Mayaki calls on Ghana to align country’s priorities with NEPAD’s capacity development framework

The CEO of NEPAD, Dr. Ibrahim Mayaki, last week in Accra called on the Ghanaian Government to align the "NEPAD Capacity Development Strategic Framework (CDSF)" with the country’s national development priorities.

Dr. Mayaki was in the country for a three-day series of engagements and workshops on how to feed the CDSF into key sectors such as agriculture, infrastructure and processes such as the implementation of the programmes of action from the country’s African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM).

In his discussions with John Mahama, the Vice President of the Republic of Ghana, Mayaki stressed that apart from reviewing the capacity development-related work in Ghana, NEPAD was also interested in collaborating with stakeholders such as government representatives, external partners and Universities, on how the CDSF could be applied in the agricultural sector. Mayaki commended Ghana for making strides in the implementation of the APRM. The NEPAD CEO also took part in a dialogue on how African higher educational institutions can contribute meaningfully to the development of the continent inspite of its youthful population, unequal wealth distribution and high youth unemployment rate. He pledged NEPAD’s support to tertiary institutions and civil society in Africa in order to empower the youth.

Vice President Mahama said that since the majority of African countries were engaged in agriculture, there was the need to increase investments in that sector to help reduce poverty and enable the continent to respond to the food crisis. He said Ghana would increase its budgetary allocation to agriculture from the current six percent to 10 percent, to help alleviate poverty and enable the country to be a net exporter of food in the near future.

The Vice President said as part of this increased allocation, the Ghanaian government would also assist peasant farmers to go into medium and large scale farming, especially in areas with large tracts of land to improve their incomes.

The NEPAD delegation also met with Ghana’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni, the Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, Nii Amasah Namoale, and the Executive Director of the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa, Dr Monty Jones, to discuss the implementation of Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) and the need for more CAADP investment support in Ghana in order to attain MDG1 on food security . By Louis Napo Gnagbe, Accra, 27th July 2009

Burundi and Ethiopia to sign CAADP compact

Agricultural experts, policymakers and representatives from Africa and the international community will convene in Bujumbura and Addis Ababa from August 24-25, 2009 and August 27-28 2009 respectively, for roundtable discussions leading to the signing of the NEPAD’s Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP) Compacts.

The purpose of the CAADP roundtables, to be hosted by the Governments of Burundi and Ethiopia in conjunction with COMESA, is to reach consensus among key stakeholders on the countries’ agricultural development agendas, forge the necessary partnerships to implement them and secure commitments and resources from partners to make the necessary investments.

CAADP’s agenda reflects a fundamental shift in the way Africa’s leadership looks at agriculture and its potential contribution to ending poverty and hunger. The program is the centerpiece of efforts by African countries to achieve growth and poverty reduction in line with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

"The large majority of the people in our region derive their livelihood from agriculture, therefore it is important to urgently conclude plans that will ensure increased productivity and incomes," said outgoing COMESA CAADP coordinator Cris Muyunda.

Dr. Muyunda, who is Alliance for Commodity Trade in Eastern and Southern Africa CEO, said concluding the CAADP Compacts is the surest way to ensure that the COMESA region reaches MDG1 of halving poverty and hunger by 2015.

The main objectives of the CAADP roundtables are to : Review how national policies and investments are supporting agricultural development ; Identify constraints to achieving the six percent target growth rate for the agricultural sector, and identify policy and investment gaps ; Design action plans to bridge identified gaps and agree on the necessary resources and capacity to implement the plans ; and Adopt mechanisms to coordinate efforts, monitor, and evaluate a country’s progress and performance. CAADP was established in July 2003 and its overall goal is to "Help African countries reach a higher path of economic growth through agriculturally-led development, which eliminates hunger, reduces poverty and food insecurity, and enables expansion of exports."

CAADP is the highest policy level framework for the development of agriculture in Africa. COMESA has the mandate to implement the CAADP agenda in Eastern and Southern Africa. While the majority of the citizens of COMESA derive livelihood from agriculture, the sector’s overall productivity is low. The main challenges to enhanced agricultural development and competitiveness in COMESA are market-related challenges, technological obstacles and policy constraints that lead to low agricultural productivity resulting in food insecurity.

