O Conselho de Administração do Grupo Banco Africano de Desenvolvimento (www.AfDB.org) aprovou um financiamento de 100 milhões de euros a favor de Marrocos para a implementação do programa de apoio à agricultura solidária inclusiva para mulheres e jovens.
O projeto visa criar oportunidades sustentáveis para as mulheres e os jovens, reforçar a segurança alimentar e preparar melhor a agricultura marroquina de pequena escala para os desafios das alterações climáticas.
O projeto estimulará o empreendedorismo dos jovens e das mulheres nas zonas rurais, criando mecanismos de financiamento e de incentivo adequados e reforçando os sistemas de apoio técnico e financeiro. Facilitará igualmente a implantação de novas infraestruturas de produção e de serviços agrícolas, contribuindo para integrar as mulheres nas cadeias de valor locais, reforçar as suas competências e aumentar a sua produtividade.
Todas estas ações vão fomentar a emergência de mulheres empresárias nos setores agrícola, para-agrícola, da transformação e digital, e apoiarão o novo roteiro para o emprego através da promoção do empreendedorismo rural.
“As mulheres que têm a ambição de empreender e ter sucesso na agricultura são a nossa prioridade”, disse Achraf Tarsim, chefe do escritório do Grupo Banco Africano de Desenvolvimento em Marrocos. Através desta nova operação, vamos apoiá-las passo a passo na construção de uma agricultura moderna, inclusiva e resiliente, capaz de revelar todo o potencial daqueles que aspiram a inovar e criar valor e emprego nos seus territórios”.
Em plena consonância com as prioridades de Marrocos, o programa apoiará a implementação da Estratégia Agrícola Geração Verde 2020-2030 – a visão nacional para transformar a agricultura num setor mais inclusivo, sustentável e eficiente –, o Programa Nacional de Agricultura Solidária e o Programa Nacional de Empreendedorismo Juvenil.
Há mais de cinquenta anos que o Grupo Banco Africano de Desenvolvimento apoia o Reino de Marrocos no âmbito de uma parceria baseada numa visão partilhada e integrada do desenvolvimento. Até à data, foram mobilizados cerca de 15 mil milhões de euros para financiar mais de 150 projetos de grande impacto em setores estratégicos como os transportes, a água, a energia, a agricultura, a proteção social, a governação e as finanças.
Distribuído pelo Grupo APO para African Development Bank Group (AfDB).
Contacto para os media:
Fahd Belbachir
Responsável Principal de Comunicação e Relações Externas
media@afdb.org
Sobre o Grupo Banco Africano de Desenvolvimento:
O Grupo Banco Africano de Desenvolvimento é a principal instituição financeira de desenvolvimento em África. Inclui três entidades distintas: o Banco Africano de Desenvolvimento (AfDB), o Fundo Africano de Desenvolvimento (ADF) e o Fundo Fiduciário da Nigéria (NTF). Presente no terreno em 41 países africanos, com uma representação externa no Japão, o Banco contribui para o desenvolvimento económico e o progresso social dos seus 54 Estados-membros. Mais informações em www.AfDB.org
Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Hanri Mostert, SARChI Chair for Mineral Law in Africa, University of Cape Town
A US-brokered peace deal between the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda binds the two African nations to a worrying arrangement: one where a country signs away its mineral resources to a superpower in return for opaque assurances of security.
The peace deal, signed in June 2025, aims to end three decades of conflict between the DRC and Rwanda.
The peace that the June 2025 deal promises, therefore, hinges on chaining mineral supply to the US in exchange for Washington’s powerful – but vaguely formulated – military oversight.
The peace agreement further establishes a joint oversight committee – with representatives from the African Union, Qatar and the US – to receive complaints and resolve disputes between the DRC and Rwanda.
But beyond the joint oversight committee, the peace deal creates no specific security obligations for the US.
This latest peace deal introduces a resources-for-security arrangement. Such deals aren’t new in Africa. They first emerged in the early 2000s as resources-for-infrastructure transactions. Here, a foreign state would agree to build economic and social infrastructure (roads, ports, airports, hospitals) in an African state. In exchange, it would get a major stake in a government-owned mining company. Or gain preferential access to the host country’s minerals.
