News

The virtual business meeting of the 13th General Assembly, CORAF's highest decision-making body, ended with the approval of revised governance instruments and proposals to strengthen the organization's presence in Central Africa. So, what are some of the meeting's key conclusions?

Greater CORAF involvement in Central Africa

The business meeting of CORAF's 13th General Assembly will be remembered for approving a roadmap for greater CORAF involvement in Central Africa. While CORAF has been present in Central Africa since its creation, financing a number of projects, it recently decided to become more strategically involved. With its privileged partner, the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), giving priority to agriculture, CORAF sees numerous opportunities to support the region's countries in transforming their agricultural potential.

ECCAS explicitly called on CORAF to become more involved in Central Africa at the 13th General Assembly. "I would like to ask CORAF to increase its involvement in Central Africa and to continue to support our national agricultural research systems, especially in building the capacities of those involved in the agricultural sector", according to His Excellency Honoré Tabuna, ECCAS Commissioner for Agriculture.

With the roadmap adopted, CORAF would further involve research and development players in the region for greater buy-in to the proposed plans in the coming months. The second part of the GA is scheduled to take place in the Chadian capital, Ndjamena, in January 2022.

Review of Governance Instruments

CORAF in the third year of institutional reforms launched in 2018. This has involved reviewing existing governance tools, procedure manuals and ensuring they are updated to ensure better governance of the organization. Some areas in which CORAF plans to make changes to its governance instruments include achieving parity in gender representation on its Governing Board, which will later be called the Board of Directors.

Mandate renewal

The current members of the CORAF Board of Directors were elected at the 2018 General Assembly held in Dakar, Senegal. Their mandate has been renewed for a further three years, to enable them to carry out the reforms underway at CORAF. CORAF's Board of Directors comprises 12 members drawn from national agricultural research institutes, farmers' groups, the private sector and regional economic communities. Financial and technical partners, members of the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa, sit on the Board as observers. Once the reforms come into effect, the new Board of Directors will comprise eleven members.