Changing Environment for Effective Partnerships between African and International Organizations in Support of Agricultural Transformation
Event Description:
Focus of discussions:
This session will focus on exploring the evolving landscape and the challenges and opportunities being created for innovative and effective new partnerships between US and African institutions engaged in African agri-food systems. This has come at a time when the need for African-led initiatives are growing and old partnership models are increasingly out of tune with 2017 realities. For US development-oriented institutions to play an appropriate and useful role in this changing environment, it will depend on understanding and adapting to how Africans view their role in today’s world, in which there is considerably greater local expertise, awareness, and insistence that African organizations control their national development agendas, policies, and programs.
Structure of the side event:
The Director of the Alliance for African Partnership will set the scene by briefly laying out five key megatrends affecting the trajectories of agricultural transformation in Africa, demonstrating how African governments and international partners will need to anticipate and pro-actively respond to these trends, and highlighting the implications for effective partnerships between African and international organizations.
Then the Keynote speaker, The Minister of Agriculture from the Government of the Republic of Zambia, who will lay out a vision and strategy for agricultural transformation in the region, taking account of trends highlighted in the opening presentation.
After these two speakers, the Moderator will convene a panel composed of four distinguished African thought leaders, designed to highlight fundamental elements of constructive partnerships in agricultural development – what is working well, what isn’t and why.
The opening speakers and panelists will provide plenty of grist for a moderated floor discussion to engage the audience and elicit responses to questions from the floor
Speakers:
- Honorable Dora Siliya, Minister of Agriculture and Livestock, Government of Republic of Zambia
- Professor Titus Awokuse, Chairperson and Professor of the Department of Agriculture, Food and Resource Economics at Michigan State University
- Dr. Linley Chiwona-Karltun, Associate Professor and Research Fellow, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
- Professor Thomas Jayne, University Foundation President, and Co-Director of Alliance for African Partnership (AAP), Michigan State University
- Professor Emanuel Nnadozie, Executive Secretary, African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF)
- Dr. Chiji Ojukwu, Director, Agriculture and Agro-industry Department, African Development Bank
- Dr. Richard Mkandawire, Director, Africa Secretariat, Alliance for African Partnership (AAP)
Points of Contact:
Prof. Richard Mkandawire email: mkandaw2@msu.edu
Prof. Thom Jayne email: jayne@anr.msu.edu