The Second CAADP-SIRTE Partnership Platform (PP) meeting was held on 27-28 September 2007 at the African Union Commission’s Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to review progress with implementation of NEPAD’s Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Programme (CAADP) since the last meeting in Midrand, South Africa in September 2006.

The meeting also examined the key outcomes and recommendations of the AUC, NEPAD, Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and pillar lead institutions meeting of 25 and 26 September 2007, discussed issues of partner engagement and coordination, and identified priority areas of action.

Summary and key messages The meeting applauded the progress made by COMESA in facilitating the implementation of the CAADP Roundtables.

Significant progress has been made in advancing the implementation of the CAADP agenda. One CAADP Compact has been concluded in Rwanda and three other compacts (Zambia, Malawi and Uganda) will be signed before the end of 2007.

There is an urgent need to deliver support to countries that have taken the initiative to advance the CAADP agenda through the CAADP Roundtable process both in the development of their compacts and after the signing of the compacts.

There is a need to accelerate and strengthen the Country Roundtable processes drawing on the lessons learned. These lessons support the value added of the CAADP Roundtable process and other RECs and countries are encouraged to learn from these experiences.

Sustaining recent progress in agriculture on country and regional level would require substantial mobilisation of resources internally and externally in support of the CAADP agenda.

Continued political engagement and support at the national, regional, continental and global level will be critical for the success of CAADP implementation.

Improved communication on the CAADP process at all levels among all partners is needed.

All CAADP actions should increase capacity of and partnership with national and regional institutions.

The meeting stressed the importance and value of regular CAADP PP meetings on a six monthly basis and the responsibility of the NEPAD Secretariat to coordinate these meetings.

The meeting recognised the important and unique role of women in agriculture and called for prioritising gender mainstreaming through all pillars of the CAADP agenda.

Addressing key crosscutting issues such as gender, sustainability, climate change and HIV and AIDS and other critical factors was recognised as critical to the success of the CAADP agenda.

As called upon by the AU Commissioner, development partners agreed to explore the possibility of establishing a trust fund to support the CAADP process.

Key actions : RECs need to act urgently and proactively with member countries to bring together public and private sector and development partners to engage and take immediate action to start implementation of compact commitments.

COMESA should urgently work with Rwanda to finalise the initiated consultation with development partners before the end of the year to ensure concrete follow-up and implementation of the Rwanda CAADP Compact.

A clear strategy is needed to make the best use of pillar frameworks in the development of both country and regional CAADP Compacts. In addition, the strategy should strengthen inter-pillar linkages and the associated synergies. A working group of the pillar lead institutions, AU, NEPAD and RECs should be constituted to draft these strategies and circulate them ahead of the next PP meeting.

More work needs to be done on the Pillar 1 Framework to integrate water management and land administration effectively. NEPAD to present this ahead of the next PP.

There needs to be a clarification of arrangements for formalisation of lead pillar institutions, the framework development and subsequent actions. This should be developed by the AU, NEPAD and RECs and reported at the next PP.

The CAADP Companion Document for Livestock, Fisheries and Forestry should be integrated in the other 4 Pillars and their implementation plans.

Recognise the urgent need to :

Support the undertaking of a peer review of the progress on CAADP implementation ;

Clearly identify the capacity and resources required by the RECs to enable them to move rapidly toward the implementation of the Country Roundtable process and the development of Country and Regional Compacts ;

Ensure that CAADP Compact development and implementation reflects policy as well as investment priorities and that the compacts add value to future PRSs and other development policies and programmes ;

The AUC and NEPAD to work with the RECs to publish a clear schedule and realistic timetable for Country and Regional Roundtable processes as soon as possible ;

Monitor implementation of the compacts with regard to impact on policies and investment programmes ;

Increase the participation of other stakeholders such as CSOs, the private sector, farmers’ organisations and NGOs in the CAADP PP.

Monitoring and evaluation There is need for a common M&E Framework for CAADP implementation at the national, regional and continental level. Common benchmarks and indicators should be established and circulated before the next PP. The AU and NEPAD should work with ReSAKSS to develop the framework.

In addition there is also a need for benchmarks and indicators identified in each of the Pillar Frameworks capable of measuring progress towards achieving CAADP goals and targets at the national, regional and continental level. Crosscutting issues such as gender, sustainability, HIV/AIDS and other critical factors should be included.

Reporting formats and procedures including timelines for the above should be developed and circulated by the AU and NEPAD for review before the next PP meeting.

Support for early actions There needs to be prioritised support to the countries that have completed their compacts and that have taken the initiative to aggressively move the CAADP agenda forward through the Country Roundtable process. These countries need this support immediately from the RECs, NEPAD, AU and development partners ;

There needs to be support for early actions coming out of the pillar framework process such as the partnership support of FARA, SROs, the Regional Staples Market Programme, PPPs for Seed and Fertiliser, Home Grown School Feeding etc. This support should come from the member countries themselves, RECs, NEPAD, AU and development partners as soon as possible ;

There is need to keep CAADP on the G8 agenda and therefore the need to engage Japan as well in this regard and continue dialogue and review of the delivery of commitments through the APF (2007) and TICAD (2008). This should be done as soon as possible by the AU, NEPAD and development partners ;

There is need to engage other development and funding partners both to increase the support for CAADP but also to ensure that all initiatives on agriculture in Africa are aligned to CAADP. This activity will be undertaken by the AU and NEPAD as soon as possible ;

Development partners should define a set of indicators to track their support to CAADP and identify timelines for updating and reporting. This should be done ahead of the next PP ;

In their engagement with the RECs, development partners should, where necessary, establish development partner support groups at the REC level ;

Development partners will follow up with the request for the establishment of a CAADP trust fund and report progress by or before the next CAADP PP.

Within the functions of the CAADP PP, the AU and NEPAD should put in place mechanisms to ensure follow-up of all of the above and prepare a report for the next PP. This should include responsibilities to develop the agenda and liaise with the host on the organisational logistics for the next CAADP meeting.

COMESA offered to host the next CAADP PP and the date and venue will be announced following consultations.

The four pillars of the CAADP

NEPAD’s Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) is based on four pillars :

Pillar 1 - Extending the area under sustainable land management and reliable water control systems

Pillar 2 - Improving rural infrastructure and market access

Pillar 3 - Increasing food supply and reducing hunger

Pillar 4 - Agricultural research, technology dissemination and adoption. Source : NEPAD, 19 0ctobre 2007

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