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Alex Deprez, Director of the West African Mission of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), affirms that his agency's support for CORAF and other sub-regional institutions is based on the firm conviction that Africans must rise to their challenges.

"We believe in African solutions," said Deprez, who is attending the 12th General Assembly of Africa's largest sub-regional research organization in Dakar, Senegal.

"Our vision is one where we move from aid and assistance to true partnership."

Having been recognized for USAID's support of CORAF and other regional institutions such as CILSS, ECOWAS, etc., Alex Deprez said: "We are supporting CORAF not only in its important work on technology generation, facilitating access to resources for all those in need, but also in ensuring that it becomes a regional institution. Alex Deprez said: "We are supporting CORAF not only in its important work on technology generation, facilitating access to resources for all those who need them, but also to ensure that it becomes a strong and sustainable institution. "

CORAF's current collaboration with USAID is defined in a new cooperative agreement known as the Partnership for Agricultural Research, Education and Development in West Africa (PAIRED). This five-year program, worth around US$15 million, aims to strengthen CORAF, expand technologies and increase the production and availability of quality agricultural inputs.

The CORAF stakeholders who met in Dakar to discuss adopted plans that will help West and Central African countries meet the challenges of population growth, climate change, unemployment, nutrition and food insecurity, gender disparities and migration.

After three days, a consensus was reached on the approaches and steps to be taken to tackle some of these challenges over the next ten years. The Strategic Plan aims to enable CORAF to better coordinate research from a strategic point of view, while anticipating the challenges that could affect the 23 economies of the organization's member countries. This is the fundamental research coordination mandate assigned to CORAF at its creation in 1987.

CORAF expresses its thanks to the World Bank

For over a decade, the World Bank Group has provided a grant to CORAF to coordinate regional research activities in West Africa and now Central Africa. The latest intervention, financed by countries through World Bank loans, is known as the West African Agricultural Productivity Program (WAAPP).

One of the main architects of the World Bank's interaction with CORAF was Dr. Abdoulaye Touré, Chief Agricultural Economist and team leader of the WAPP.

At its Annual General Meeting, CORAF expressed its gratitude to him for his hard work on behalf of agricultural research and development in West Africa, and CORAF in particular.

CORAF also expressed its gratitude to several researchers who have helped write the history of research and development in West and Central Africa over several decades. These include Drs. Adama Traoré, Dominique Hounkounnou, Alioune Fall, the late Ndiaga Mbaye, Paco Sereme and others.