The CAADP framework is a growth-oriented agricultural development agenda, aimed at increasing agriculture growth rates to six percent per year to create the wealth needed for rural communities and households in Africa to prosper. In order to ensure that COMESA’s regional agricultural development programmes are CAADP compliant and to assist member States target the agreed objectives of reaching MDG 1, delivery of 10% of national budgets to agriculture to attain a sustained 6% sector growth rate is required. To achieve this goal, CAADP focuses its interventions in four key pillars to achieve measurable outcomes :

Pillar 1 : Extending the area under sustainable land management and reliable water control systems ; Pillar 2 : Improving rural infrastructure and trade-related capacities for market access ; Pillar 3 : Increasing food supply, reducing hunger, and improving responses to food emergency crises ; and Pillar 4 : Improving agriculture research, technology dissemination and adoption. Crosscutting issues common across the four pillars targeted for interventions include capacity strengthening for agribusiness ; academic and professional training ; and improving access to information for agricultural strategy formulation.

Burundi and Ethiopia will be the second and third countries respectively, in the COMESA region to sign the CAADP compact after Rwanda, which signed in March 2007. Lusaka, 7th August 2009 - By Carol Jilombo

Benin commits itself to Agriculture

Benin has kick-started the preparatory work that should guarantee the signing of its CAADP compact before the end of this year.

Speaking during a meeting with the NEPAD CEO-Dr. Ibrahim Assane Mayaki, Dr. Yayi Boni the president of Benin noted that agriculture remains the lifeline for economic growth and poverty reduction in Africa.

"There is no alternative, but to focus on agriculture to eradicate poverty and joblessness" he observed.

He went on to add that Benin had several agriculture related priority investments including mechanization, rural infrastructure, water irrigation and value chain development .

Dr. Mayaki acknowledged the work of Dr. Boni in championing the CAADP agenda particularly in terms of increasing Benin’s public budget allocation to agriculture. Cotonou, 8th August 2009 - By Dr. Andrew Kanyegerire

Expert Group established to guide NEPAD e-Schools Initiative

A 20-member expert group from the private sector, Universities, training institutes and international organizations was established on May 27 in Dakar to advise on the activities of the NEPAD e-Schools Initiative in accordance with resolutions adopted by partners involved in the NEPAD e-Africa Commission and the Business Plan of the e-Schools

The Group was established at a ceremony chaired by the former Sengalese Minister in charge of NEPAD and Parliament relations, Mr. Faustin Diatta, attended by the UNESCO representatives and the Deputy Chairperson of NEPAD e-Africa Commission, Dr Chasia.

In his speech, Mr. Diatta said the e-Schools Initiative, one of six priorities identified by theNEPAD Implementation Committee of Heads of States and Governments, is a flagship activity aimed at using knowledge to integrate African countries into the information society and improve the quality of teaching in Africa through the use of ICTs.

Mr Diatta urged the eminent experts to give sound technical advise based on competence and impartiality for the implementation of the e-schools initiative.

The NEPAD e-Schools Initiative has been successfully demonstrated in 17 African countries, and is now targeting the entire continent. In the long term, the Initiative will achieve the following outcomes :

Each student will have a computer ;

All teachers will be trained in ICTs ;

African schools will be interconnected and will benefit from educational contents ; and

Have at their disposal an instrument of exchanges between African teachers, while respecting language diversity. Johannesburg, 11 August 2009 - By Gilles Foadey

Responding to the Objectives of the NEPAD e-Schools Initiative

The NEPAD e-Africa Commission and Intel today began a week-long teacher training workshop in Johannesburg to address the objectives of NEPAD e-Schools and ensure that African teachers are professionally equipped with 21st Century skills for teaching and learning in e-Schools.

Participants in the training were drawn from 13 of the 16 countries involved in the demo phase of NEPAD e-Schools Initiative : Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Egypt, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Mali, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa and Uganda. Twenty five participants were awarded certificates for Senior Trainers of the Intel-Teach programme.

