Spotlight on ICBA and RUFORUM: FAO's strategic partnerships in Africa and the NENA region

Agriculture and rural development are critical for ensuring food security and eradicating poverty. In this context, farmers’ livelihoods largely depend on agricultural activities, making them highly vulnerable to current challenges affecting agriculture, including climate change and loss of biodiversity. Enhancing the capacities of farmers to adopt innovative approaches to boost agricultural productivity and cope with limited resources is essential to meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG1 on eradicating extreme poverty and SDG2 on ending hunger and promoting sustainable agriculture.

In this regard, partnerships for sustainable development are central to reaching the SDGs and to meeting FAO's aspiration to support the 2030 Agenda through the transformation "to MORE efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agri-food systems for better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life leaving no one behind".

FAO partners with state and non-state actors including academia and research institutions (ARIs) and is pleased to highlight two strategic partnerships with the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM) and the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA), through recently published partnership briefs highlighting several results achieved throughout the partnerships. Both collaborations, among others, aim to contribute to strengthening farmers' capacities and technical competencies in food security and nutrition in sub-Saharan Africa and the Near East and North Africa (NENA) regions.

RUFORUM 

Since 2017, FAO has been collaborating with RUFORUM to strengthen the technical capacities of RUFORUM member universities to better contribute to improving food security and nutrition in Africa. The brief on RUFORUM shows that the partnership is playing a crucial role in developing the skills of young farmers and agriculture graduate students in the areas linked to food security and nutrition, sustainable food and agriculture, and climate change. Under this partnership, capacity development activities targeting family farmers, especially young farmers, have been organized, including facilitating knowledge sharing and supporting policy and multistakeholder processes on food security and nutrition. In 2021 and 2022, RUFORUM and FAO have collaborated on initiatives aimed at strengthening the capacities of state and non-state actors to develop and implement public policies for family farming in Africa

ICBA

The partnership between FAO and ICBA aims to raise agricultural productivity, increase water security and alleviate poverty while ensuring the sustainable use and management of natural resources and the protection of ecosystems. Since 2015, FAO and ICBA have been working together in developing and strengthening their technical cooperation, identifying and streamlining policies and best practices in agricultural water management, contributing to boosting agricultural productivity, improving food security and sustaining water resources. The brief on ICBA, among others, shows that FAO and ICBA are supporting the capacity development of smallholder family farmers and raising awareness and disseminating knowledge on new agriculture technologies and practices to reduce water consumption in crop production.