After a virtual ceremony on 05 December 2022. The Pan African Farmers Organization (PAFO) and Andreas Hermes Akademie (AHA) have just signed, in Berlin, Germany, on the sidelines of the #GFFA2023, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The aim is to strengthen the capacity of farmer organizations (FO), in Africa under the umbrella of PAFO at the continental, regional and national levels, to best implement their mandate in times of great challenges to the agriculture sector.
Therefore, this MoU aims to lay the foundation for joint cooperation between PAFO and AHA to strengthen African farmers’ organizations through a peer-to-peer learning approach, mutual exchange between African Farmer Organizations, including non-African counterparts, and increased individual and organizational professionalism. AHA, and PAFO shall support the growing capacity network amongst Regional Farmers’ Organizations (RFOs), and National Farmers’ Organizations (NFOs), men, women, and youth.
Under this partnership, three projects will be implemented:
a) “Pan-African NFO Exchange Platform”, 2022 – 24
A digital platform shall be created and moderated by PAFO. It will be aimed at staff and representatives of NFO and RFO. Regular thematic seminars aim to build the capacity of the respective people at the FO, both through peer-to-peer exchange and expert input. The project aims at the core capacity of the FOs, including leadership and management, lobby and advocacy, networking and cooperation, knowledge management, and exchange. Thematic capacities are relevant to confront the challenges to African farmers and will also be addressed if the need is expressed by the target FOs.
b) “Women Lead”, 2022 – 24
Women in leadership positions are invited to join a capacity-building program, where they come together in groups of 20 to go through an intensive phase of training, peer-to-peer learning, and exposure. This is followed by a tandem coaching phase of several months. A final event will highlight the achievements of the program and ensure the women gain visibility as role models.
c) “Support for international Young Farmers Summit IYFS”, 2022
The Youth summit held in Kigali at the end of October 2022 brings together African Farmers’ Youth representatives and youth representatives from other continents. The main objective is to promote, strengthen and spread the voice of young farmers in the international arena.
Project a & b will be implemented with the support of two network partners from Germany. These are First, AgrarKontakte International (AKI), experienced in the building of digital platforms for international exchanges between NFOs. And the German Rural Women (dlv), who offer an involvement of women leaders from Germany for exchange and mutual learning. The role of these two additional partners is defined in the project proposals (attached to this MoU).