In a speech to the graduating participants, Dr. Henry Chasia, the Executive Deputy Chairperson of the NEPAD e-Africa Commission said the world had become a digital world in which successful citizens are those who have acquired ICT skills for learning, work and leisure.

"The workshop will enable you to train teachers in NEPAD e-Schools, as well as other appropriate schools in your countries, to use 21st Century skills for teaching and learning. As the teachers acquire and use these skills, they will enhance themselves professionally and they will do a better job as teachers in preparing our youth for the world that they must live in today," he said.

The e-Schools Initiative is guided by the NEPAD e-Schools Business Plan and a Teacher Development Strategy Report that was funded by the International Telecommunications Union in 2006. Intel and the NEPAD e-Africa Commission signed an MoU on 5th December 2008. They have been collaborating to use the Intel Teach Programme which promotes learner-focused approaches and help teachers to use ICTs for teaching and learning.

The workshop was conducted by André Christian, Intel Education manager, Dr Katherine Getao and Papa Youga Dieng, Project Managers of the NEPAD e-Schools Initiative, in English and French.

The NEPAD e-Africa Commission was established in 2001, with the mandate to manage the structured development of the ICT sector in Africa in the context of NEPAD. The NEPAD e-Schools Initiative is one of the six high priority projects endorsed by the NEPAD Head of State and Government Implementation Committee (HSGIC) in 2003. Johannesburg, 22 June 2009 - By Gilles Foadey

NEPAD and the Goethe-Institut sign a cooperation agreement

NEPAD Secretariat and the Goethe-Institut today in Johannesburg signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to collaborate in the implementation of projects and activities of common interest, and to pursue other forms of cooperation.

Such projects may include applied research on African culture and education issues ; research in support of culture education training methodologies ; knowledge management ; new and improved project management and evaluation techniques as well as design and development of training and capacity-building-related activities.

The MOU was signed by NEPAD CEO, Dr. Ibrahim Mayaki and the representative of Goethe-Institut Südafrika and the Goethe-Institut North Afrika/Nahos, Dr. Katharina von Ruckteschell-Katte. The two representatives expressed hope for a long and fruitful partnership, which will enable each organization to fulfill its individual mandate, and play an important role in promoting sustainable development in Africa.

Culture is one of the seven focus areas of the African Union’s Plan of Action on Education for Africa (2006 - 2015) which aims at ensuring the mainstreaming of culture into all AU priorities ; the use of education for entrenching peace, justice and equity as well as the empowerment of men and women. It also emphasizes the role of education in re-establishing the dignity of Africans, and engendering pride in positive African values and heritage.

NEPAD’s mandate is to promote sustainable political and socio-economic development on the African continent, which Goethe-Institut supports by promoting through deeper understanding between cultures, capacity- building seminars, workshops and dialogue rooted in partnership. It is present in 26 African countries. Johannesburg, 23 July 2009

Mayaki visits Togo as the country endorses CAADP Compact

The CEO of NEPAD, Dr. Ibrahim Mayaki, was in Togo from the 28th to the 29th of July to witness the country’s endorsement of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Compact.

CAADP is a programme of the African Union’s (AU)-New Partnership For Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and it is based on two major principles : the pursuit of a six percent average annual growth rate at the national level in the agricultural sector, and the allocation of ten percent of national budgets to agriculture as per the 2003 AU Maputo declaration.

The Compact is a mutual commitment between the Government of Togo and the various national, regional and international agencies that are committed to aligning national-level agricultural plans towards the CAADP Agenda. During his visit to Togo, Dr. Mayaki and his delegation from NEPAD, met with the Head of State of Togo, Faure Gnassingbé. During his discussions with President Gnassingbé, Dr. Mayaki reiterated NEPAD’s full support towards Togo’s development plans.

Dr.Mayaki and his delegation also met with the country’s Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Mr. Messan Ewovor, the Minister of Cooperation, Development and Spatial Planning, Mr. Gilbert Bawara and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Koffi Esaw. By Dr. Andrew Kanyegerire. Lome, 29th July 2009 - NEPAD News/ Actualités du NEPAD

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