwC have compiled a Knowledge Conciergefor the World Economic Forum on Africa consisting of Fast Facts and briefing papers on subjects relating to the themes of the meeting.

PwC Knowledge Concierge

Katherine Tweedie, Director, Head of Africa and several of our co-chairs share their thoughts on the World Economic Forum on Africa. They look at the key issues that will be addressed at the meeting, as well as looking forward to the highlights to come. Photos from the World Economic Forum on Africa. See the full set and photos on Flickr

This year, the Africa Progress Report is dedicated to the transformative power of partnerships. While the idea of pooling a range of actors and their energy, creativity and resources around specific development challenges is hardly new, too few success stories are replicated or brought to scale to effect lasting structural change. Against this backdrop, this year’s report identifies partnership models that have already proven their transformative potential and assesses how to create the policy framework and incentive structure needed to spur further collaboration for progress. The report argues that all actors, including governments, international organizations, the private sector and civil society, can do more to facilitate the spread of successful models across sectors and countries, and that doing so is in their self-interest. It also argues that much work remains to be done to convince all sides of the inherent benefits of partnering for progress. This is the main purpose of this report.

Stakeholders' workshop on the preparation of the agriculture sector strategy for the AfDB

13 November 2009. Tunis. The African Development Bank held a Stakeholders' workshop on the preparation of the agriculture sector strategy for the AfDB.

In response to the global food crisis, the Bank Group established the African Food Crisis Response (AFCR) Task Force in July 2008 to address the food insecurity in its RMCs. The task force has provided a framework for accelerated support to RMCs affected by escalating food prices. Its interventions are designed to reduce the risk of increased poverty on the continent in the short term and to ensure sustainable food security in the medium to long term.

The Bank’s proposed short term responses cover a one-year period. Four specific short term responses were proposed:

• Realignment of the existing agriculture portfolio with the aim of boosting food production. This measure comprises agriculture and non agricultural projects;
• Use of budget support instrument for quick disbursement of resources to RMCs;
• Increased dissemination of NERICA rice seeds; and
• Allocation from the Bank’s Surplus Account (UA 20 million).
• These short term measures have resulted in the Bank’s global approval of UA 416.54 million, UA 255.16 million of which is already disbursed.

The Bank’s medium to long term measures meanwhile will from 3 - 6 years The AFCR proposes seven approaches aiming at improving food security while taking advantage of the high food prices:

• Improved rural infrastructure;
• Operationalizing the African Fertilizer Financing Mechanism;
• Increasing NERICA rice production;
• Capacity building, policy dialogue and trade promotion;
• Scaling up private sector operations for food security;
• Promoting agricultural research, and
• Establishing a Crisis Response Facility. Gender mainstreaming and addressing climate change are core guiding principles identified under the AFCR.

Reference:

• Donor platform: Stakeholders' workshop on the preparation of the agriculture sector strategy
• AFDB 13/07/2009 Interview with AfDB Agriculture & Agro-industry Director, Aly Abou-Sabaa, on the outcomes of the last Ordinary Session of the African Union on Bank operations

Related: 11/11/2009 “Africa has to change ways of doing things in agriculture and to recognize the global winds of change for the sector,” Bank Group Operations Evaluation Officer, Detlev Puetz, said on Tuesday 11 November 2009 in Addis-Ababa, during a presentation on the theme: Facing the financial crisis: The imperative of regional action for agriculture in Africa. In the presence of more than 150 conference participants, Mr. Puetz developed key theories on new paths for agricultural finance development. Experts Reflect on Imperative of Regional Action for Agriculture in Africa

CAADP calls for more private sector involvement

June 17 to 18, 2009 in Dakar Senegal. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) brought together representatives of the public and private sectors, including farmer’s organizations, development partners and civil society to propose a framework for integrating the private sector into the CAADP Agenda.

The workshop was aimed at creating specific public-private alliances in the areas of smallholder-friendly value chain development through enterprise growth and finance in major commodity sectors for the purposes of boosting economic growth and competitiveness.

• Deliberations were held on how regional and domestic market development through policy reforms, institutional innovations, and infrastructure investments could be directed towards raising supply, improving quality whilst also reducing the cost of moving modern inputs and products across local and trans-border markets.
• Participants at the workshop were also keen to explore the issue of institutional development and capacity building to overcome tariff and technical barriers to accessing global markets.
• The meeting reflected on the value of existing partnerships, alliances and developments such as those concerning the Hewlett Infrastructure Project, ReSAKSS, AGRA’s announcement of an agreement with Standard Bank and private equity investments in agri-related projects.
• It is within this context that the key issue of public sector investment in support CAADP was also reviewed with many participants arguing that African agricultural stakeholders and leaders need to push for more private-public partnerships in agriculture in order to sustain Africa’s recovery plan.