We have studied mineral law and governance in Africa for more than 20 years. The question that emerges now is whether a US-brokered resources-for-security agreement will help the DRC benefit from its resources.
This is because resources-for-security is the latest version of a resource-bartering approach that China and Russia pioneered in countries such as Angola, the Central African Republic and the DRC.
Resource bartering in Africa has eroded the sovereignty and bargaining power of mineral-rich nations such as the DRC and Angola.
Further, resources-for-security deals are less transparent and more complicated than prior resource bartering agreements.
DRC’s security gaps
The DRC is endowed with major deposits of critical minerals like cobalt, copper, lithium, manganese and tantalum. These are the building blocks for 21st century technologies: artificial intelligence, electric vehicles, wind energy and military security hardware. Rwanda has less mineral wealth than its neighbour, but is the world’s third-largest producer of tantalum, used in electronics, aerospace and medical devices.
The DRC government has failed to extend security over its vast (2.3 million square kilometres) and diverse territory (109 million people, representing 250 ethnic groups). Limited resources, logistical challenges and corruption have weakened its armed forces.
This context makes the United States’ military backing enormously attractive. But our research shows there are traps.
What states risk losing
Resources-for-infrastructure and resources-for-security deals generally offer African nations short-term stability, financing or global goodwill. However, the costs are often long-term because of an erosion of sovereign control.
Here’s how this happens:
Examples of loss or near-loss of sovereignty from these sorts of deals abound in Africa.
For instance, Angola’s US$2 billion oil-backed loan from China Eximbank in 2004. This was repayable in monthly deliveries of oil, with revenues directed to Chinese-controlled accounts. The loan’s design deprived Angolan authorities of decision-making power over that income stream even before the oil was extracted.
These deals also fragment accountability. They often span multiple ministries (such as defence, mining and trade), avoiding robust oversight or accountability. Fragmentation makes resource sectors vulnerable to elite capture. Powerful insiders can manipulate agreements for private gain.
In the DRC, this has created a violent kleptocracy, where resource wealth is systematically diverted away from popular benefit.
Finally, there is the risk of re-entrenching extractive trauma. Communities displaced for mining and environmental degradation in many countries across Africa illustrate the long-standing harm to livelihoods, health and social cohesion.
These are not new problems. But where extraction is tied to security or infrastructure, such damage risks becoming permanent features, not temporary costs.
What needs to change
Critical minerals are “critical” because they’re hard to mine or substitute. Additionally, their supply chains are strategically vulnerable and politically exposed. Whoever controls these minerals controls the future. Africa must make sure it doesn’t trade that future away.
In a world being reshaped by global interests in critical minerals, African states must not underestimate the strategic value of their mineral resources. They hold considerable leverage.
But leverage only works if it is wielded strategically. This means:
investing in institutional strength and legal capacity to negotiate better deals
demanding local value creation and addition
requiring transparency and parliamentary oversight for minerals-related agreements
refusing deals that bypass human rights, environmental or sovereignty standards.
Africa has the resources. It must hold on to the power they wield.
– Africa’s minerals are being bartered for security: why it’s a bad idea – https://theconversation.com/africas-minerals-are-being-bartered-for-security-why-its-a-bad-idea-260594
Impact craters are formed when an object from space such as a meteoroid, asteroid or comet strikes the Earth at a very high velocity. This leaves an excavated circular hole on the Earth’s surface.
It is a basic geological process that has shaped the planets from their formation to today. It creates landscapes and surface materials across our solar system. The moon is covered with them, as are planets like Mercury, Mars and Venus. On Earth, impacts have influenced the evolution of life and even provided valuable mineral and energy resources. However, very few of the impact craters on Earth are visible because of various processes that obscure or erase them.
Most of the recognised impact craters on Earth are buried under sediments or have been deeply eroded. That means they no longer preserve their initial forms.
The Bosumtwi impact crater in Ghana is different, however. It is well preserved (not deeply eroded or buried under sediments). Its well-defined, near-circular basin, filled by a lake, is surrounded by a prominent crater rim that rises above the surface of the lake and an outer circular plateau. This makes it a target for several research questions.
As an Earth scientist, I joined a research team from 2019 to better understand the morphology of the crater. We carried out a morphological analysis of the crater (a study of its form, structure and geological features).
