24 Jun
Agriculture

The Global Nutrition Report 2016

14 June 2016. The Global Nutrition Report 2016 was launched at venues around the world, with further events to follow.

The only independent and comprehensive annual review of the state of the world’s nutrition, the Global Nutrition Report is a multipartner initiative that holds a mirror up to our successes and failures at meeting intergovernmental nutrition targets. It documents progress on commitments made on the global stage, and it recommends actions to accelerate that progress.

The Global Nutrition Report aims to be a beacon, providing examples of change and identifying opportunities for action. This year’s report focuses on the theme of making—and measuring— SMART commitments to nutrition and identifying what it will take to end malnutrition in all its forms by 2030.

  • Click here to download the report and the executive summary.
  • Click here for additional resources related to the report, including infographics, press information, and toolkits.
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20 Jun
Funding & Opportunities

African Union Commission (AUC) launches African Union Research Grants 2016

18 May 2016. The African Union Commission launched Phase 2 of the African Union Research Grants programme with an open call for proposals for Research and Innovation in Africa supported by the European Union.

The African Union Research Grants (AURG) programme supports research and innovation in Africa and is supported by the European Union through the Pan African programme (2014-2020) with a budget of €17.5 million for two calls in 2016 and 2017.

The AURG programme supports the Africa’s Science Technology and Innovation Strategy-2024 which addresses the aspirations identified under Agenda 2063, as well as the Africa-EU Partnership priority on Human Development.

The call addresses the priorities set out in the Research and Innovation Roadmap on Food & Nutrition Security and Sustainable Agriculture (FNSSA) which was determined through the EU-Africa High Level Policy Dialogue on Science, Technology and Innovation.

  • The programme encourages “the creation of partnerships (research networks) for regional and sub-regional co-operation and of inter-institutional co-operation in Africa via setting up of consortia of scientists with minimum participation of at least three organisations out of which a majority should be from Africa with at least two different African countries. Additional partners could come from elsewhere” (including Europe).
  • Applicants must refer to official documents for rules and procedures.
  • The AURG programme is entirely managed by the AUC. All inquiries should be addressed to the AUC.
  • The closing date for applications is 17 August 2016 at 5pm Addis Ababa time (Applications must be submitted in both paper and electronic version – see official documents for details).
  • All information and documents pertaining to the call are available on the AURG website
  • Call Application documents are also available for download via DropBox
  • News about the programme can be followed on Facebook and Twitter 
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19 Jun
Africa, Research

African Farming: The Roles of Brazil & China Roles Explained

A special issue of World Development, examines the real roles that China and Brazil are playing in African agriculture, moving beyond what the authors consider as “simplistic narratives of South-South collaboration or neo-imperial expansion”.

Eight papers culled from an input of 20 research collaborators detail how Brazil and China are impacting the African economy. The work, organised via the Future Agricultures Consortium, was supported with roughly US$ 934,000 in UK Economic and Social Research Council funding.

The project set out to explore what is actually going on in Ethiopia, Ghana, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, where Brazil and China have made investments, says Ian Scoones, fellow at the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, the UK, and editor of the issue.

Through 16 different case studies, the project revealed a complex set of engagements, which contrast with existing patterns of western-led development and investment.

World Development Open Access Special Issue Volume 81, 2016
Editors: Ian Scoones, Kojo Amanor, Arilson Favareto and Qi Gubo

  1. A new politics of development cooperation? Chinese and Brazilian engagements in African agriculture by Ian Scoones, Kojo Amanor, Arilson Favareto and Qi Gubo
  2. South-South cooperation, agribusiness and African agricultural development: Brazil and China in Ghana and Mozambique by Kojo Amanor and Sérgio Chichava
  3. Chinese state capitalism? Rethinking the role of the state and business in Chinese development cooperation in Africa by Jing Gu, Zhang Chuanhong, Alcides Vaz and Langton Mukwereza
  4. Imagining agricultural development in South-South Cooperation: the contestation and transformation of ProSAVANA by Alex Shankland and Euclides Gonçalves
  5. Brazil’s agricultural politics in Africa: More Food International and the disputed meanings of ‘family farming’ by Lídia Cabral, Arilson Favareto, Langton Mukwereza and Kojo Amanor
  6. Chinese migrants in Africa: Facts and fictions from the agri-food sector in Ethiopia and Ghana by Seth Cook, Jixia Lu, Henry Tugendhat and Dawit Alemu
  7. Chinese agricultural training courses for African officials: between power and partnerships by Henry Tugendhat and Dawit Alemu
  8. Science, technology and the politics of knowledge: the case of China’s Agricultural Technology Demonstration Centres in Africa  by Xiuli Xu, Xiaoyun Li, Gubo Qi, Lixia Tang and Langton Mukwereza
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