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.

Improving Agricultural Research Funding, Structure and Collaboration

Washington D.C./April 20, 2011 – The Global Harvest Initiative (GHI) today released the first of five policy issue briefs bringing a global focus to meeting the agricultural needs of a rapidly growing global population by increasing the rate of agricultural productivity.

A recent GHI report suggests that the rate of agricultural productivity must increase at a minimum of 25 percent per year to meet future demand and double output over the next 40 years.. In the next 50 years, agriculture will be called upon to produce more food than in the previous 10,000 years combined with little or no increase in the amounts of arable land, water or resources available. The efficiencies and increased productivity necessary to meet these agricultural challenges cannot be achieved without a renewed focus on research.

Enhanced research, including more funding and better managed programs and competitive research funding, is a primary source of the needed innovation and productivity gains to grow more and better food and help alleviate global poverty and hunger. The 2008 global food price spike helped refocus attention on the role of agriculture in the development agenda, and hopefully to a recommitment of support for global agricultural research.

In this paper, the Global Harvest Initiative outlines the importance of agricultural research and puts forth recommendations to improve funding, structure and collaboration to better leverage the potential of research in increasing global agricultural productivity.

Related:

Invitation to Participate in E-Consultation on Feed the Future Research Agenda

From May 9-27, the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) will be coordinating a major on-line consultation, focusing on the research strategy of the US Government's new Feed the Future (FTF) Initiative. It will be a chance for researchers and other stakeholders to consider and provide input to the US government on FTF's research priorities, and to discuss how best to support and engage with this important new program. 

You are invited and encouraged to participate in this consultation.  Click here to learn more and to register.  

APLU is seeking participation and input from a wide cross-section of researchers concerned with agriculture, hunger alleviation, and human development, and all others interested in commenting on and engaging with FTF's research strategy. For further information about the complete consultation process

How biosciences can create a new harvest in Africa

Calestous Juma, of Harvard University’s John F Kennedy School of Government, talks with clarity and humour about the hopeful future that he sees for Africa as the use of bioscience grows in the African agricultural sector.

He predicts that once started, African development will be faster than Chinese development since Africa has access to decades more globally generated knowledge.

This lively 45-minute keynote presentation was given by Juma at the International Livestock Research Institute in Nairobi in March 2011. The occasion was the official launch of a regional Bio-Innovate Program, during which Juma introduced his newly published book, The New Harvest–Agricultural Innovation in Africa (Oxford University Press 2010).

First Dialogue of the Ministers of Agriculture, Science and Technology

28th and 29th April 2011. FARA Secretariat and the Government of Ghana. The Dialogue is a forum of Ministers of Agriculture, Science and Technology and other agriculture-related Ministries to share ideas and agree on collective actions towards enhancing agricultural productivity in Africa. The dialogue was recommended by the Ministers present during the 5th Africa Agriculture Science week and FARA General Assembly in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, in July 2010.

Participants at the Dialogue included representatives of the Governments of Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ghana, Guinea Conakry, Lesotho, Liberia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Togo, as well as global, regional and sub-regional institutions, namely, the African Union Commission, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), the West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research and Development (CORAF/WECARD), Transfarm Africa, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), Ecobank, the European Commission, the World Bank, the Africa Forum for Agricultural Advisory Services (AFAAS), the CAADP Pillar One Lead Institution (University of Zambia) and the North African Sub-regional Organisation (NASRO).

Read further: Communiqué of the 1st Dialogue of Ministers of Agriculture, Science and Technology
FARA Secretariat, Accra, Ghana, 29 April 2011

Inaugural conference of the Universities, Business and Research in Agricultural Innovation (UniBRAIN) initiative

19-20 April. Accra. The Universities, Business and Research in Agricultural Innovation (UniBRAIN) initiative's inaugural conference was held at FARA headquarters.

Its purpose was to bring together all the different institutions involved in UniBRAIN: the Steering Committee, the Independent Grants Committee, the implementing partners (FARA, ANAFE, ATPS, PanAAC, ASARECA, CORAF/WECARD and SADC/FANR) and  most importantly, the 12 Agribusiness Innovation Incubation Consortia (AIIC) selected from 51 concept notes to develop competitive business plans.

In addition to providing an opportunity for the stakeholders to get to know each other, the main focus of the conference was on developing business models and business plans with a view to assisting the AIIC to make the best possible submissions of business plans for review by the Independent Grants Committee by the deadline of 14 May 2011. 