This study concluded that the activities of illegal miners are a threat to the sustainability of the crater. We also discovered that the features of the Bosumtwi impact crater can be considered as a terrestrial representation for a special type of impact crater known as rampart craters. These are common on the planets Mars and Venus and are found on icy bodies of the outer solar system (like Ganymede, Europa, Dione, Tethys and Charon).
For future studies, the Bosumtwi impact crater can be used to help understand how rampart craters form on Mars and Venus. So the Bosumtwi impact crater should be protected and preserved.
The Bosumtwi impact crater is in Ghana’s mineral-rich Ashanti gold belt. It is the location of the only natural inland lake in Ghana. As one of the world’s best-preserved young meteorite impact craters it is designated as an International Union of Geological Sciences geoheritage site.
It is one of only 190 confirmed impact crater sites worldwide, one of only 20 on the African continent. Its lake is one of six meteoritic lakes in the world, recognised for their outstanding scientific value.
Satellite view of the Bosumtwi Impact Crater showing areas of Artisanal and Small scale Gold Mining activities.David Baratoux
At almost 1.07 million years old, the crater offers unparalleled opportunities for studying impact processes, climate history and planetary evolution. It’s an irreplaceable natural laboratory for researchers and educators.
Beyond its scientific importance, the crater holds cultural significance for the Ashanti people of Ghana. The lake at its centre serves as a sacred site and spiritual landmark. The crater’s breathtaking landscape also supports eco-tourism and local livelihoods, contributing to Ghana’s economic development while maintaining exceptional aesthetic value.
The research
As part of further research work on the 2019 study, in 2025 we have discovered through field work and satellite data analysis that illegal artisanal mining is prevalent in the area and threatening the crater. This refers to informal, labour-intensive extraction of minerals, primarily gold. It is conducted by individuals or small groups using basic tools and rudimentary machinery. The use of toxic chemicals such as mercury and cyanide, and practices such as river dredging, cause severe environmental harm.
Illegal miners are encroaching on and around the crater rim, posing severe threats to its environment and sustainability. Their activities have become more prevalent over the course of less than 10 years, indicating a growing problem. If unchecked, it could lead to irreversible damage to the crater.
These mining operations risk contaminating the lake with toxic heavy metals. The consequences of these are grave. They include destroying critical geological evidence, accelerating deforestation, and degrading the land. All this damages the crater’s scientific, cultural and economic value.
The International Union of Geological Sciences geoheritage designation of the crater underscores the urgent need for protection measures. The loss of this rare geological wonder would represent not just a national tragedy for Ghana, but a blow to global scientific heritage.
Immediate action is required. This includes enhanced satellite monitoring (tracking illegal mining, deforestation and environmental changes) using optical imagery (such as Sentinel-2, Landsat, PlanetScope). These tools can detect forest loss, identify mining pits and sediment runoff, and analyse changes over time.
Stricter enforcement of mining bans, and community engagement programmes, will help preserve the Bosumtwi impact crater’s unique attributes for future generations of scientists, students, tourists and local communities who depend on its resources.
– Ghana has a rare treasure, a crater made when a meteor hit Earth: why it needs to be protected – https://theconversation.com/ghana-has-a-rare-treasure-a-crater-made-when-a-meteor-hit-earth-why-it-needs-to-be-protected-260600
Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Mariapaola McGurk, Lecturer in Innovation & Entrepreneurship, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau
Johannesburg is weathering a storm of crises. Nowhere is its complex tangle of challenges more visible than in the inner city, where crime, overcrowding, and infrastructure collapse – such as roads literally exploding – paint a grim picture. Cultural institutions haven’t been spared either, with long-standing landmarks like the Johannesburg Art Gallery caught in cycles of neglect and crisis.
Yet, while many avoid the inner city or speak only of its decline, the creative and cultural practitioners of Johannesburg never left. In fact, artists, architects, fashion designers, animators, musicians and the like have been hard at work. They’re building, dreaming and shaping a new urban reality that could become the beacon of hope this city needs.
As a researcher and visual artist, I recently completed a PhD study that focused on Johannesburg’s cultural and creative industries. My research revealed that a clear understanding of the existing structures and dynamics within this industry is essential for developing effective strategies to strengthen its role in local economic development.
