Expert Talk Inclusive transformation of rural Africa

11 July 2019. GIZ Eschborn + Bonn. Key recommendations of the EU Task Force Rural Africa

To strengthen the EU’s partnership with Africa, President Jean-Claude Juncker announced in his 2018 State of the Union speech a new ‘Africa-Europe Alliance for Sustainable Investment and Jobs’. To operationalize the suggested actions of this alliance a group of African and European experts - the Task Force Rural Africa (TFRA) – was tasked to propose concrete solutions for a positive rural transformation and an inclusive and sustainable agriculture and agri-food sector.

In March 2019, the Task Force published its landmark report, an agri-food and rural agenda for the new ‘Africa-Europe Alliance’, which proposes four strategic areas of action: job creation, climate action, sustainable transformation of African agriculture and development of the African food industry and markets.

This event discussed the key recommendations of the report with the German TFRA members Prof. Christine Wieck and Albert Engel and reflect on the opportunities for German development cooperation in the implementation of the proposed actions.

• Marc Nolting, Head of Unit Fundamentals for a Rural Future and Nutrition, Welcome and introductory remarks
• Tobias Gerster, Head of Department Cross regional & Horn of Africa, GIZ

TFRA expert presentations

• Insights on the proposed Africa-Europe Agenda for inclusive rural transformation - Albert Engel, member of the Task Force Rural Africa, Head of Evaluation Unit
• Insights on Agricultural Trade & Finance - Christine Wieck, member of the Task Force Rural Africa, Head of Department Agricultural and Food Policy at the Hohenheim University

Discussion: Relevance of the report - why it is important for our work

• Inge Baumgarten, Head of GIZ Liaison Office to the African Union, OE 1700 
• Uli Sabel-Koschella, Head of Unit Agricultural Supply Chains, OE 1720
• Christel Weller-Molongua, Head of Division Rural Development and Agriculture, G500

More information

• “Global Partners on Equal Footing — Calling for an Africa-Europe agenda for rural transformation”
• Find video interviews (forthcoming), the Task Force Report, Fact Sheet and more in this detailed article.