About the Conference

Learn more about the conference

AKADEMIYA2063, in partnership with the AUC, is convening the 2024 ReSAKSS Conference to launch the 16th Edition of the ATOR. Organized in partnership with the Policy Center for the New South (PCNS), the in-person event will take place on October 1-3 under the theme “Advancing the Climate and Bioeconomy Agenda in Africa for Resilient and Sustainable Agrifood Systems”.

About

AKADEMIYA2063, in partnership with the AUC, is convening the 2024 ReSAKSS Conference to launch the 16th Edition of the ATOR. Organized in partnership with the Policy Center for the New South (PCNS), the in-person event will take place on October 1-3 under the theme “Advancing the Climate and Bioeconomy Agenda in Africa for Resilient and Sustainable Agrifood Systems”.

With the climate crisis emerging as the biggest threat to Africa’s agricultural trade development and the agricultural sector as a whole, the theme of the 2024 ATOR recognizes the high-priority status of climate change on Africa’s development agenda. Against the backdrop of the Malabo Declaration and in preparation for the imminent Post-Malabo Agenda, this edition delves into recommendations from recent critical climate-related concertations, underscoring the importance of aligning and harmonizing the food and climate change agendas. There is a real opportunity here to leverage evidence and promote dialogue on pathways toward a more comprehensive post-Malabo agenda that integrates the priorities for a successful food systems transformation in the context of a changing climate and global shocks toward an agriculture-led, broad-based economic transformation across Africa.

The conference will take stock of Africa’s climate change and bioeconomy agendas and discuss countries’ implementation strategies under the frameworks of the Paris Agreement, COP28, and the broader continental climate agendas. As the centerpiece of the thematic discussions, the 2024 ATOR will take a deep dive into a selection of key strategic topics at the intersection of climate change and food systems, including bioeconomy, climate finance, renewable energy, and the Global Green Agenda. The research will examine country-, regional-, and continental-level interventions by profiling the key drivers and showcasing documented good practices and policy innovations needed to foster renewable energy in Africa.

Objectives

The 2024 ReSAKSS Conference will bring together state and non-state actors to deliberate on the key findings and policy recommendations of the ReSAKSS 2024 ATOR. A major contribution to evidence in the implementation of continent-wide climate action, overall, the 2024 ATOR sets out to elucidate the needed convergence between the climate change and bioeconomy agendas in the context of the post-Malabo Agenda. The report will provide innovative data and analytics to inform programmatic instruments for sustainable climate-centered interventions toward the sustainable transformation of agrifood systems in Africa.

As such, the conference will provide a forum to:

  1. Discuss the research evidence and recommendations presented in the 2024 ATOR on trends in adaptation and mitigation options in African agriculture;
  2. Examine advances in greenhouse gas (GHG) emission tracking;
  3. Discuss bioeconomy opportunities for African economies, including from the perspective of regional cooperation and integration to enhance the bioeconomy potential in Africa;
  4. Document and share best practices and lessons learned from bioeconomyinitiatives and projects in Africa and elsewhere to foster inclusive and equitable growth, job creation and rural development in Africa;
  5. Review the climate finance and bioeconomy agendas in Africa as an avenue to remove a major constraint for many African countries to accelerate progress in climate adaptation, food safety, and other key food systems issues.
  6. Assess the status of CAADP implementation and progress toward achieving key goals and targets.

Structure

The three-day event will assemble around 150 participants and will facilitate stakeholder dialogue and networking under the following format:

Day 1: Kick-off with side events hosted by AKADEMIYA2063 and partner organizations, followed by the official opening of the conference. The opening plenary will feature an overview presentation of the 2024 ATOR, a keynote presentation on the theme, and a moderated panel discussion with high-level stakeholders.

Day 2: Presentations, followed by panel and plenary discussions on the chapters of the 2024 ATOR.

Day 3: Presentations, panel, and plenary discussions on the chapters of the 2024 ATOR, followed by the official closing.

STRUCTURE

Day 1: Kick-off with side events hosted by AKADEMIYA2063 and partner organizations, followed by the official opening of the conference. The opening plenary will feature an overview presentation of the 2024 ATOR, a keynote presentation on the theme, and a moderated panel discussion with high-level stakeholders.

