News

The 2022 edition of the Knowledge Management for Agricultural Development (KM4AgD) Challenge came to a close with the conclusion of the second KM4AgD continental conference.

The annual initiative consists of recruiting a number of fellows and building their knowledge management skills over a period of three (03) months.

This year, twenty-seven (27) participants from twenty (20) countries were recruited and trained from June to September in the best techniques and practices for developing and implementing effective knowledge management strategies.

A growing KM4AgD community of practice

The KM4AgD Challenge 2022 comes to a close with the graduation of participants who have just completed an intense training program.

"I would like to congratulate you on your resilience and persistence. And I also salute you for your expected good service", said Dr Yemi AKINBAMIJO, Executive Director of the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), to the new KM experts.

These new experts trained under this initiative de facto join the twenty-eight (28) from last year's class in the KM4AgD Community of Practice.

The KM4AgD Challenge is an initiative that will ultimately contribute to building a critical mass of Knowledge Management specialists who will help drive knowledge-based agricultural development. My congratulations to the class of 2022 who have just completed the program. The graduating fellows will undoubtedly put the knowledge they have acquired to good use in their institutions and communities",

said Dr Abdou TENKOUANO, Executive Director of CORAF.

The members of the Class of 2022 were introduced by the implementing partners of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme ex Pillar 4 (CAADP-XP4), and other partner organizations, as follows:

• The West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research and Development (CORAF): five (05) participants;
• The African Forum for Agricultural Advisory Services (AFAAS) - four (04) participants;
• Association pour le renforcement de la recherche agricole en Afrique orientale et centrale (ASARECA): two (02) participants;
• The Coordination Center for Agricultural Research and Development for Southern Africa (CCARDESA): four (04) participants;
• The international movement of Young Professionals for Agricultural Development (YPARD): four (04) participants;
• The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR): seven (07) participants; and
• The African Union Commission (AUC): one (01) participant.

Advancing the KM4AgD agenda in Africa

The KM4AgD conference was also an opportunity for the CAADP-XP4 KM working group -Andrianjafy RASOANINDRAINY (AFAAS), Ben ILAKUT (ASARECA), Benjamin ABUGRI (FARA), Bilal TAIROU (CORAF), Bridget KAKUWA (CCARDESA)- and other partners such as OneCGIAR, the AUC, YPARD, etc., to reflect and make recommendations to move the KM4AgD program forward in Africa. to reflect on and make recommendations for advancing the KM4AgD program in Africa.

These revolve around five (05) main pillars:

1. KM Partnership Framework for Agricultural Research for Development (AR4D) in Africa: develop a collective framework to guide AR4D's KM activities. 
2. Knowledge partnerships and resource mobilization: establish a KM fund to implement the KM program for agricultural development and sustainability. 
3. Knowledge inclusion - gender, disability and indigenous knowledge: integrating all these parameters into KM and valuing positive social and cultural norms.
4. Knowledge center and digitization: Ensure that all knowledge generated is centralized at national and regional levels, and also digitized. Governments, public and regional institutions are called upon to take the lead in this direction.
5. Advanced knowledge processes, traditional knowledge, knowledge and misinformation: the aim here is to adapt to the rapid evolution of the world and of knowledge, to promote cultural exchange programs and traditional and indigenous knowledge, and to develop a more targeted approach to combating misinformation.

The CAADP-XP4 KM working group remains convinced that if the right actions are taken in this direction, with the right synergies, it will be possible to achieve the sustainable development objectives and those of Malabo in relation to CAADP.

CAADP-XP4 supports the KM4AgD Challenge. The Commission of the European Union funds the program, and the administration of this funding is entrusted to the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).