Build resilience in nutrition: Accelerate Africa's human capital and socio-economic development
Africa Dialogue Series 2022
The Africa Dialogue Series is an event held annually in May. It is an advocacy platform to discuss and debate challenges and opportunities for Africa with the aim to provide knowledge that informs the decisions of policymakers.
The inaugural Africa Dialogue Series was in 2018. Previously, the event took place annually in October and was known as Africa Week. Following consultation with Members States, it was moved to May, Africa month, during which Africa Day is celebrated on the 25th of the month. Since 2021, the event has taken place throughout the entire month of May. READ MORE>
Ms Nardos Bekele-Thomas, New CEO of the African Union Development Agency-NEPAD
Ms Nardos Bekele-Thomas’ appointment as the new Chief Executive Officer of AUDA-NEPAD was endorsed by the African Union Heads of State and Government during the Thirty-Fifth Ordinary Session of the African Union held Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in February 2022. She is the first woman to lead the African Union’s development agency.
The former Head and Resident Coordinator of the United Nations in South Africa, Ms Nardos Bekele-Thomas succeeds Dr Ibrahim Assane Mayaki as CEO of AUDA-NEPAD. She assumed office on May 1st and a CEO handover retreat was convened in Johannesburg, which took place over a period of two days (6 – 7 May), with members of the NEPAD Steering Committee. READ MORE>
DFC Collaborates with USAID and the African Union to Support Financial Inclusion in Sub-Saharan Africa
Four new projects will increase access to financing for MSMEs across the continent
U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) announced the financial commitment of four transactions under a partnership with U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) African Union and the African Union Development Agency-NEPAD. The new projects mobilise $74 million total to expand access to financing for African micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Nigeria, Malawi, Tanzania, and Zambia. READ MORE>
Nutrition and Food Security at the centre of AUDA-NEPAD’s Africa Day commemoration
The annual Africa Day commemoration convened by the African Union Development Agency-NEPAD, was held on a high note. It saw the participation of representatives from partner organisations, including Africa No Filter and the Small Enterprise Development Agency, business incubators and entrepreneurs, university students and faculty members from around the continent, as well as the media fraternity.
Hosted on 24 May 2022, the event brought together participants from around the continent and beyond to create greater awareness of the work undertaken by AUDA-NEPAD under this year’s theme on Nutrition and Food Security. READ MORE>
African MSMEs on the Move
In 2021, the African Union Development Agency-NEPAD (AUDA-NEPAD) together with Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) offered technical advisory to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) through a COVID-19 Call for Proposals by AUDA-NEPAD’s Continental Business Network (CBN).
Following the technical advisory offered by AUDA-NEPAD and GIZ support, Cool Lion launched a demonstration site in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire to showcase the product to prospective clients, mobilized USD25.000 grant funding from the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) Foundation. READ MORE>
Concrete steps towards evaluation of Agenda 2063’s First-Ten Year Implementation Plan
The African Commission and the Joint Secretariat Support Office organised a technical consultation meeting between the AU-Technical Working Group on Agenda 2063 and different regional stakeholders to take stock of the current preparations for the evaluation of the First-Ten Year Implementation Plan (FTYIP) and the formulation of the Second-Ten Year Implementation Plan (STYIP) of Agenda 2063: the Africa We Want.
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Creating an Ideal Occupational Health Centre blueprint the African Union - Kujenga Workshop
The African Union Development Agency–NEPAD, in partnership with Tshiamiso Trust, the Department of Health South Africa; Medical Bureau of Occupational Diseases (MBOD) and the Compensation Commissioner of Occupational Diseases (CCOD), convened the Kujenga Workshop on 28 March – 01 April 2022 in Cape Town South Africa.
The opening ceremony of the five-day workshop held in Cape Town South Africa was attended by the Deputy Minister of the Department of Health of South Africa, Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo who delivered the keynote speech. READ MORE>
AUDA-NEPAD and Microsoft launch the “100,000 MSMEs” Academy
The African Union Development Agency NEPAD (AUDA-NEPAD) and Microsoft Africa recently re-launched the 100,000 Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Academy training platform. A free online platform dedicated to African realities and African entrepreneurs, available in English, French, Hausa, Igbo, Amharic, and Yoruba, offering more than 200 courses in various topics from Digital Literacy, Business compliance, Microsoft packages to Business presentation skills, while establishing networks for support and incubation to bolster their success. This marks another milestone in the partnership between the two groups supporting the domestic African private sector. READ MORE>
Rethinking and Reimagining Education in Post-COVID Africa
The COVID-19 pandemic has exhibited enormous disruptions within the African education system as most schools were closed at the onset of the pandemic to curb the spread of the disease. During the pandemic's peak in 2020, approximately 32 million children in Eastern and Southern Africa were out of school. This was the case because most African governments had imposed strict lockdowns to prevent the further spread of COVID-19. To address the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, many African schools attempted to continue their teaching and learning activities using online means during this period. This was accomplished through e-learning tools such as Blackboard, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom. READ MORE>
AUDA-NEPAD Centre of Excellence in Science, Technology, and Innovation hosts the CCARDESA Executive Director
On 17May 2022, the African Union Development Agency-NEPAD Centre of Excellence in Science, Technology, and Innovation (AUDA-NEPAD CoE-STI) at Stellenbosch University, in South Africa hosted Dr Cliff Sibusiso Dlamini, the Executive Director of the Centre for Coordination of Agricultural Research and Development for Southern Africa (CCARDESA). The Centre of Excellence on Science, Technology, and Innovation is led by Dr Olalekan Akinbo, Senior Programme Officer-Biosafety at AUDA-NEPAD. READ MORE>
Creating an enabling environment to safely harness modern biotechnology in Rwanda
AUDA-NEPAD has been working with the Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA) and other stakeholders towards creating an enabling environment to safely harness modern biotechnology as a tool for agricultural transformation and socio-economic development. Recently, a capacity strengthening meeting on review of biosafety applications for research (confirmed field trails) was conducted for members of the national biosafety committee (NBC), which held from 9 – 11 May, 2022. Closely following this activity was a capacity strengthening meeting on biosafety inspection and institutional biosafety committee (IBC) from 12 – 13 May, 2022. Both activities were held in Kigali, Rwanda. READ MORE>