Day 2: Presentations, followed by panel and plenary discussions on the chapters of the 2024 ATOR.

Day 3: Presentations, panel, and plenary discussions on the chapters of the 2024 ATOR, followed by the official closing.

AKADEMIYA2063 is an international Africa-based non-profit research organization with headquarters in Kigali, Rwanda, and a regional office in Dakar, Senegal. Inspired by the ambitions of the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and grounded in the recognition of the central importance of strong knowledge and evidence-based systems, the vision of AKADEMIYA2063 is an Africa with the expertise we need for the Africa we want. This expertise must be responsive to the continent’s needs for data and analysis to ensure high-quality policy design and execution. Inclusive, evidence-informed policymaking is key to meeting the continent’s development aspirations, creating wealth, and changing livelihoods for the better.

AKADEMIYA2063’s overall mission is to create, across Africa and led from its headquarters in Rwanda, state-of-the-art technical capacities to support the efforts by the Member States of the African Union to achieve the key goals of Agenda 2063 of transforming national economies to boost economic growth and prosperity.

Following from its vision and mission, the main goal of AKADEMIYA2063 is to help meet Africa’s needs at the continental, regional and national levels in terms of data, analytics, and mutual learning for the effective implementation of Agenda 2063 and the realization of its outcomes by a critical mass of countries. AKADEMIYA2063 strives to meet its goals through programs organized under five strategic areas—policy innovation, knowledge systems, capacity creation and deployment, operational support, and data management, digital products, and technology—as well as innovative partnerships and outreach activities. For more information, please visit: www.akademiya2063.org.

The Department of Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy and Sustainable Environment (ARBE) of the African Union Commission is mandated to boost AU Member States’ rural development and contributing to boosting economic growth, bringing down poverty and raising standards of living through agricultural productivity, improving food security and nutrition, exploring and developing the potential of the largest sectors of the Blue Economy, promoting technology transfer and strengthening resilience and adaptation to extreme climatic changes.

The Department’s mode of delivery is to support the adoption of measures, strategies, policies, and programs related and tied with these areas and their implementation within continental frameworks and policy areas endorsed by AU Policy Organs, and in pursuance of the First Aspiration of the AU Agenda 2063: “A prosperous Africa based on inclusive growth and sustainable development”. The Department is mandated and has been assigned responsibility to lead, coordinate, support, facilitate and work closely with the Regional Economic Communities (RECs), the AU Development Agency-New Partnership for Africa’s Development (AUDA-NEPAD) and other partners with similar mandate and mission.

ARBE’s Strategic Objective is to enhance economic transformation, sustainable growth, climate change action and investment in the African People. The Department developed its 2023-2025 Action Plan that aims to achieve on 25 priority areas. Visit: https://au.int/en/arbe.

The Policy Center for the New South (PCNS) is a Moroccan think tank aiming to contribute to the improvement of economic and social public policies that challenge Morocco and the rest of Africa as integral parts of the global South. The PCNS pleads for an open, accountable, and enterprising “new South” that defines its own narratives and mental maps around the Mediterranean and South Atlantic basins, as part of a forward-looking relationship with the rest of the world. Through its analytical endeavors, the think tank aims to support the development of public policies in Africa and to give the floor to experts from the South. This stance is focused on dialogue and partnership and aims to cultivate African expertise and excellence needed for the accurate analysis of African and global challenges and the suggestion of appropriate solutions.

As such, the PCNS brings together researchers, publishes their work and capitalizes on a network of renowned partners, representative of different regions of the world. The PCNS hosts a series of gatherings of different formats and scales throughout the year, the most important being the annual international conferences “The Atlantic Dialogues” and “African Peace and Security Annual Conference” (APSACO).

Finally, the think tank is developing a community of young leaders through the Atlantic Dialogues Emerging Leaders program(ADEL) a space for cooperation and networking between a new generation of decision-makers from the government, business, and civil society sectors. Through this initiative, which already counts more than 300 members, the Policy Center for the New South contributes to intergenerational dialogue and the emergence of tomorrow’s leaders. Visit: https://www.policycenter.ma/.