The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), in partnership with CORAF and the Alliance Bioversity International and CIAT, have officially launched the Regional Plan for Preparedness and Response to Pest and Disease Epidemics in West and Central Africa. This strategic initiative, launched during the 9th ordinary session of the West African and Sahel Seed and Plant Committee (CRSPAOS), aims to strengthen agricultural resilience in the region by anticipating and swiftly responding to disease and pest outbreaks that affect plants and animals across West and Central Africa.

The development of this regional plan was made possible with the support of the AICCRA project (Accelerating the Impact of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa), led by the Alliance Bioversity International and CIAT, in collaboration with CORAF, the Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Regional Pole of Applied Research for the Development of Agricultural Systems in Central Africa (PRASAC), and the WAVE Center of Excellence (CRE WAVE).

“This plan is the outcome of collaborative efforts by regional and international stakeholders, working together to tackle health and climate challenges. Through this initiative, ECOWAS reaffirms its commitment to safeguarding agricultural systems and ensuring that threats from pests and diseases are addressed promptly and efficiently,” stated Mrs. Massandjé Toure-Litse, Commissioner for Economic Affairs and Agriculture at ECOWAS.

The plan’s development involved consultations and workshops aimed at anticipating the impacts of climate change on agriculture. The process began with a workshop in April 2022 in Saly, Senegal, followed by a training of trainers session in Dakar in October 2022. A Community of Practice (CoP) was then created to develop a roadmap, which contributed to drafting the initial version of the plan with input from regional experts in plant protection and animal health. In June 2023, regional consultations with crop protection and animal health specialists helped to finalize and validate the plan, with support from ECOWAS, FAO, UEMOA, CILSS, and PRASAC.

“The creation of this regional preparedness and response plan for pest and disease epidemics marks a major step forward in building resilience in agricultural systems in West and Central Africa in the face of climate and health crises. By bringing together key actors and enhancing local capacities through forward-looking analysis, we are laying the groundwork for better anticipation and more effective responses to future threats,” said Dr. Moumini Savadogo, Executive Director of CORAF.

The regional launch aims to disseminate the plan among stakeholders, promote coordinated adoption across West and Central Africa, and establish a monitoring committee for effective implementation.

“This plan enables us to move beyond merely reacting to agricultural crises and climate change. It is a strategic tool that promotes a proactive approach focused on prevention and regional coordination. By pooling our expertise and aligning our actions, we can ensure the effective and sustainable implementation of this plan throughout West and Central Africa,” emphasized Dr. Robert Zougmoré, AICCRA Program Director and Climate Action Coordinator for West and Central Africa at the Alliance Bioversity International and CIAT.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

The conflict in Sudan has seen a major increase in intensity in recent weeks, with violence hitting a seven-month high in the country, with children on the frontline, said Save the Children.

Violent incidents include airstrikes, artillery shelling, use of explosives and remote violence in multiple regions with the majority of recent incidents reported in the state of Khartoum and North Darfur where more than 1.6 million people have been displaceds, including over 850,000 children, since the war started 17 months ago.

In Khartoum, at least 110 distinct artillery shelling incidents were recorded in August alone, the highest number of shelling recorded in the capital since January this year.

Save the Children analysed instances of violence recorded by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED) between 6 January and 13 September [1] and found over 422 incidents of political violence reported in the past four weeks across the country – a 33% increase from incidents reported in the four weeks prior, and the most violence recorded in a single four-week period in the past seven months.

While this period was the most violent in the last seven months of war in Sudan, the scale of the conflict has remained high throughout the year with at least 300 violent incidents reported every month. Over two-thirds of violent events in the last four weeks were recorded in Khartoum and North Darfur [2].

Children and the facilities they rely on have been impacted by the violence with devastating outcomes. On August 8, an artillery shelling in Wd Al Bhakit area of Khartoum injured two children, with a childcare centre hit two days later in a neighbouring area. On August 27, an unspecified number of children were abducted for ransom from Um Marrahi Masaid, Al Jazirah state. Additional incidents of violence appear in the data showing the destruction of schools, children’s hospitals and malnutrition treatment centres.

Across North Darfur, ongoing fighting in the city of El Fasher is putting over 2.8 million civilians – including over 750,000 children – in and around the city in grave danger.

In Zamzam displacement camp, 15 km south of El Fasher and home to some 260,000 children, rates of malnutrition are spiralling out of control. At least 34% of the children are currently malnourished, including 10% who are severely malnourished.

This analysis comes as Sudan’s international non-governmental organization *(*INGO) forum – a group of INGOs working in Sudan including Save the Children— issues a statement to UN General Assembly (UNGA) calling on the international community to increase pressure on conflict parties to facilitate immediate humanitarian access through all possible cross border and cross-line routes; establish mechanisms to protect civilians and essential infrastructure from indiscriminate attacks; and increase funding and initiatives to support communities’ responding at scale to this crisis.

Over 10 million people have fled their homes since the conflict broke out in April 2023, making Sudan the world’s largest internal displacement crisis, affecting more than 5 million children, and over 2 million people, who have crossed into neighbouring countries. More than 20,171 people including children have been killed since the start of the conflict.

With more than 25.6 million people across the country in need of aid, the increase in fighting coupled with widespread flooding and disease outbreaks has escalated food scarcity. In Khartoum for instance over 80% of people forced from their homes and living in shelters are urgently in need assistance, according to a recent rapid assessment conducted by UN’s World Food Programme.

