Development Partners Support the CAADP Post-Malabo Agenda
Group photo of participants in the launch of the 4th Biennial Review (BR) Report and Post-Malabo Roadmap last month.
The Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Program (CAADP) Donor Partner Coordination Group (DPCG) is a continental platform that brings together the key donors supporting the CAADP to coordinate better, align their priorities and investments, and to better engage with the African Union Commission (AUC) and AUDA-NEPAD. As CAADP progresses into a critical stage, AUC, AUDA-NEPAD, and partners must intensify efforts to fulfil the Malabo commitments by 2025. Building on the achievements of Malabo, plans are underway to embark on the next 10-year agenda, known as the Post Malabo Agenda roadmap. In this context, a coordinated platform is essential to provide timely and relevant support to this process by the donors, underscoring the paramount role of the DPCG in facilitating this undertaking.
Policy LINK has been tasked with providing secretariat support to the DPCG, working closely with the current DPCG Chair and in collaboration with AUC and AUDA-NEPAD. In this capacity, Policy LINK facilitates seamless and well-coordinated communication between DPCG members and the AUC and AUDA-NEPAD. Additionally, LINK supports the DPCG members to coordinate the required investment and support for CAADP Post Malabo Agenda and guide them in a way that is strategic, adds value and meets the needs of the CAADP Post Malabo Agenda. Since late 2024, Policy LINK has been working closely with the chair to convene the development partners and provided a platform where members-initiated conversations on individual donor’s support and foster consensus on coordinated technical and financial support for the CAADP processes during the Post Malabo Agenda development process and the implementation of the agenda beyond 2025.
To ensure that the relevant donors are engaging, Policy LINK has been supporting the chair to update the current list of members, LINK will support the mapping of the donors’ areas of investment to be able to identify how they can leverage on each other’s resources and expertise. LINK has also been providing the donors with relevant information on the Post Malabo process and other related activities and this has enabled them to plug in, a recent example is their participation in the Post Malabo launch that happened in the month of March 2024. Policy LINK in collaboration with AU has shared a calendar of events with the donors and this will enable them to make necessary plans to support and participate in selected events.
During a recent DPCG members’ meeting in early this year, 22 donors drawn from USAID, BMGF, WTO, European Commission, FAO, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, IFAD, IFPRI, JICA, MFA Norway, UN-WFP, Swedish International Development Agency, and World Bank, partners had a chance to discuss how they would continue engaging as a team and identify priorities to focus on in the next few months. They discussed the need to have a meeting with the H.E the commissioner soon to discuss some of the AU expectations and how the partners can come in to support the mission of AU.
The members noted that there is a need to do business differently for a lasting impact. They kicked off a discussion on identifying a funding modality to ensure that the support towards CAADP initiatives is well coordinated. In as much as it might be difficult to convince donors to coalesce around one theme or agenda, it will be imperative to identify convergence themes to organize funding either jointly or independently. Policy LINK will be working with the partners to move this discussion forward so that the partners resource mobilization strategy is effective. Policy LINK will be engaging AU to get a costed Post Malabo process work plan that would help the donors determine how they can provide their support.
One of the other things that the donors discussed was the formation of thematic groups around CAADP support and the identification of already established platforms that they could take advantage of Their take was that the Post Malabo Process should be viewed as a structure where other thematic issues could be integrated as they affect the effectiveness of the process. They were able to identify an upcoming event, the Fertilizer and Soil health summit scheduled for month of May 20242024. Policy LINK will work with the relevant planning team for this event and support in preparing DPCG for their support and participation. The support goes beyond the Summit itself, but it could include some post summit actions like working with countries to implement the actions from the summit. The team will also be informed of other side events during the summit that which they could plan to participate.
DPCG members are also exploring how they can engage country donor working groups to ensure that there is some alignment and synergy. This is because they have identified a disconnect between continental initiatives and their national implementation. There is need to address the lack of awareness and inconsistency in messaging to the country donor groups and the national governments. Additionally, DPCG need to explore ways to support the member states to implement of the Post Malabo Agenda. Other key recommendations from the meeting included how to improve country ownership of the post Malabo process, accountability, and reporting. The BR review process has played a key role for countries to review their progress and report on the various commitments and the dissemination of the 4th BR report is one other area the donors can support.
During the meeting, Policy LINK presented the Post Malabo Agenda Roadmap and detailed work plan, and the partners had a chance to provide their inputs on what needs to be done to make this process more effective. This included involving the development partners in the consultation processes as well as the in the technical discussions. Involving key actors like the private sector, non-state actors, parliamentarians is key in ensuring an inclusive process. With the launch of the Post Malabo Agenda, Policy LINK will continue supporting the DPCG to coordinate better for them to be able to offer the much-needed support. Policy LINK will be supporting the DPCG on various aspects including and not limited to communication, documentation, information sharing as wells identified thematic analysis as per the need.
Resources
The African Union Launches the 4th Biennial Review Report and the Post-Malabo Roadmap