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PLATFORM UPDATE31 May 2019 |
IN BRIEF
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LAND-AT-SCALEStrengthening land governance to better achieving the SDGs
The LAND-at-scale (LAS) programme, launched on 3 April, 2019 by the Netherlands Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, Sigrid Kaag, aims to strengthen land governance components for women, men, and youth so that they may contribute to structural, just, sustainable, and inclusive change on a large scale in developing countries, regions, and landscapes. Through LAS's, the Dutch government aims to support local interventions that have high potential to increase equal access to land and natural resources, reduce conflicts and competing claims over land and natural resources. In their theory of change, this should lead to more sustainable and efficient use of land and natural resources for food, housing, and production. These initiatives will be upscaled across landscapes and regions in developing countries, thereby complementing and adding value to the ongoing support and engagement of the Ministry through various partner organisations, such as the International Land Coalition and the Global Land Tool Network. The goal of responsibly achieving secure tenure rights is at the heart of LAS. The programme will also focus on gender equality as a cross-cutting theme by promoting interventions that contribute to women empowerment, specifically through the explicit recognition of the importance of access to, and control over land rights by women. WEBLINKMEETING OF THE GLOBAL ADAPTATION COMMISSION IN BONNGermany is to help 60 million small farmers to become climate-proof by 2030 German Development Minister Gerd Müller announced that Germany is to help 60 million small farmers to become climate-proof by 2030. He made this statement on the occasion of a meeting of the Global Adaptation Commission, to which he invited international leaders on 21 May in Bonn, Germany. The meeting was chaired by former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and World Bank General Manager Kristalina Georgieva. The meeting centred around the measures that are needed to prepare for the consequences of climate change which are already being experienced. Even with the achievement of the global 2-degree target, climate-related disasters are already today a reality and will intensify in the future. Especially in developing countries, adaptation to climate change becomes more urgent. “Climate change has long been a life-threatening reality for many people, and developing countries bear the brunt - even though they have least contributed. This is why we support farmers, especially those from sub-Saharan Africa, with, for example, drought-resistant seeds And we are expanding our commitment to micro-insurance to protect farmers in developing countries better against crop losses. The projects launched by BMZ in 2017 will save more than 230 million tonnes of CO2, twice the amount of CO2 emissions from Nigeria. In the area of adaptation alone, our new commitments from 2017 will benefit some 26 million people,” Minister Müller is quoted from a BMZ press release. Climate protection and adaptation to climate change are priority areas of the German development cooperation. In 2017 alone, the Federal Government has committed 3.65 billion euros in international climate finance from budget funds. Significantly, more than 80 percent of the German funds for international climate finance comes from the budget of the BMZ. Ban Ki-moon, Chair of the Global Commission and the Global Center for Adaptation to Climate Change, said: “We must not waste time. The decisions we make today have lasting effects, and if we set the right course now, we will be on track in the future. The actions we are planning today will save us money and save lives. We will have the opportunity to create prospects, additional jobs, economic growth and more prosperity - but only if we act now.” Kristalina Georgieva, co-chair of the Global Commission on Adaptation to Climate Change and Managing Director of the World Bank: “Already millions of people are threatened by the climate crisis, and most at risk are the poorest who have least contributed to the causes of the problem. Measures are being taken to help people cope with hotter summers, severe droughts and devastating storms. Our Commission can relay findings and serve as a conduit for new ideas on how to support the world’s most vulnerable people who have to adapt to climate change.” Prior to the UN Climate Change Summit in New York in September, the Global Adaptation Commission will publish a report highlighting the most urgent need for action in specific areas, including food security, infrastructure, finance, urban resilience and nature-based solutions. WEBLINKCLIMATE-SMART AGRICULTUREOpportunities for young agripreneurs in Africa
Africa has the youngest population, with 60% of the people below 35 years of age, with 420 million youth aged 15 – 35 with about 70% residing in rural areas. There are approximately 11-12 million youth entering the labour force every year vs the 3 million jobs created annually leaving a shortfall of 8-9 million youth without formal employment. The lack of employment has raised as a significant political concern for many development partners. While the agriculture sector offers significant employment and economic growth opportunities, the youth face a substantial number of hurdles to participation and major efforts are needed to provide young Africans with new technologies and innovations that will allow them to transition into the sector and make a sustainable income. The African Development Bank (AfDB) has taken on this mantle by committing USD 350 million to enable youth investments on the continent by implementing the Enable Youth Program. The program demonstrates that with greater access to agribusiness enterprise development services, youth can become the driving force of agricultural transformation in Africa. The AfDB hosts the annual African Youth Agripreneur Forum (AYAF) and AgriPitch Competition bringing together young entrepreneurs from different regions of Africa to showcase their innovations and create avenues for further collaboration with investors, businesses and development partners. This year, the AYAF goes to South Africa in Cape Town from 24 – 28 June 2019 and will be hosted in partnership with the Western Cape Government. In light of the global paradigm shifts to more responsible agricultural practices to minimise the footprint of agriculture on climate, the environment and natural resources, the AYAF takes an interesting