Mohamed Abdiladif, Interim Country Director for Save the Children in Sudan, said:

“We are horrified that regions which used to be the breadbasket of the country such as Darfur and Khartoum have been turned into battlefields, leaving millions of people now just one step away from famine.

“With famine now confirmed in North Darfur’s Zamzam camp and dire conditions reported across the country, we need urgent and unrestricted humanitarian access to save lives. The relentless conflict, displacement, and impeded aid delivery have driven the situation to catastrophic proportions, threatening the lives of hundreds of thousands across 13 states in Sudan. To curb further escalation and meet the pressing needs of those in conflict zones, it is essential that all parties lift restrictions and facilitate unimpeded humanitarian access.”

In Khartoum, Save the Children is supporting two health facilities with medicines and healthcare workers. We are also providing cash assistance to families so that they can buy food for their children. The aid agency is also implementing child protection, health and nutrition, and multi-purpose cash assistance projects in North Darfur both directly and through partners.

Save the Children has worked in Sudan since 1983 and is currently supporting children and their families across Sudan providing health, nutrition, education, child protection and food security and livelihoods support. Save the Children is also supporting refugees from Sudan in Egypt and South Sudan.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Save the Children.

The Economic Commission for Africa Office for North Africa has launched today a capacity-building workshop for women leading small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), in collaboration with the Libyan Ministry of Economy and Trade.

The training will focus on best practices and peer learning in export, digitization, and sustainable investments, and will take place in Tunis (Tunisia) on 24-27 September 2024. Participants will include entrepreneurs and representatives from the Ministry.

“The female labor force participation rate in North Africa (20.1% in 2024) has been below both the continental and global averages. SMEs can play a key role in creating employment for women. It is therefore important that our member States support the emergence and sustainability of women-led businesses in the sub-region,” said Adam Elhiraika, Director of the ECA Office for North Africa.

The ECA office for North Africa is holding this workshop as part of its programme for the support of women-led SMEs in North Africa, which aims to enhance the competitiveness and resilience of such businesses by improving their access to export markets within the AfCFTA framework, strengthening their digital capabilities (e.g. digitizing export activities), and encouraging the adoption of sustainable practices.

This event follows a series of similar training workshops held in Morocco, where approximately 350 women entrepreneurs benefited. The project was also recently expanded to include women-led businesses in Mauritania.

EVENT: Capacity-Building Workshop for Women-Led SMEs in Libya
DATE: 24–27 September 2024
LOCATION: Tunis (Tunisia)

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).

The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) and UK government programme MOBILIST, have announced a new partnership at a launch event in Nairobi. The launch was attended by His Majesty’s Trade Commissioner for Africa, John Humphrey, at the start of a three-day visit to Kenya.

The partnership aims to drive the listing of new investment products in the Kenyan market and increase the amount of private sector capital available for development and climate projects in Kenya, and generate growth.

MOBILIST, an innovative part of the UK Government’s investment partnerships offer, provides investment and technical assistance to help businesses that contribute to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to overcome the barriers that keep them from listing on a stock exchange.

The programme has similar partnerships with several emerging market exchanges, including the Nigerian Exchange and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), and will consider applications from eligible Kenyan firms.

Trade Commissioner Humphrey’s visit to Kenya, which comes after recent trips to Egypt and Ethiopia, will focus on delivering long-term investment projects that support the UK-Kenya Strategic Partnership – an ambitious five-year agreement that is unlocking mutual economic benefits for the UK and Kenya, without loading Kenya with unsustainable debt.

In Nairobi he will meet the Cabinet Secretary for Investments, Trade and Industry, H.E Salim Mvurya, to drive forward the implementation of flagship UK-Kenya climate projects that support President Ruto’s Africa Green Industrialisation Initiative (AGII). He will also launch the British Business Breakfast Club, to listen to the challenges facing British-Kenyan enterprises.

Mr Humphrey will also visit Naivasha to meet one of Kenya’s biggest exporters of cut flowers, Flamingo Flowers – a British business that employs 11,000 people in Kenya. They are benefitting from the global suspension of the 8% export tariff for cut flowers entering the UK, an example of the UK supporting markets that matter to Kenya, by removing barriers in areas which aim to have an immediate economic impact.

His Majesty’s Trade Commissioner for Africa, John Humphrey, said:

Mobilising investment solutions in Kenya are vital to economic growth as they provide a platform for Kenyan businesses to raise the capital they need to expand their operations, increase cross-border trade, and employ more Kenyans – and at the same tackle climate change and achieve critical development goals.

Long-term investments that deliver lasting change for the people of both our countries are the cornerstone of the UK-Kenya economic relationship. We go far when we go together – I am delighted to be back in Kenya to deliver our mutually beneficial partnership which is rooted in respect.

Nairobi Securities Exchange CEO, Frank Mwiti, said:

The NSE is delighted to partner with the UK government-backed MOBILIST Programme. The strategic partnership between the NSE and MOBILIST aligns with our new strategic focus aimed at enabling the NSE to play a more dynamic role in mobilising and channelling capital to sectors that have the most significant capital needs, with a special focus on sustainable development. As a market, we will continue providing a pivotal intersection connecting capital to investment-grade opportunities in Kenya for sustained economic growth

MOBILIST Programme Lead at the UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), Ross Ferguson, said:

Public markets in Kenya and other African economies hold great untapped potential to mobilise the private capital the continent urgently needs to gain ground in addressing the SDGs and the severe impact of climate change. MOBILIST is proud to partner with the NSE in building a local capital market that can give the African firms working on these challenges access to the capital they need to grow.”

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Government of UK.