Challenges

Continuous population growth, urban sprawl and climate change increase the demand for food. Over many decades, there has been a declining global interest in the issues of agricultural development and food security.  Indeed, food security is one of the major challenges facing humanity, and it is expected to intensify over the coming decades; with its strong multidimensionality, it is linked to poverty and hunger, health, economic development, energy, water, climate change, desertification, trade and technology transfer.

Ensuring food security –  the basic right of people to the food they need –  is one of the greatest challenges facing the world community. The challenge is most critical in low-income, food-deficit countries.

In the current era of sustainable development, a more integrated approach is needed in the face of global challenges, one that recognizes inter-linkages, avoids separate paths, and incorporates economic, environmental and social dimensions.

In Africa, agricultural and rural development problems have been related to underdeveloped policies, weak institutions and a lack of well-trained human resources. A critical factor in meeting the challenge of ensuring food security in Africa is human resource development through knowledge building and information sharing.

Toward a Solution

Since its establishment, the Egyptian Agency of Partnership for Development (EAPD) together with its national, regional and international partners, has aimed to put Egypt’s many comparative advantages into play in order to harness the continent’s immense potential for all.

Supporting the development aspirations of EAPD’s partner countries has always been among Egypt’s top foreign policy goals, and the successful cooperation that Egypt is witnessing proves that countries of the Global South can and do help one another to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through the sharing of their precious knowledge and valuable resources.

In this regard, EAPD remains mindful of the local environment and culture, opting to be flexible and adaptable, and having a learning mindset, because different contexts require different approaches and interventions.

Since its establishment, EAPD has developed integrated programmes in cooperation with many national institutions, such as The Egyptian International Center for Agricultural, the National Water Research Center and the Animal Health Research Institute, to support the efforts of Africans through the organization of capacity-building programmes. These programmes cover irrigation systems development, water resources management, agricultural productivity, fisheries resources management, animal health and post-harvest management. In addition, EAPD engages in tripartite cooperation programmes with several regional and international organizations, which contributes significantly to supplying African countries with expertise and knowledge in line with the latest international standards in food security.

In this vein, Egypt, together with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), implements 12 capacity-building programmes yearly, targeting 21 sub-Saharan African countries (Benin, Burundi, Cameroon, Comoro, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan, Togo, Uganda, United Republic Tanzania and Zambia) in agriculture, fisheries resources management, animal health, post-harvest management and irrigation techniques.

The training programme, ‘Third Country Training Program’ (TCTP), implemented with JICA under an agreement on the ‘Egypt-Japan Triangular Technical Cooperation Program for the Promotion of South-South Cooperation in Africa’. These capacity-building programmes, implemented in cooperation with JICA in various fields including irrigation systems development, water resources management, agricultural productivity, fisheries resources management, animal health and post-harvest management, helped to build capacities of local farmers through practical training and knowledge. They provided a functional platform to African trainees to benefit from the training course and exchange opinions and practices towards the application of the course contents in home countries.

A full three-month training course has been conducted annually since 2014. The training is delivered in Egypt, in a group format with practical exercises in the above-mentioned fields. Almost one third of the course (i.e. one month) is spent in the classroom on theoretical lectures, group discussions and workshops in modules. Each module starts with conceptual lectures addressing specific topics in the field. The remaining portion of the course provides two months of practical training in which participants visit laboratories for demonstrations and participate in field visits and study tours. Participants obtain hands-on experience by managing their assigned ponds to conduct experiments on male: female ratio, population intensity and the concentration of different nutrients.

To ensure the sustainability of this initiative, selected participants in the country should hold a position that allows them to disseminate knowledge such as extension officers or instructors at a relevant institution. In some cases, graduates participate in the selection of new candidates because this can help to strengthen the relationship between former and new participants, allowing the latter to become leaders in their countries.

A similar programme is implemented in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in the field of agriculture, specifically on post-harvesting crops and aquaculture. EAPD welcomes new partnerships and new triangular activities with international partners, aspiring to achieve greater South-South cooperation, fulfil the SDGs, and work towards ensuring the global community’s support to the implementation of our regional sustainable development commitments and plans, such as the African Union’s Agenda 2063.

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