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CORAF's Governing Board (GB ) has approved the 2020 work plan, comprising a set of actions aimed at strengthening food and nutrition security for over 430 million people living in West and Central Africa.

The 2020 annual work plan and budget amounts to nearly 15 million USD (around 8 billion FCFA).

Meeting at the ^27th meeting of its Board of Directors in the Cape Verdean capital, Praia, from January 16 to 17, 2020, Board members also reviewed and approved the status of implementation of the 2019 work plan.

The Board supervises the activities of CORAF's Executive Secretariat. As such, it examines and approves the annual programs and budgets.

At the Praia meeting, the Board also approved the 2018 audit report. CORAF has a growing record of good audit results, sound financial, personnel and administrative management that continues to earn the organization appreciation from potential partners.

Substantial aspects of the 2020 plan involve activities designed to implement CORAF's 2018-2022 Operational Plan funded by major international development agencies. These include theUnited States Agency for International Development (USAID), theEuropean Union and the World Bank.

When approved by theGeneral Assembly in 2018, CORAF's current 2018-2022 Operational Plan was expected to cost US$60 million. To date, US$41 million has been mobilized for this purpose. A substantial part of the 2020 work plan will be devoted to achieving the results of this OP.

The ^27th Board meeting was the first to be held in a Portuguese-speaking country, reflecting CORAF's firm intention to extend its services to Portuguese-speaking countries.

Political support from the top

Cape Verde's National Research Institute for Agricultural Development (INIDA) is CORAF's main partner in the small island state.

In the run-up to the Board meeting, the country's Prime Minister and Head of State, Dr. José Ulisses de Pina Correia e Silva, praised INIDA's contribution to strengthening the resilience of communities affected by climate change. INIDA not only produces technologies, but also helps to disseminate innovations that can advance the country's food system in a changing climate.

For example, INIDA is currently working in partnership with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to disseminate smart technologies as part of the Rural Socio-Economic Opportunities Program.

Another CORAF champion, Dr Gilberto Correia Carvalho Silva, Cape Verde's Minister of Agriculture and Environment, urged governments and development partners to invest more in research, given its potential to transform the continent's agricultural sector.

CORAF's Governing Board is currently chaired by Dr Maria Angela P. Bareto Da Veiga Moreno from Cape Verde. She is the first woman to chair CORAF's Governing Board since its creation in 1987.

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