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This publication explains current understanding, experiences and challengesaround inclusive business approaches in Africa. Its specific focus is on the role and responsibilityof the private sector as regards value chain development in the sub-Saharanregion. This publication main learning objectives are : i) to share key lessons learnt by focusing on factors that determine successful value chaindevelopment on the part of the private sector ; and also to highlight determinantsthat contribute to unsuccessful projects in this area ; ii) to explore and highlight opportunities and challenges for the private sector concerning value chain development ; and iii) to capture experiences in ways that generate new insights and perspectives, and inspire innovation in inclusive business approaches and value chain development. Following these objectives, the guidance notes are aimed at helping the private sector in the region in its endeavors toadvance inclusive business approaches.

"Overview and Progam of the Workshop The development of Africa agricultural relies much on the capacity of the sector to engender true innovation from research interventions.� The erstwhile inability of the sector to convert research outputs to socioeconomic benefits has grossly limited the potentials of the sector to transform rural livelihood, reduce poverty and contribute significantly to economic development of the different countries on the continent. "

"The Youth Agripreneurs Project (YAP) is a pilot project to support young agricultural entrepreneurs, or "agripreneurs." YAP will select young agripreneurs from all over the world for their projects related to the agriculture supply chain, production (i.e., crops, livestock, fisheries, forestry, agro-forestry), value-added services, or market access. The program will provide US$5 thousand to facilitate the start-up of the selected projects. Additionally, GFAR will fund the travel and accommodation of the selected agripreneurs to attend the Third Global Conference on Agricultural Research for Development in Johannesburg, and support to integrate them in the YPARD (Young Professionals for Agricultural Development) mentoring program. The deadline for applications (English, French, Spanish) is 15 March 2016."

"We, at GFAR and CGIAR, are committed to integrate, stimulate and mentor the involvement of youth in all of our collective programs. At GCARD3, the Third Global Conference on Agricultural Research for Development, we are taking any opportunity to live up to that commitment. We want to use the upcoming GCARD3 global event to pilot a number of innovative projects and approaches. One of these projects is "YAP", the Youth Agripreneurs Project. "YAP" is a pilot project targeting young agricultural entrepreneurs or "agripreneurs"."

" Youths, farmers and other actors along agricultural value chains require training to achieve the scale and scope of agricultural development that will transform the continent and make it food secure as well as reduce poverty. However, the provision of agricultural skills development and vocational training in Africa has been largely inadequate across the value chain resulting in losses - both in productivity and potential income. To address this, the NEPAD Agency's Agriculture Technical Vocational Education and Training (ATVET) Programme was developed in order to promote technical vocational education and training in the agricultural sector. The ultimate goal is to strengthen TVET in Africa's agriculture education system in order to deliver the desired numbers and competency levels of a skilled work force. This will ensure optimal productivity levels across the agriculture value chains and open up more opportunities for employment and entrepreneurship."

"[NAIROBI] An international agricultural research programme has unveiled plans to collaborate with the African Union to drive agricultural research and boost productivity on the continent. In a Memorandum of Understanding signed earlier this month (15 January), the Consortium of International Agricultural Research Centers (CGIAR Consortium) set out its agreement with the African Union Commission (AUC) to work towards aligning research agendas to help create a food secure future for Africa. "

"On 2 September 2014, Ms Katerina Ananiadou, Programme Specialist at UNESCO-UNEVOC, participated in a conference of the Global Network on Education & Youth. Organized by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and entitled "Youth - Lost in Transition?" the conference aimed at identifying the challenges of young people to transit to adulthood and what organizations can do to contribute to easing this transition. The conference aimed at providing a platform for cooperation and exchange between policy experts, scholars and practitioners, and covered topics including youth policy, formal and non-formal education, employability, violence prevention, political and civic participation."

"The African Higher Education Summit to be held in March 2015 in Senegal will provide an energising space for African political and university leaders, experts and organisations - and friends of the continent - to revitalise interest in the sector and talk about the future. "This is a call to action. The summit will mark the beginning of a new agenda for higher education in Africa," says Dr Tendai Murisa, director of the summit's lead organiser TrustAfrica. "At TrustAfrica we do not claim expertise on higher education. We claim expertise in bringing Africans and friends of Africa to a space where they can talk," Murisa says. In this case, it will be a gathering of all higher education actors."

"[KUALA LUMPUR] New approaches to agricultural research and development (R&D) that support local innovation are needed in order to tackle global poverty, say agriculture experts. At a conference, Re-imagining Agricultural Research in Development Dialogue, held in Penang, Malaysia last month (29-31 January), experts from the agricultural sector convened to discuss how agricultural research could best be used to benefit the 870 million people still living on less than US$1.25 a day. "The [conference] was motivated by the realization that agricultural research was not benefiting the poorest of the poor," Boru Douthwaite, Knowledge Sharing and Learning theme leader for the CGIAR Research Program on Aquatic Agricultural Systems (AAS), tells SciDev.Net. "

"The EU-funded project JOLISAA coordinated by CIRAD, France; the Prolinnova international network hosted by ETC Foundation, Netherlands; the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS); the AusAID-funded project Food System Innovation for Food Security (FSIFS) and other partners are to meet in May 2013to jointly discuss approaches to enhance knowledge-to-action linkages among actors in agricultural innovation systems in Africa. During WAIA, a workshop on Agricultural Innovation Systems in Africa (AISA) will take place, preceded by an Eastern Africa Farmer Innovation Fair to showcase the achievements of individual and groups of smallholder farmers in improving their farming and their livelihoods. "

