Overview of the programme

31/05. High-Level Opening Plenary. The FNSSA Partnership: A model for AU-EU Cooperation

 

01/06 Clustering of FNSSA-related projects and outcomes based on harmonised researcher-user interests  

by North West University

01/06 Fostering multi-stakeholder partnership engagement for impact on FNSSA: Lessons learnt from PAEPARD (2007-2018). 

This session on stakeholder engagement organized by FARA and EAFF demonstrated the value-added of the AU-EU partnership in FNSSA by focusing on lessons learnt from PAEPARD project. Specifically, the session:

• shared lessons learnt (successes and challenges) in building the multi-stakeholder partnership between African and European partners on FNSSA;
• showcased how PAEPARD has dealt with power relations between farmer organizations (FOs) and researchers to prioritize research in what was called Users' led process (ULP);
• mobilized African & European ARD stakeholders to support the implementation of AU-EU R&I partnership roadmap on FNSSA and the bi-continental platform.

 

01/06 The landscape of knowledge platforms on agri-food systems and climate change. An overview on existing and forthcoming experiences. 

By FOSC project. In the plethora of online platforms, FOSC Knowledge Platform strongly aspires to act synergically with the already existing initiatives, avoiding duplication and redundancy. To face this challenge, the most significant and impacting missing needs should be recognized and solved at a very early stage. The gathered feedbacks will be strongly taken into consideration for the set-up and launch of the FOSC Knowledge Platform.

 

02/06 Keeping the FNSSA Partnership ‘Fit for Purpose’: lessons from studying & monitoring the Partnership. 

By LEAP4FNSSA / UniPID, WUR, Association of Commonwealth Universities.

 

02/06 Sustainable and future agriculture in the African Continent. 

By Durban University of Technology

02/06 Frugal innovation: A new perspective on building an agribusiness. 

By EVERGROW. This session brought together young men and women who shared their unique stories on how they have built their agribusinesses through leveraging un-related ecosystem stakeholders to help bring their products to market and their growth aspirations for their journey moving forward.

 

02/06 Engagement of central and eastern EU countries on Africa-EU Research and Innovation partnership in FNSSA. 

By CZU

03/06 ICT for Agricultural Markets for Smallholder Farmers (ICT4A for Smallholder Farmers) 

By ICT4A for Smallholder Farmers. This session presented current market constraints faced by smallholder farmers across the Eastern and Southern African region that can be solved through ICT4A. It will then focus on ongoing ICT innovations that enable rural smallholder farmers to access markets. The session will set a stage for the presentation and analysis of opportunities for these innovative solutions, their upscale and will explore further engagement of various sector players like the private sector and local smallholder communities in the market and value chain.

 

03/06 Partnerships and multistakeholder approaches for impact. 

By ColeACP

03/06 Imperative for a Soil Information System to inform decision making for Sustainable intensification (Soils4Africa) 

By Soils4Africa. The Soil Information System (SIS) will contain data that are underpinned by rigorously selected soil quality indicators and a sound uniform methodology. The data sets will be updateable and interoperable with other relevant databases. It will have a user-friendly presentation to respond to the soil data needs of the broad stakeholder group such as researchers, farmers, other land users, fertilizer manufacturers, extension and advisory service providers, policymakers, among others.

 

03/06 Leveraging the DeSIRA initiative for agri-food systems transformation: building on and with your experience and lessons learnt (WUR – DESIRA LIFT). 

by WUR – DESIRA LIFT.

By EC/INTPA. The EU supports the DeSIRA initiative (https://europa.eu/capacity4dev/desira) with the objective to contribute to climate-relevant, productive and sustainable transformation of agriculture and food systems in low and middle-incomes countries. DeSIRA initiative aims to put more science into development considering that the solutions to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals are knowledge-intensive but context-specific. It puts special emphasis on multi-stakeholder approach and capacity strengthening to support innovation. The objective of the session was to discuss the different innovation models which are under debate to support innovation in food systems in Africa and how research can make a contribution. This reflection is useful for improving innovation policies building on efficient partnerships and for improving research and innovation interventions to contribute to impacts.

 

 

04/06 Diversity Management for Future R&I and Capacity Building Cooperation in FNSSA. 

By LEAP4FNSSA, Working Group: Actors, Alliances, and Policies. The envisaged AU-EU Platform for R&I on FNSSA, should refer to the big diversity of actors in the field of FNSSA in its design and adaptable maintenance of operations. 

1. How can we design, manage and govern cyclic collaboration processes in networks of actors, without reducing complexity? 
2. Which elements are required for a future platform infrastructure to benefit from the diversity of actors in R&I programme cycles? 
3. What services would such a platform offer?

04/06 Future orientations of the Partnership.

The high-level closing plenary will reflect on key messages emerging from the Stakeholder Engagement Week, focusing on what can be learned for future bi-regional collaboration in FNSSA and for the upcoming AU-EU Summit. The closing plenary will bring together representatives of different sectors to discuss a vision for how long-term, bi-regional research and innovation collaboration in FNSSA might look.

 

 

• INNOFOODAfrica 
  
  

  InnoFoodAfrica will explore climate-smart African crops in Ethiopia, Kenya, South Africa and Uganda. It will develop and demonstrate optimal solutions for cropping practices, processing and productisation of crops to foodstuffs and bio-packagings via new value chains to markets. It will enhance adoption of nutritionally balanced food consumption in urban Africa and create opportunities to launch the new foodstuffs to international markets. 

   

• Soils4Africa
  
  

  .

  Funded by the Horizon 2020 programme of the European Union, Soils4Africa will put in place by 2024 an Open-data Soil Information System (SIS). The SIS will enable farmers, agri-businesses, scientists, and policymakers in their efforts towards sustainable intensification of agriculture and boosting food security; by improving the quality and availability of African soil data.

   

• 

  SEACRIFOG: Supporting EU-African Cooperation on Research Infrastructures for Food Security and Greenhouse Gas Observations.

• WAGRINNOVA - (Co-innovations across scales to enhance sustainable intensification,resilience,
  and food and nutritional security in water-managed agriculturalsystems in West Africa) envisions SI as the springboard that will transform irrigation and lowland communities into resilient,food-secure communities improving their wellbeing through economic growth. 
• Pest-Free-Fruit - Sustainable intensification of fruit production systems throughinnovative pest
  bio-control technologies
• SafeFish: Development of bacteriophage cocktails as disease biocontrol agents for improved aquaculture productivity, food and nutrition safety in Ghana and Uganda