RURAL FUTURES PROGRAM

Abraham Sarfo, Fati Nzie Hassane

Hamady Diop, Martin Bwalya
Experts meeting, rural and regional policies for sustainable and inclusive development in Africa
NEPAD/OECD/CIRAD/AFD
Paris, 28 March-April 1st, 2016
NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency

Outline
Context of rural transformation in Africa
Rural Futures vision and Goals
Key questions on rural transformation?
Addressing the critical questions
Heading towards the 2nd Africa Rural
Development Forum, 2016

CONTEXT
Income And Asset

Infrastructure

Rural Poverty (More than

80% of African in Rural
areas earn less than
$2/day

Irrigation (Only 6%
of Arica Lands are
Irrigated

Insecure Land
Entitlement esp for
women

Road, Transport and

Communication-Poor
Access an Poor Quality

Low Land and Labour

Productivity

Energy-Little Access to
Electricity

Constrained
opportunity for nonfarm productivity and
employment

Water and Sanitation-Very

Poor

Technological
and Innovation
Agricultural Inputs
Only 15% of the
level of Asia
Poor Seeds
Limited
Mechanization
ICT- Concentration very
Low despite the
emergence of mobile
technology-How do we
capitalize on the 600
millon Youth through
ICT

CONTEXT
Policies, Institutions
and Rules
Weak Rural Development
Policies and regulatory
frameworks
Agricultural education,
research and extension
institutions underdeveloped and underfunded
Limited capacities and
voice of farmers and
other local-level
organizations

Human &
Social Capital
Poor Access to
Education and
Health
Disparity between
Rural and Urban SpacePoor Access to decent
Rural Jobs
Lack of jobs and related
social inequities fuelling
migration and insecurity

Natural
Resources
Capital
Land Degradation
and Loss of Fertility

Deforestation

Desertification

Loss of Biodiversity

Rural Futures Vision

People centred rural transformation based
on equity and inclusiveness
Rural men and women can develop their
potential and reach their aspirations
including income security whilst securing
environmental sustainability;
Rural transformation accompanied by
appropriate governance, policies,
institutions and practices

Goals
Accelerate and diversify economic
growth in rural areas including an
expansion of employment and
livelihoods;
Enhance the pace of poverty
reduction;
Enhance environmental
sustainability
Empowering the people through
public policy At the local level

Critical Questions for Inclusive &

Empowering Transformation
Have we identified a development pathway that
leads us to the ideal of transformative growth with
development?
How do we get more people employed with decent
jobs?
What are some of the bold actions that Africans
have to take in moving this agenda?
Have other initiatives achieved the results we
envisage for Rural Poverty Alleviation?

HAVE WE IDENTIFIED THE

DEVELOPMENT PATHWAYS?

Rural Development Zone

Rural Futures Development Zone approach
includes Integrated Rural Development, which
effectively combines multiple sectors and
techniques from health care service, agricultural
expansion, and education, improvement of
infrastructure to technical transfer, choosing
specific regions and treating the local
governments as counterparts in a multi-sectorial
approach

Key Objectives of Rural Development

Zones
Improvement of Economic
Capabilities

Improvement of Human
Capabilities

Agricultural income
improvement
Non-agricultural income
improvement, improvement
of rural industries
Development of rural
infrastructures

General health
improvement
Development of vocational
and technical education
standards skills
development to create
employment opportunities
in the rural space

Key Objectives of Rural Development

Zones
Improvement of Protective
Capabilities

Improvement of Political
Capabilities

Conservation of natural
environment and natural
disaster prevention
measures

Decentralization and
improvement of policymaking capabilities

Collaboration

Crossing sectors
(public, private,
nonprofit)
Crossing political
boundaries,
recognizing
regions

Sustained Political
Engagements with
Governments

Welcoming new
voices (especially
underrepresented
individuals and
youth)
Visioning a
different future
(bottom, up
process)

Leveraging Regional
Resources

Analyzing regions
competitive
advantages (focus
on strengths,
identify clusters)
Strengthening
competencies of
local political
administration
Engaging key
intermediaries
Investing local
capital

Implementation Focus for Rural

Development Zone
Promoting skills
development, training, and
knowledge sharing

Promoting Rural
infrastructure development

Supporting public-private
institutions, both industry
specific and transversal.

Supporting the integration

of regional or zonal value
chains especially with
urban market systems

Supporting and coordinating NGOs,

Development Partners, Local
Administration central government
efforts in supporting local institutions
and systems to become efficient and
effective

Emerging Good Practices of Rural

Futures Development Zones

HOW DO WE GET MORE PEOPLE

EMPLOYED WITH DECENT JOBS?

Job Creation and Youth Employment

Studies undertaken in

Benin; Ghana, South Africa, Malawi,

Cameroon, Zambia, Uganda, Guinea,
Burkina, Togo

Goals of the studies

Assessment of rural based jobs as critical

component of employment creation in
Africa;
Support countries to develop a 10 years
country action plans for Youth Employment
Resource mobilization for the
implementation of the country Action
Plans

Skills Audit in 10 Countries

Main Objective and Expected Outcome

Creation of decent employment opportunities for young
women and men through the development of sustainable
agricultural and agribusiness enterprises along strategic value
chains.
The main outcome of the programme is to
contribute to create a conducive environment for
the next generation of youth

Pilot CountriesNiger, Cameroun,

Benin Malawi
04-Apr-2016

Budget-4 million
from Africa
Solidarity Trust
Fund (ASTF)

Main Partner-FAO

17

HEADING TOWARDS THE NEPAD

RURAL FUTURES FORUM 2016

Theme
Transforming
Africas Rural
Space through
Youth
Empowerment,
Job Creation and
Skills Development
Venue Yaound,
Cameroon
Date-Week of
June 6th, 2016

Sub-Themes
Indicators for rural change The Paradigm
Shift
Rural industrialization experiences with
transforming food systems and rural nonfarm sectors
Youth skills empowerment today and reconfiguration of Africas future rural
workforce
Land Policy Governance, Rural
infrastructure and mechanization for
inclusive rural development
Multi-sector partnerships, drivers and
institutional innovations for youth in rural
development

 Promoting Multi-sectorial approach for Rural Development to create

enabling environment for job creation
Provision of strategic direction and garner further partnerships with
institutions such as UNDP, IFAD, FAO, Africa Development Bank (AfDB),
Japanese Development Corporation and other related bodies to invest in
Skills Development
Playing catalytic role to stimulate governments and other institutions at
country level to deepen investments in Skills Development.
Facilitating development of policy framework to foster and secure private
sector partnership in rolling-out successful models.
Supporting the creation of platform to attract corporate/private institutions
within the continent to invest and support agri-enterprise development as
part of their contribution to job creation and food security.

Thank You