No:	Title	Lead Institution	Country
AIIC26	Forum for East African Community (EAC) Dairy Enterprises Development (FEDED)	University of Nairobi	Kenya
AIIC36	creating competitive livestock-based agribusiness enterprises	CSIR-Animal Research Institute.	Ghana
AIIC7	[Partnership for Agro-processing and entrepreneurship develop in Uganda	Department of Food Science & Technology Makerere University	Uganda
AIIC41	Zambia Mango and Local Fruits Value Chain Consortium (“Zambia Mango Consortium”)	Frontier Development Associates	Zambia
AIIC38	Centre d’Innovation Agro-forestier du Mali, Projet CAF	Agro Industrie Development SA (AID-SA)	Mali
AIIC21	Consortium de Création et de Renforcement des Capacités d’Entreprises Agro commerciales (CCRC-EA)	Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique et Technologique (CNRST)	Burkina Faso
AIIC28	Chibuto School of Business and Entrepreneurship Incubator	Chibuto School of Business and Entrepreneurship (ESNEC) – Eduardo Mondlane University(UEM).	Mozambique
AIIC32	GRASS UP NOW CONSORTIUM	Egerton University	Kenya
AIIC14	Sorghum Value Chain Agribusiness Innovation Incubator Consortium	Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT).	Kenya
AIIC30	Ghana agribusiness incubator and entrepreneurship centre (GAIEC)	Universty for Development Studies, Tamale	Ghana
AIIC8	Incubation and Diversification of Banana Products for Agribusiness (IDBPA)	Kyambogo, University	Uganda
AIIC4	Consortium for Enhancing University Responsiveness to Agribusiness Development (CURD)	Makerere, University	Uganda

Related blog post: The Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs/Danida has provided funds to FARA to support the Universities, Business and Research in Agricultural INovation (UniBRAIN) Initiative.

Outcome of the Call for Concept notes of PAEPARD

PAEPARD launched on 8^th of December 2010 a call for applications for support to the development of multi-stakeholder partnerships that promote demand-driven agricultural innovation and research (deadline 28/01/2011).  PAEPARD partners were asked to disseminate as much as possible the call through their respective channels.

82 concept notes were received by 28 January 2011. 3 concept notes were rejected which came after the deadline.

Selected concept notes:

African Applicant Country	Title of the proposal
Uganda	Enhancing capacity and developing networks between North-South Universities in Research Methods training at PhD level
Togo	l’Agribusiness au tour du soja
Togo	Caractérisation de deux variétés du piment rouge pour améliorer la mise en marché et transformation semi-industrielle
Senegal	Un partenariat Europe Afrique pour la création d’un outil de suivi de l’agriculture familiale
South Africa	Use of  Geographic Information Systems, GMPBasic and existing related information systems to benchmark and plan the development of the emerging livestock sector of South Africa
Ghana	Improving food security and income for smallholder farmers through improved post harvest technology.
Kenya	Aflatoxin contamination management along the maize value chain in Kenya
Malawi	Partnership for Enhanced Aquaculture Innovation in Sub Saharan Africa (PEAISSA)
Kenya	Re-vamping pyrethrum sector through improved policy environment to address pest problems anticipated due to climate change and improve farmers livelihoods
Zimbabwe	Improving the incomes of smallholder farmers through increased access to livestock markets and through the engagement of the stakeholders in the livestock production to marketing value chain

The support that PAEPARD offers to new partnerships whose application to the PAEPARD call of December 2010 was successful consists of:

1. [A] sponsored participation of key partners in Partnership Inception (PI ) workshops
2. [B] subsidized participation of some of the key partners together with administrative staff of their organizations in Write-shops.
3. [C] Follow up with the funding opportunities

A) Partnership Inception workshop: 
A workshop of about 7 days involving the participation of 20-25 people who are key partners of three to four (maximum) new partnerships selected in response to PAEPARD calls for applications to support to partnership formation.

• The PI-workshops give the partners of new partnerships an opportunity to meet face-to-face (often for the first time), develop a shared and in-depth understanding of each other’s perspective of and interest in the common theme, clarify what each of them expects from the others and from the partnership as a whole (in terms of, e.g., contributions in kind and cash, types of benefits and their distribution between partners),agree on the broad development actions needed to address the theme, on the roles and responsibilities of each partner and on the principles to be respected by the different partners to ensure continued focus on the demands of non-research stakeholders and balance in governance.
• PI-workshops also help participating partnerships to agree on the research questions to be addressed, the concrete results expected from the research and the consultation process between research and non-research partners needed to ensure that results meet the latter’s expectations, e.g., in terms of accessibility and applicability.
• The PI-workshops will be facilitated by the Agricultural Innovation-facilitators proposed by the successful partnerships and trained by the Capacity building organizations and partners of PAEPARD, In this way, PAEPARD helps strengthen the capacities of the partners to effectively work as a demand-driven, balanced multi-stakeholder team.

The decision which partnerships to combine in each PI-workshop will be based on the potential for mutual learning between the partnerships, complementarities in competencies, commonality of language (English, French), similarities in themes and in capacity strengthening needs, as well as on logistical and other pragmatic considerations.

