Strategy 2040 and Africa Strategy

 2 September 2026. Side event AFS Kigali. CGIAR Strategy 2040 and Africa Strategy

This meeting was a joint CGIAR–FARA consultation held during the Africa Food Systems Forum (AFS Forum) in Kigali. Its purpose was to bring African agricultural research partners and other stakeholders into the development of the emerging CGIAR Africa Strategy while simultaneously gathering African perspectives to shape the longer-term CGIAR Strategy 2040. Participants were invited to provide feedback, priorities and guidance so that both strategies would be more relevant to Africa's needs, better owned by African institutions, and capable of delivering greater impact.

The consultation was particularly important in positioning African institutions as partners in defining CGIAR's future research agenda rather than simply as recipients of CGIAR research. The CGIAR Africa Strategy discussion therefore concerned how CGIAR's science, partnerships and investments should respond to continental and national priorities, while Strategy 2040 looked further ahead at CGIAR's long-term role in a rapidly changing agrifood research and innovation landscape. The workshop also provided an opportunity to strengthen alignment between CGIAR and FARA and the wider African agricultural research and innovation system.

• Dr. Ismahane Elouafi — Executive Managing Director, CGIAR.
• Dr. Simeon Ehui — Director General, IITA, and CGIAR Regional Director for Africa / Continental Champion for Africa.
• Dr. Namukolo Covic — Lead, CGIAR Liaison Office for Africa.
• Dr. Aggrey Agumya — Executive Director, Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA).
• Dr. Steven Were Omamo — Director, Development Strategies and Governance and Director for Africa, IFPRI
  
   “By 2045, success will not be measured by what CGIAR has done or by the size of CGIAR’s footprint in Africa. Success will be measured by the strength of Africa’s own institutions.”

The session is particularly relevant to GFAiR and the Global NARS Consortium (GNC) because it opens an important space for ensuring that CGIAR Strategy 2040 and its Africa Strategy are connected to NARS priorities, regional research fora and other actors in national agricultural research and innovation systems. This complements GFAiR's role in facilitating dialogue between NARS, regional fora and CGIAR and could provide a practical entry point for GNC to aggregate NARS priorities and feed them systematically into CGIAR's evolving strategy and research agenda.

Related:

Speaking during one of the sessions at the Africa Food Systems Forum 2026 in Kigali, Rwanda, Dr Botir Dosov, Global NARS Consortium Coordinator, highlighted four priorities for Africa's agriood systems transformation:

1️⃣ Advance Africa's transition from import dependence to export-oriented economies. Reducing import dependence is only part of the ambition. Africa has the resources and opportunities to become a stronger exporter, and long-term strategies should support this transformation.
2️⃣ Consider how global changes will shape Africa's agricultural future. Africa is part of the global agricultural system. Its long-term strategies must anticipate worldwide trends and their implications for the continent's agricultural development.
3️⃣ Turn policy ambitions into practical action. Progress requires concrete programmes, clear roadmaps, and investment in institutional, cross-sectoral, and interdisciplinary reforms.
4️⃣ Strengthen investment in agricultural research and education. Population growth is increasing food demand. Meeting this challenge requires sustained investment in agricultural research and education systems.