Participants at the workshop included CMA / AOC, the Government of Senegal, AU / NEPAD / ECOWAS, the World Bank, IFPRI, USAID, AfDB, ECA, the private sector, AGRA, FAO, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the EU and farmers organizations.

The AU Agriculture Conference

Ministers of agriculture articulated the major agricultural issues at AU Ministerial Conference which took place 22-24 April, 2009 at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The host Minister, Honourable Tafera, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development for the Federal Republic of Ethiopia opened the meeting calling on all cooperating partners to support Africa's development efforts under the CAADP agenda.

Africa's lead donors attending the meeting include JICA, The World Bank, EU, DfiD, FAO, WFP, IFAD and AGRA. Others present are AfDB, Global Donor Platform, the UN High Level Task Force on Food Security and UNECA.

Sierra Leone's Minister of Agriculture, Honourable Sessay, gave a moving outline of Africa's vast water and land resources and stressed that if the continent focused strongly on the disciplined planning process under CAADP, there is no doubt, the continent will overcome its developmental obstacles.

Libyan Minister of Agriculture is chairing the AU Ministerial Session on Agriculture which is on the theme "investing in agriculture for economic growth and food security" and tackling the key issues of climate change, livestock development, land policies, food security, agricultural finance and the overall status of CAADP implementation.

The decisions of the Ministers in Addis will form the main materials for the consideration of the AU Heads of State Summit in June/July, 2009.

During the meeting, COMESA Senior Agricultural Advisor Dr Cris Muyunda held sessions with several COMESA Ministers among them Honourable Joseph Made Minister of Agriculture from Zimbabwe who reconfirmed that country’s readiness to host the COMESA Agriculture Meetings from May 11-15, 2009 in Harare.

Dr. Muyunda also met Honourable Amin Abaza Minister of Agriculture from Egypt who reiterated his readiness to host the 2nd Joint COMESA Agricultural/Environment Ministers Meeting in Cairo from 15-16 August, 2009.

Meanwhile, the Head of Malawi Delegation Dr. Daudi Yamba has confirmed that the Malawi CAADP Compact has been approved by the Malawian Cabinet. This brings to two, after Rwanda the number of CAADP Compacts concluded in the COMESA bloc. COMESA is now way ahead of all Regional Economic Communities on the continent in concluding CAADP compacts.

All going according to plan, COMESA should have three compacts by the time of the COMESA Summit in June this year.

Reference
04/05 COMESA Ministers Articulate Agricultural Issues at the AU Agriculture Conference

Conference on Revitalizing African Agriculture

FARA participated at a two-day conference 25/26 June on revitalizing African agriculture which was held in Tunis with policymakers and agriculture experts from the Bank's regional member countries and representatives of other development agencies in attendance. Held on the theme: "Revitalizing African Agriculture: Its Implication for Addressing the Food Crisis", the conference reviewed partner countries' experiences in addressing the current food crisis.

Representatives from NEPAD, AfDB, CIDA, China Exim Bank, DANIDA, EU, FAO, IFPRI, IFAD, USAID, WB, CIDA, IFAD, WFP, IsDB, IFDC, JICA, WARDA, Nigeria, Cote d’ Ivoire, Gabon, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Benin, Togo, Ghana, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Cape Verde, Mauritania, Malawi, Tanzania, Madagascar, Seychelles, Eritrea, Comoros, Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria shared information on how various institutions are dealing with the food crisis in the short-term and medium to long term

They discussed the enhancement of donor harmonization particularly the issue of division of labour among donors in support of the agriculture sector in Africa.

Opening the event, the Bank Group's Operations and Sector Vice President, Zeinab El-Bakri, said:

"As we come up with recommendations on how to address the food crisis in Africa, we take cognisance of the fact that besides ineffectual policies that I alluded to earlier; there are other impediments that affect not only agricultural development, but overall economic development. These include factors like climate change with its accompanying drought, floods, pests and diseases; the rising fuel prices; poor governance as well as political and civil strife in some parts of the continent. All these are related to the current food crisis and will continue affecting our decision-making process in the foreseeable future"

Reference:

AllAfrica 25/06 Conference on Revitalizing African Agriculture Opens in Tunis

Press release AfDB 27/06 Conference on Revitalizing African Agriculture Ends in Tunis