• The PI-workshops are preferably organised on the intended research location of one of the participating partnerships (that could probably also host the workshops) to be able to include some field visits for interaction with local actors of the hosting partnership who are not able to participate in the PI-workshop.
• The other participating partnerships will be stimulated to organise similar interactions on their own research locations after their return from the PI-workshop.

Expected results of the Partnership Inception workshop:

• Result 1: Demand-driven, balanced ARD consortia are consolidated with clear understanding of the roles and responsibilities of the non-research and research partners and African and European partners and with a clear agreement on the principles of African-led joint governance. Where relevant, missing actors and their required contributions have been identified.
• Result 2: Each ARD consortium has developed an action plan defining the complementary development activities to address the common challenge/ theme around which each consortium is mobilized and the main elements of a research proposal to be further elaborated at a write-shop.
• Result 3: Memoranda of Agreement have been signed between the partners in each partnership, between each partnership and its AI-facilitator and between each AI-facilitator and the PAEPARD Work Package 4 [Capacity Building] leaders.
• Result 4: The collective and individual capacities of all consortium members to function as a team, taking stock of specific needs of non-research partners and mobilising their specific complementary contributions to the innovation process, have been strengthened.

Between the Partnership Inception workshop and write-shops, the AI-facilitators, with help from PAEPARD, assist their partnerships to formulate a first rough draft of a research proposal based on the main elements defined during the PI-workshop.

B) Write shops. 
All ARD consortia established through PI-workshops are expected to qualify for and participate in a write-shop approximately 4 weeks after the PI-workshop. The purpose of the write-shops is to:

• finalise the research proposals of the participating ARD consortia (already drafted between steps 2 and 3 by the consortium and its AI-facilitator);
• provide training to key representatives of the consortia on the format/ procedures or requirements of the funding source targeted.

The participants in write-shops are a subset of the key partners who participated in the PI-workshop (as not all partners will be involved in proposal writing), as well as administrative staff that have not been involved in the PI-workshop.

• Consortia will be required to share 20% of the cost of accommodation and food (i.e. 20% of the per diem), as well as some costs related to their travel.
• The write-shops will be facilitated by experienced trainers in research proposal writing with expert knowledge of the specific requirements of the ARD-funding sources targeted, both in terms of content and form of the proposal and in terms of the administrative, legal and financial aspects of research project management.
• In organising write-shops, PAEPARD will combine partnerships on the basis of similarity on requirements of the targeted donors. This may lead to different combinations from those used in the PI-workshops.

Expected results of the Write shop

• Result 1: Consortium members are aware of the procedures and formats required by the identified funding source to which their research proposal will be submitted and are able to use these formats and apply these procedures.
• Result 2: Each consortium has fully developed its proposal following the specified format by the identified funding source

C) Follow up with the funding opportunities
After the write-shop, proposal development and submission to a donor.

• PAEPARD will make sure the consortia continue to work together in other activities while waiting for the funds.
• PAEPARD will inform the consortia on targeted funding opportunities (see bi-monthly PAEPARD update on funding opportunities)
• Lessons will be drawn from feedback obtained from donors on proposals that win funding and those that are rejected for one or another reason.

Expected results of the follow up on the funding opportunities

• Research proposals from different consortia that participated in the process of inception workshop and write-shop are submitted to the targeted funding sources

State of the World 2011 launched in South Africa

On 21st of April 2011 State of the World 2011: Innovations that Nourish the Planet was launched in Pretoria, South Africa, at an event that was hosted in partnership with the Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN). 


Dr Lindiwe Majele Sibanda, FANRPAN Chief Executive Officer, and Danielle Nierenberg, Nourishing the Planet co-Project Director, joined local agricultural experts—including Sithembile Ndema, State of the World 2011 contributing author and FANRPAN Program Manager—to discuss agricultural innovations that are working to alleviate hunger in South Africa and across sub-Saharan Africa. The event marks the first ever launch of State of the World in South Africa, and was covered by many local news outlets, including News24, The New Age and the Mail & Guardian, one of South Africa’s oldest and top news sites.

CGIAR Ad hoc Funders Forum 2011

April 07, 2011. Montpellier, France. The Ad hoc Funders Forum meeting took place on at Agropolis immediately following the 4th Fund Council meeting.  The ad hoc Funders Forum brought together CGIAR donors, members of the Fund Council, and representatives from the Consortium of International Agricultural Research Centers.

