As ReNAPRI launches its 10th anniversary celebrations this year, the network’s Research Directors from eleven (11) institutes based in East, West, Central and Southern Africa, will converge in Windhoek, Namibia from 7th to 11th February 2022 to discuss and concretely plan the organisation’s annual research agenda.
Experts participating in this annual meeting will be from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The Research Directors will be accompanied by non-ReNAPRI counterparts from partner institutions in Senegal, Nigeria, and Zambia who are invited to support this year’s activities in the spirit of collaboration.
The Research Directors meeting will seek alignment with ReNAPRI’s Strategic Plan (2021-2026), and will also focus on current requests for services from the network’s partners and stakeholders. These requests include, and are not limited to, supporting the Africa Fertiliser and Soil Health Summit (2023) and subsequent Action Plan; implementation of the Paris Agreement in Africa under the Comprehensive Africa Climate Change Initiative (CACCI); and coordination and facilitation of thematic regional dialogues on agri-foods systems in southern Africa. ReNAPRI is also seeking to strengthen its focus on mainstreaming gender into the network’s research plan, while also organising training for partners in central and west Africa on the use of policy tools.
“We are excited to be able bring together ReNAPRI experts under one roof, after two years of virtual meetings and annual conferences. We are also pleased to be able to meet our latest addition to the network, ATPI at NUST, who will graciously host this meeting. I am thankful to partners such as the African Union Commission, who have identified ReNAPRI as a potential resource to provide services in support of the continent’s development, and our financial partners who make activities possible for ReNAPRI from year to year. Among them, I note USAID under its Feed the Future Innovation Lab – PRCI, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, EU -JRC, FAO and CCARDESA at SADC”, says Dr. Nalishebo Meebelo, Executive Director at the Secretariat of ReNAPRI.
The Agriculture Trade Policy Institute at the Namibia University of Science and Technology will play host to the Research Directors meeting. Namibia will also host the 9th Annual ReNAPRI Stakeholders Conference in November 2022, and as is tradition in the past, the research agenda setting meetings of the network are usually held in the country that has been selected to host the annual conference.