"The role of young people in the agricultural sector have been debated extensively, and for good reason. Youth unemployment is a huge challenge with potentially severe consequences, and the agricultural sector is the biggest employer in most developing countries. Currently, the global population of young people aged 12-24 is around 1.3 billion, and projected to peak at 1.5 billion in 2035. The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) estimates that globally, around 55% of young people reside in rural areas. In Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and south Asia, this number increase to as much as 70%. In SSA alone, youth (aged between 15 and 24) comprise as much as 36% of the labor force. With food production having to increase with 60% by 2050 in order to sustain expected food demands (FAO, 2011), adequate integration of young people in the agricultural sector can be a vital factor of reaching those targets.."

"[LONDON] Smallholder farmers in Africa must participate in research to ensure higher crop yields and to fend off hunger as the continent's population grows, according to a report published today (18 April). A combination of traditional knowledge and modern science will be key to achieving higher productivity at lower ecological cost - known as 'sustainable intensification' - the report says. 'Sustainable Intensification: A New Paradigm for African Agriculture' was written by the Montpellier Panel, a group of international experts from the fields of agriculture, sustainable development, trade, policy and global development. "

"This 13 minute video was produced by the USAID Cambodia MSME Project to assist Cambodian farmers to improve aquaculture production. This video explains the basic steps to show aquaculture farmers how they can increase pond fish production an average of 300% per year. The step-by-step explanation is easy to follow and results in significant increases in pond productivity and increased incomes. "

"There are too few links existing between value chain researchers and value chain practitioners. The AgriFood chain toolkit is designed to help researchers and practitioners overcome this challenge. The Internet is a gateway to numerous websites, resources and tools to help us understand agrifood value chains or build the capacities of value chain actors and analysts. The missing links in this agriknowledge chain are effective mechanisms to foster interaction and exchange among researchers devising value chain tools and field practitioners using them."

"The report provides an assessment of prospects for the coming decade of national, regional and global agricultural commodity markets. It predicts that expansion of agricultural production is likely to slow at least in the medium term with limited slower area expansion and slower productivity growth, but supply should keep pace with demand such that prices are expected to remain relatively high. In this context, it is anticipated that measures to reduce food loss and waste will be important in meeting rising demand and for increasing productivity. Agricultural trade is expected to increase and developing countries could benefit."

As a pre-meeting activity to the 7th GFRAS Annual Meeting an e-discussion takes place from 23 August to 2 September to prepare the topic of "The Role of Rural Advisory Services (RAS) for Inclusive Agripreneurship". Stephen C. Mukembo gave us a first definition of agripreneurship: "the application of entrepreneurial principles to identify, develop, and manage viable agricultural enterprises/projects optimally and sustainably for profit and improved livelihoods". How is this different from agribusiness start-ups mentioned by Sivakumar P S? Who are these famous agripreneurs? Farmers? Young business men exploring opportunities in agriculture? Women who venture into off-farm activities? And: Aren't all farmers agripreneurs?

"Paris, 22 Jan 2014. Donor Platform logo The author of "Aid on the Edge of Chaos: rethinking international cooperation in a complex world" emphasised the urge to get out of the box, find new ways to look at and understand longstanding problems and to take risks in development programming. "

The key messages in this brief are as follows: 1) Engineering can help Africa unlock its huge potential for economic growth and development and make faster progress toward the Millennium Development Goals. 2) However, there is a serious lack of engineering capacity in Africa and heavy reliance on imported expertise in engineering. 3) Higher education institutions need to change their approach to teaching engineering so that graduates are creative problem-solvers. Engineering courses also need to be oriented towards market and development needs. 4) Women are under-represented in engineering education, constituting less than 10 percent of the student population in Ghana, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe in 2010. 5) Few African countries have established a robust accreditation system. In addition to improving national accreditation, regional accreditation of engineering professionals should be encouraged so that engineers have greater mobility within Africa. 6) A proposed World Bank initiative, the Partnership for Skills in Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology (PASET) will build capacity for technical, vocational and higher education in African countries.

"Agricultural development is essential if Africa is going to feed itself and reduce poverty, which we believe it can. It is also central to achieving other priorities, including economic and industrial growth to provide jobs for young people, and promote political stability. Science can help deliver on these long-term national and regional goals, but only if it receives proper support-especially within Africa itself. Some steps have been made, but more needs to be done and done quickly."

"Africa urgently needs adequate number of quality agricultural graduates to actualize her potential in Agriculture. However, for this to be achieved, Tertiary Agricultural Education (TAE) stakeholders in the continent must work closely to leverage on their respective strengths. Pedagogy pic One of the participants of pedagogy training receives a certificate during a training workshop held in Nairobi, Kenya. In pursuit of the above objective, the African Network for Agriculture, Agroforestry and Natural Resources Education (ANAFE) is implementing a programme titled 'The Strengthening Africa's Strategic Agricultural Capacity for Impact on Development (SASACID)' which focusses on supporting TAE institutions in Africa to produce agricultural graduates with the right knowledge, skills and attitudes suited for the agricultural sector."