Summary report on E-Forum Consultation (March 18, 2011)  (6 pages)

Celebrating Forty Years and Positioning for the next Forty

• Panel presentation (30 mn)
• Discussion (30 mn). To view the video of the discussion, click here.  (Note! duration of video is 1hr14mn)

Presentations by Panelists:

• Ken Cassman, ISPC Chair
• Maria Alexandra Jorge, ILRI, Ethiopia
• Monty Jones, GFAR Chair
• Jonne Rodenburg, AfricaRice Center

Presentations

• ISPC Comments on Strategic Results Framework (SRF) by Ken Cassman
• CGIAR Fund Office Report by Jonathan Wadsworth
• CGIAR Consortium Board Chair report by Carlos Perez del Castillo
• Presentation on the SRF by Carlos Perez del Castillo
• Update on the CGIAR Research Programs (CRPs) by Lloyd Le Page
• GFAR and the GCARD: Transforming Agricultural Research for Development: Update on GCARD by Monty Jones

Meeting Documents: Funders Forum Meeting Agenda

A Strategy and Results Framework (SRF) for the CGIAR

• SRF Full Report. February 2011
• SRF Brochure. March 2011
• SRF 2 pager. March 2011

Survey from First Funders Forum Meeting in 2010: 2010 Survey Report

First stakeholders' regional farmers meeting Aligning Production to Markets

April 13-15, 2011. Livingstone. Zambia. The meeting, which was jointly hosted by Alliance for Commodity Trade in Eastern and Southern Africa (ACTESA), Southern African Confederations Confederation of Agricultural Unions (SACAU) and East Africa Farmers Federation (EAFF), was attended by representatives of farmers' organisations and governments from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) region as well as development agencies and implementing partners.

Some of the topics discussed in the meeting included key challenges in the marketing of agricultural commodities, agricultural standards and market access, farmers' participation in standards setting and models of linking small-scale farmers to regional markets.

Other topics were issues on small-holder farmer capacity, models of how smallholder farmers could directly supply commodities to World Food Programme (WFP) through Agricultural Commodity Exchange (ACE) and small-holder participation in biotechnology.

Improving Post-Harvest Quality and Packaging of Rice, Sorghum/Millet and Cassava Products to enhance Marketability in West Africa

19/04/2011. Twenty women rice processors, mainly drawn from the Bolgatanga Municipality and Kassena-Nankana East District of the Upper East Region, have attended a three-day training workshop to broaden their knowledge on improved rice post-harvest technologies.

The project under which the training was organised was dubbed,; "The project under which the training was organised was dubbed,; "Improving Post-Harvest Quality and Packaging of Rice, Sorghum/Millet and Cassava Products to enhance Marketability in West Africa."

It was as a result of an agreement signed in June 2009, between the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Conseil Ouest et Centre Africain Pour La Recherche et Le Developpement Agricoles (CORAF) and the West and Central African Council for Agric Research and Development (WECARD), based in Senegal, to initiate six projects when there was a food crisis and the hiking food prices all over West Africa.


Project Target Countries 
• Rice: Senegal, Mali, Liberia, Ghana and Nigeria
• Sorghum/Millet: Senegal, Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso and Nigeria
• Cassava: Ghana, Nigeria, Benin and Togo


These projects were to be undertaken under the framework of the Emergency Global Food Security Initiative, with the aim of seeking to mobilise the strengths, expertise and resources for post-harvest technology development and transfer in West Africa, to demonstrate appropriate post-harvest technologies for adoption.

During the training, the participants were taken through rice primary post-harvest operations such as harvesting, bulking, threshing, winnowing, and drying, while under the secondary post-harvest operations, storage, par-boiling, drying and milling were also discussed.

FARA Weekly update

1.      News and Events

a.     Call for papers: Introducing ‘‘Journal of Stored Products and Postharvest Research”

b.    Agriculture for Impact News Update from Gordon Conway

c.     eLearning Africa 2011: Conference Programme Online

d.    New Director General of ILRI announced

e.     International conference on jobs, food and farming. 19-21 March 2012, Accra

f.     Call for abstracts: Challenges and opportunities for agricultural intensification of humid highland systems of sub-saharan Africa. International conference 24-27 Oct 2011, Kigali

g.    International conference: Innovations in extension and advisory services: linking knowledge to policy and action for food and livelihoods. 15-18 Nov. 2011, Nairobi. Download flyer, concept note, registration form for participants, registration form for booth, abstract and paper guidelines

h.     Announcing AJFAND volume II No. 2, 2011

i.      The REFORUM monthly newsletter, April 2011

j.      US launch of “The New Harvest”

k.     AFAAS 3^rd Symposium and General Assembly held in Accra 12-14 April 2011

2.      Opportunities

a.      Call for application: ARPPIS PhD fellowship, 2011

b.      Rhodes foundation scholarship programme

c.       Call for papers: African Journal of Pure and Applied Chemistry

d.      Call for papers: Journal of Horticulture and Forestry

e.      Vacancy: latest from GFAR

i.                    Senior officer, Agricultural Innovation and Society (P5 grade)

Information Systems Specialist (P3 grade)