Here I explore one such opportunity: creative hubs. I argue that they represent a low-hanging fruit for the inner city’s growth and revitalisation.
Urban renewal
Numerous articles have explored strategies for the city’s economic development and urban renewal. One group of scholars recently outlined four critical focus areas: coordinated efforts across government levels; an active civil society; a shift in political culture; and restored leadership in a revitalised administration.
These are vital interventions, but they still beg a deeper question. What is the new “gold” of the “City of Gold”, the mining town founded in 1886 and on track to become a megacity by 2030?
Work by artist Candice Kramer at Bag Factory Artists Studios.Mark Straw
What is it that truly sets Johannesburg apart, nationally and globally? What strengths already exist that, if nurtured, could help address the city’s challenges? The answer may not lie in building something entirely new, but in recognising and investing in what already thrives. The city’s people, its culture, and its extraordinary creativity.
In 2004, Unesco launched the Creative Cities Network. Today it comprises 246 cities in 80 member states. South Africa has three cities in the network: Cape Town (design), Durban (literature) and Overstrand (gastronomy). Johannesburg has never applied to belong.
Cities are acknowledging the economic and social value of the cultural and creative industries, particularly in addressing challenges such as youth unemployment, micro-enterprise growth, equity and community development.
Artist Mankebe Seakoe at Contra Fair.Mark Straw
Yet cities globally are grappling with how to retain creative professionals. This is the case in cities like Toronto, Sydney, Los Angeles, Cologne or Barcelona. Rising property prices, the redevelopment of industrial areas into commercial or luxury spaces, and short-term rental agreements are displacing these professionals from the urban cores they help energise. Cities are coming up with incentives and programmes to correct this.
A recent World Cities Cultural Forum report offers a solution in the form of Creative Land Trusts. These permanently hold land and assets at affordable rates for creatives. They take property out of speculative real estate markets. They’re designed to support not galleries or theatres, but the studios and workspaces where creative production actually happens.
Unlike cities that are trying to reverse the exodus of creatives, Johannesburg’s inner city has seen a recent surge in creative hub development.
A creative hub is a physical or digital space (in this case physical) designed to bring together cultural and creative professionals for studio space, collaboration, networking and the exchange of ideas.
Some creative hubs offer gallery spaces.Mark Straw
Across Johannesburg, creative hubs buzz with independent activity, yet share a common commitment to cultivating talent, business support and community impact. They are evidence of innovative partnerships between creatives and property developers.
Inside these spaces, artists and creatives get opportunities through gallerist and investor visits (access to markets). They build practical and entrepreneurial skills through tailored workshops. And they collaborate on projects that place social upliftment at their heart.
Some hubs focus on offering studio spaces, while others extend their reach beyond their walls, blending artistic expression with community development and public engagement.
By actively building community and opportunity, creative hubs are becoming
lighthouses for the new urban economy.
They are small business incubators, urban beautification engines and potential cultural tourism hotspots. An event like Contra Fair opens the doors of art studio hubs once a year. Entrepreneur and social activist Tebogo Moalusi has now taken the lead in the establishment of Creative20. This will become a platform for revitalising Johannesburg’s creative cities campaign.
Bag Factory Artists Studios hosting a public event.Mark Straw
This is despite Gauteng, the province that houses Johannesburg, being the epicentre of South Africa’s creative economy. It contributes 46.3% of the industry’s gross domestic product and generates the highest employment impact. Johannesburg hosts the majority of creative businesses in the province.
The Gauteng 2030 Strategy highlights three high-growth sectors: agro-processing, cultural and creative industries, and high-tech/knowledge sectors, including digital and gaming. Two of these directly involve the creative economy. Yet there’s been little effort to integrate them into Johannesburg’s urban development agenda.
If Johannesburg is serious about inclusive economic development and sustainable urban growth, it must recognise and invest in the cultural and creative industries which are already thriving within its borders.
