On 20^th Nov 2019, Francis Naab and Ivy Matoju attended a seminar held in London as part of the panel speakers for Bobab Africa.. Bobab Africa is a recently launched social enterprise and online platform with the aim of bringing researchers and industry in Sub-Saharan Africa together to share ideas, form collaborations and generally move towards working together for the development of the Continent.

As part of the initiative, the platform hosts seminar talks that can be viewed online or attended in person. The event Francis and Ivy attended was focused around “A growing ecosystem: Supporting off farm innovation for inclusive agricultural development” and aimed to foster discussions around policy reform on off-farm innovation and enterprise, business models and how they work and education and training for youth engagement and job creation along the agri-food chain.

The event was live streamed and well attended with discussions around the presentations ranging from agricultural initiatives, power dynamics, policy and microfinance. It was proved a great opportunity for networking for the early career researchers.

Ivy, whose research is exploring food policy and value chains in East Africa said; “It was an opportunity to see how my current research dovetails with the current situation in Sub-Saharan Africa and with other people’s perspectives”.

Francis, who is in the process of finalising his PhD in Applied Economics and Food Security in Ghana, viewed it as …”as an encounter capable of generating change, provided key actors within the policy environment, including governments and regional bodies, have a motivated will in policy implementation”

 

For more information about the event and the research presented, visit the CRE Blog.