Background to the 3rd Africa Rural Development Forum

The African Heads of State during the January 2011 African Union (AU) Summit recognised the challenges faced by rural communities and called for an integrated development initiative to promote rural transformation. In 2013, after the development of the rural future program and in implementing the 2011 AU Summit Decisions, AUDA-NEPAD organized in Cotonou its first forum on rural transformation in Africa. This first Africa Rural Development Forum (ARDF) was hosted by the Republic of Benin in May 2013 under the theme Sustainable Rural Transformation Agenda for Africa. This forum allowed for a participatory process to gather the opinions of member states, RECs, NGOs, the private sector and development partners on the content of the Rural Futures Program for its finalization Another important key outcome of the first ARDF was the adoption of the Cotonou Declaration on Rural Futures to support the structural transformation of the continent and guide its possible development pathways. Additionally, the Cotonou Declaration called for the development of a Rural Development Blueprint to be submitted to the African Heads of State and Government for endorsement, with the aim of paving the way for a shared commitment to implement actions at country and regional levels towards revitalisation and transformation of rural areas.

In 2016, the second ARDF was held in Yaoundé, Cameroon, from 8 to 10 September 2016, under the theme Transforming Africa’s Rural Area through Skills Development, Job Creation and Youth Economic Empowerment. This second edition of the Forum on Rural Transformation organized by NEPAD in Yaoundé consolidated and finalized the blueprint. Additionally, in organising the second ARDF, a rural economic transformation paradigm emerged from the conference. Elements of this paradigm included the central role and responsibility of the state in leading the vision and creating a conducive policy and legal environment; mobilising the food and agriculture system; stimulating growth of the rural non-farm economy and strengthening rural-urban linkages; building and sustaining the rural human capital base; building institutions for rural transformation; and political will as the main motivator of rural transformation in Africa. The Declaration of the Forum also places particular emphasis on the development of a "Blueprint" for rural transformation that will serve as a guide to the member states of the African Union. This blueprint will help concretize the implementation of the rural transformation program at the continental level. In the interim, an Atlas on Rural Transformation has been produced. It includes several themes that will help countries in their rural development policies. At present, the atlas has been consolidated in an electronic platform in support of the States. The paradigm culminated into the production of the Operation Strategy for the Blueprint to Implement Rural Development Policies in Africa.

Finally in 2018, the blueprint was submitted to the African Union Heads of State and Government Summit for adoption. Since then, the NEPAD Agency has developed a plan for its operationalization. Based on the Blueprint and the national plans, AUDA and its partners have been testing the idea of integrated rural development to develop and document innovative good practices, identify conditions for scaling up, and see how these practices can be replicated.

To build on milestones reached since the inaugural edition of ARDF in 2013 on one hand and identify how to key into emerging and innovative approached to rural transformation, the AUDA-NEPAD, in collaboration with its partners is organising the third ARDF to be held under the patronage of Félix Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo, the President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The theme of the forum is: Decentralized Rural Transformation Planning through Experience Capitalization.

The Objectives of the Conference

To augment the capacity in planning process in support of territorial development and transformation agenda, there is a critical need to strengthen the evidence base. This includes spatially disaggregated analysis of growth, analysis of poverty and inequality, covering both monetary and non-monetary dimensions; data on the spatial pattern of production and employment, wage rates, population movements; and trends in land use change, public revenue over the period, and patterns of public spending (current and capital) disaggregated by sector and by region, etc.

AUDA-NEPAD is involved in several strategic partnerships in its rural transformation projects and programme across the continent. The forum is an opportunity converge and interrogate emerging trends and approaches in rural transformation, that could improve planning, learning and knowledge for a sustainable rural transformation.

The objectives of the 3rd Africa Rural Development Forum are:

To identify scalable practices on planning for rural transformation

1. Discuss amongst stakeholders’ groups efficient policies and decisions-making tools for transformational rural development;

2. Share lessons on south-south cooperation, multisectoral and intersectoral approaches towards rural transformation, and

3. Endorse the document titled the Operation Strategy for the Blueprint to Implement Rural Development in Africa