theme focusing on Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA): “Climate Smart Agriculture: Business and Employment Opportunities for Africa’s Youth”. The annual event is expected to attract over 200 participants from across the continent, including youth agripreneurs, agribusiness companies, investors, environmentalists, academia, development partners and government agencies. The AYAF will centre around the promotion of a business case for responsible agribusiness and entrepreneurship in line with CSA and will give young entrepreneurs a platform to not only create and sustain growing networks but also to showcase their ingenuity to investors, development partners and the rest of the world. The forum will tackle questions and issues regarding what the current technological innovations are in regards to CSA and how agripreneurs are leveraging them to create a competitive edge for their enterprises, what barriers exist for incorporation of CSA practices in agri-businesses and what channels of accessing finance and technical support exist tailored towards supporting CSA enterprises. The prestigious event will kick off with a three-day boot camp (24 – 26 June) where pre-selected agripreneurs receive training on business models, marketing, the innovation development process, business financing by coaches and mentors. The agripreneurs will finally pitch their ideas to a panel of judges and impact investors. The event will conclude with a two-day conference (27 – 28 June) which will provide a platform for the youth agripreneurs and key stakeholders to discuss topical or thematic issues affecting youth employment with experts, business leaders, investors and policymakers. WEBLINKTHE RURAL DIGITAL REVOLUTIONEngaging youth in agriculture through ICTs
On 17 May the United Nations celebrated the 50th anniversary of World Telecommunication and Information Society Day. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) shape our every-day life throughout the world. For a long time, ICTs have been considered to provide an avenue to increase youth's participation in agriculture and make it a more profitable and sound career path. ICTs could make agriculture a more promising career path for millions of young people given their potential to increase market access, provide weather forecasts and link rural farmers to information networks and other farmers. In the run-up to the World Telecommunication and Information Society Day and to further explore the role of ICTs in youth-led agriculture and agribusiness, the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), in partnership with the Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Network (CSAYN), held a month-long online discussion on the Climate & Agriculture Network for Africa (CANA) Platform. The online discussion had participants respond to a range of questions, from technology as a tool to support youth-led agribusiness to discussing the barriers to ICT use. The use of ICTs to link young people to agriculture was a natural fit according to many contributors. CGIAR-CCAFS in partnership with CSAYN, Foundation for Building Sustainable Communities (FBSC) and the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU (CTA), hosted a webinar on 29 May. Topics drawn from the online discussions included current trends in youth engagement with ICTs, a discussion about the opportunities and barriers that young people face in the agriculture sector and the role of technology going forward. The webinar had speakers from CSAYN, CGIAR and FBSC who shared a wide array of insights regarding different interlinkages between ICTs, youth and agriculture. “Most people born after the mid-1990s have probably never known a world without smartphones,” one participant remarked. Another seconded saying “youth tend to be tech-savvy. They can be involved in developing digital applications that can be used to enhance agriculture along with different aspects of the value chain.” WEBLINKINFOGRAPHIC OF THE MONTHInteraction made understandable: The SDG Synergies Approach
Not an infographic in the strict sense, but a valuable tool to assess the interaction of the different SDGs: The Stockholm Environmental Institute (SEI) has come up with a practical approach to prioritise action on SDG targets to enable decision makers to identify how interactions between different SDG targets shape policy outcomes. The so-called "SDG Synergies approach" promises to help users generate a shared understanding of opportunities and challenges and identify collaborations between actors and sectors. WEBLINK
MEMBERS AND PARTNERS STRATEGIES, PUBLICATIONS AND EVENTSEVENTSThursday, 11-14 June 2019 | Malabo, Equatorial Guinea The 2019 Annual Meetings of the Boards of Governors of the African Development Bank Group (African Development Bank and African Development Fund) are being held in Malabo, the Republic of Equatorial Guinea from 11 to 14 June 2019. This year’s focus is on ‘Regional Integration for Africa’s Economic Prosperity’, falling under one of the Bank’s five priority areas known as the ‘High 5s’ (Light up and power Africa, Feed Africa, Industrialize Africa, Integrate Africa and Improve the quality of life for the people of Africa). Saturday, 15-16 June 2019 | Bonn, Germany The 2019 Annual Forum of the Global Alliance for Climate-Smart Agriculture (GACSA) will be held in Bonn, Germany from 15-16 June 2019. This year’s Forum will focus on how GACSA members are supporting the scaling up of CSA activities in the implementation of the Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture, Gender Action Plan, and Nationally Determined Indicators. This year, GACSA will have a lot to discuss, including the new GACSA Strategic Plan 2018-2019. Monday, 24-28 June 2019 | Cape Town, South Africa The African Youth Agripreneur Forum (AYAF) is an annual event of the African Development Bank’s Enable Youth Program. It attracts over 200 participants from across the continent including youth agripreneurs, agribusiness companies, investors, environmentalists, academia, development partners and government agencies. NEWS FROM THE SECRETARIATAnnual General Assembly 2019 | 19-21 June, Zurich/Switzerland Members Only Tool Box ABOUT USChanges in focal points and Secretariat staff James Kyewalabye, a Ugandan national, started a three-month internship at the Platform Secretariat in mid-May. His work experience spans a variety of areas in Social Entrepreneurship, NGO Operations, Finance and Accounting management. James is currently completing an M.A. degree in Agriculture and Rural Development at the University of East Anglia in Norwich. |
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