From Addis to Action: Turning Africa’s agrifood systems commitments into impact

“The Africa we want will not be built on our ambitions alone — it will be built on what we do next.” — Kennedy Ayason, Principal Policy Officer, AUC-ARBE

These words set the tone in Addis Ababa this week. Convened by the GIZ Global Programme Sustainable Agricultural Systems and Policies (AgSys), the Peer Learning Workshop on CAADP Kampala Implementation is bringing together partners from eight countries to move from continental commitment to country-level action.

The Kampala Agenda including the Declaration and the Strategy and Action Plan (2026–2035) was adopted by the African Union in January 2025. It is the continent’s core framework for transforming agrifood systems, building on the milestones of the Maputo (2003) and Malabo (2014) declarations to carry CAADP into a new decade. The commitments are on paper. The question this workshop is answering is: what happens next, on the ground, in each country?

Delegates from GIZ AgSys partner countries Cameroon, Kenya, Zambia, Togo, Nigeria, Madagascar, Namibia, and Uganda are joined by AUDA-NEPAD, the AU Commission’s Department of Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy, and Sustainable Environment (ARBE), and representatives from academia and civil society. It is exactly the mix needed to move from ambition to action.

Centred on peer exchange, problem-solving, and practical follow-up, the workshop focuses on developing concrete actions and sustainable peer-support mechanisms. Specifically, it seeks to connect partners from ministries, development agencies, academia, and civil society; drive cross-country learning; diagnose implementation bottlenecks; align ongoing interventions; and define feasible actions and cooperation pathways.

The Network of Excellence on Land Governance in Africa (NELGA) welcomes initiatives like this one. Sustainable agrifood transformation and sound land governance are deeply interlinked, and it is encouraging to see the commitment to peer learning and country-level action that this workshop embodies.