CGIAR Science Week 2025: Leveraging Science, Research and Partnerships to Deliver at Scale

17 April, 2025

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NAIROBI, KENYA – Scholars, researchers, policymakers, development partners, and private sector representatives were among the more than 10,600 people who attended the CGIAR Science week, co-hosted by The Kenyan Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO). The event took place at the United Nations Office complex in Nairobi from April, 7 to 12, 2025, both in-person and online. CGIAR Executive Managing Director Dr. Ismahane Elouafi, KALRO Director General Dr. Eliud Kireger, Kenya’s Prime Cabinet Secretary H.E. Musalia Mudavadi and Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture and Livestock Development H.E. Mutahi Kagwe, as well as UN Nairobi Director General H.E. Zainab Hawa officiated the inaugural event. They set the tone to explore practical pathways that enhance science, research, innovation and partnership linkages to advance food security amid growing global agricultural challenges.

The gathering was particularly timely as it coincided with ongoing efforts to implement key initiatives such as the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) and the Abidjan II Communiqué Action Plan. These continental frameworks aim to raise agricultural productivity, increase public investment in agriculture, and stimulate economic growth through agriculture-led development to build resilient agri-food systems in Africa.

To foster collaboration and co-creation among the scientific contributors in attendance, various plenaries, workshops, side events and field visits were organized to provide participants with opportunities to present, deliberate, and strategize on leveraging and scaling scientific and innovative solutions for tangible improvements in agricultural practices and policies.

RUFORUM’s Contribution

During the CGIAR Science Week, RUFORUM made notable contributions at two side events.

The first panel that RUFORUM contributed to was titled, Strengthening CGIAR Engagement with African Agricultural Research, Innovation and Education Institutions (AARIEIs) in Research and Scaling. The stakeholders of AARIEIs presented on the genesis of the CGIAR reform process and how the AARIEIs partnership is working to realize the Abidjan II Communiqué Action Plan and the CAADP target in technology development, research and innovation. Given that an estimated 60% of the African population is young and tech-savvy, RUFORUM emphasized the need to transform the Higher Agricultural Education (HAE) environment to also target and cater to out-of-school youth. To minimize duplication of work, collaborative initiatives were encouraged for best practices in operationalizing research-policy linkages and scaling innovations. This approach ensures that when technologies spread throughout the population and reach last mile actors, scaling improves diffusion. It was further suggested that technologies should make farming easier and ensure that information on how to utilize them is accessible to all.

(from left to right) Dr. Namukolo Covic- Regional Director, East and Southern Africa (ESA), CGIAR, and ILRI Director General’s Representative to Ethiopia; Prof. Patrick Okori – Executive Secretary, RUFORUM; Dr. Emmanuel Njukwe, Director of Research and innovation, CORAF; Dr. Silim Nahdy – Executive Director, AFAAS; Dr. Atta –Krah Kwesi, Special Advisor, IITA-CGIAR; Dr. Olufunke Cofi, Africa Director for Research Impact, IWMI;; Prof Appolinaire Djikeng, Director General, ILRI-CGIAR.

At the CGIAR Capacity Sharing (CapSha) Accelerator launch, Prof. Patrick Okori, Executive Secretary of RUFORUM, delivered a compelling address in the second panel. He addressed the question, “Are there limited opportunities for collaboration and capacity sharing on research and innovation in food, land, and water systems?”

While acknowledging that efforts exist, Prof Okori emphasized that they fall short of the required scale and scope. He stressed the need to rebalance human capital development in Africa, pointing out that current programs largely focus on higher degree training. He highlighted that the continent’s low gross enrollment rate of just 9%, compared to the global average of 38%, implies that many young Africans may not access higher education. “This calls for alternatives that generate wealth and jobs,’’ he argued, stressing the importance of building capacity for scale in delivering businesses and innovation.

He further outlined three clusters of issues that need to be addressed: inequality in access to technology and information, the need for co-creation among partners under mutual accountability, and enhancing development impact through sustainable and resilient approaches. Prof Okori advocated for new models, such as market place designs, tailored to Africa’s unique context.

The final cluster, which he termed ‘the shifty challenge’, revolves around improving the investment environment through robust policy frameworks. He noted the fragility of current policies, especially regarding financing: “we need to think about both the vertical and horizontal relationships – vertical in the sense that we are considering policy interventions that must come from top-down or bottom-up. But if we are going to drive things at scale, we must think about the horizontal relationships as well”. He urged for a combined approach of vertical and horizontal relationships to drive large-scale change.

Prof. Patrick Okori, Executive Secretary, RUFORUM

Prof Okori’s approach calls for a reimagined capacity-sharing paradigm that balances human resources and fosters innovation across the continent. This underscores the importance of collaborative efforts to boost Africa’s research and innovation landscape.

Momentous Agreement to Propel Africa’s Agricultural Science and Research Agenda

The African Agricultural Research, Innovation, and Education Institutions (AARIEIs) signed two Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) that will advance Africa’s agricultural research and science agenda, marking a significant milestone during the CGIAR science week.

The AARIEIs Partnership Engagement Framework, is the first MOU which was signed between the following key institutions;

This partnership framework aims to support Agricultural research, extension, and education initiatives that accelerate the application of science to create sustainable and decent livelihoods for African smallholder farmers, differently abled persons, women and the youth. The overall objective is to ensure that agricultural development and food systems in Africa are productive, profitable, offer products that are competitive in the global markets and are sustained by science-based solutions and interconnected world-class human resources and institutions.

The second MOU signed was the CGIAR-AARIEIs Partnership Engagement Framework, which serves as a guiding structure to strengthen collaboration between CGIAR and AARIEIs as a means to ensure that the CGIAR reforms are in the best interest of millions of Africa’s farmers. This framework is designed to foster strategic partnerships, knowledge exchange, and joint innovation efforts aimed at transforming Africa’s food, land, and water systems in response to the challenges of climate change, food insecurity, and sustainable agricultural development.

The signing represents the culmination of three years of planning among the partners to ensure the effective implementation of the Abidjan II Action Plan and the CAADP targets.

During the signing ceremony, Dr Godfrey Bahiigwa, the Director of Agriculture and Rural Development at the African Union highlighted three pivotal expectations from these MOU’s; (1) They should generate evidence to inform investment choices at country level to achieve the CAADP targets; (2) They should facilitate domestication of the CAADP at country level by supporting the implementation of agri-food systems transformation plans in member countries; (3) They should generate and disseminate technologies from research centers especially productivity-enhancing and climate-smart technologies.

Additionally, the establishment of the AARIEIs communication group was announced, aiming to support advocacy and visibility for initiatives that will be implemented under this partnership framework. These developments mark significant progress and set the stage for future work as Africa embarks on re-shaping its agri-food systems.