– Johannesburg’s creative hubs are booming: how artists are rejuvenating a failing inner city – https://theconversation.com/johannesburgs-creative-hubs-are-booming-how-artists-are-rejuvenating-a-failing-inner-city-260224
Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Hayes Mabweazara, Senior Lecturer in Sociological & Cultural Studies (Media, Culture & Society), University of Glasgow
Media capture happens when media outlets lose their independence and fall under the influence of political or financial interests. This often leads to news content that favours power instead of public accountability.
What is media capture and how has it reshaped itself in recent times?
Media capture describes how media outlets are influenced, manipulated or controlled by powerful actors – often governments or large corporations – to serve their interests. It’s an idea that helps us understand how powerful groups in society can have a negative influence on news media. While this idea isn’t new, what has changed is how subtly and pervasively it now operates.
These groups include big technology organisations that own digital media platforms – such as X, owned by xAI (Elon Musk), and Instagram and Facebook, owned by Meta. But it’s also important to consider Google as a large search engine that shapes the news content and audience of many other platforms.
Palgrave Macmillan
This matters because the media are important for the functioning of democratic societies. Ideally, they provide information, represent different groups and issues in society, and hold powerful actors to account.
For example, one of the key roles of the media is to provide accurate information for citizens to be able to decide how to vote in elections. Or to decide what they think about important issues. One big concern, then, is the effect of inaccurate or biased information on democracy.
Or it might be that accurate information is harder to access because algorithms and platforms make it easier to access inaccurate or biased information. These can be intended and unintended consequences of the technology itself, but algorithms can amplify misinformation and fake news – especially if this content has the potential to go viral.
So, what’s particular about media capture in the global south?
This is a really interesting question that is still being investigated, but we have some ideas.
First of all, it’s useful to know that media capture scholarship from the global north emerged around the time of the 2008 financial crisis. The influence of financial institutions on business journalists was one of the first areas of study. Since then, research in the US has focused on the capture of government-funded media organisations like Voice of America. And on how digital platforms like Google and Facebook can lead to capture.
In the global south, scholars have drawn attention to the importance of large media corporations in understanding media capture. For example, in Latin America, there’s a high level of what’s called “media concentration”. This is when many media outlets are owned by a few companies. These companies often own companies in other sectors, which means that critical reporting on business interests presents a conflict of interest.
But to focus on Africa, scholars have drawn attention to governments as a source of pressure on journalists and editors. This can be through direct pressure or what we might call “covert” pressure. Withholding advertising that helps to fund media outlets is an example, or offering financial incentives to stop investigating certain topics.
Researchers are also concerned about the influence of big tech in Africa. Digital platforms like Google and Facebook can shape the news and information that citizens have access to.
Can you share some of the studies from the book?
Our book includes many interesting studies – from Colombia, Brazil and Mexico in Latin America to Ethiopia and Morocco in Africa. We’ll share a few African cases here to give an overview of the issues.
The book’s contribution on Ghana warns us that although more overt “old” types of media capture may have subsided, transitional democracies can feature messier, more nuanced forms of media control. This can be evident in government pressures and through capture of regulators.
In the Morocco chapter, we see the threat to media freedom presented by digital platforms owned by global tech giants. This is known as “infrastructural capture”. It means news organisations become dependent on tech giants to set the rules of the game for democratic communication.
Another compelling case is Nigeria, where researchers explore ties between media ownership and political patronage. The authors argue that the Nigerian press is failing in its democratic duty because of its reliance on advertising and sponsorship income from the state. Added to this are ineffective regulatory mechanisms and close relationships with some big businesses that own newspapers and printing presses.
How can media capture be resisted in the global south?
The studies in the book show some ways forward and we do think it’s important to be optimistic! Resistance takes many forms. Sometimes it comes through legal and policy reform aimed at increasing transparency and media diversity. In other cases, it’s driven by social movements, investigative journalists and independent media who continue to operate under pressure.
The chapter on Uganda shows that journalist groups working with media advocacy organisations can strategically act to resist government media capture and harmful regulations. For example, to push back against one legislative change, several groups formed a temporary network called Article 29 (named after the article in the Ugandan constitution protecting free speech) and the African Centre for Media Excellence produced a report criticising the proposed changes.
One of the chapters on Ghana also shows how networks such as journalists, media associations, human rights groups and legal organisations can mobilise to push back against government influence. Organisations including the Ghana Journalists Association and Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association have played key roles in, for example, taking the media regulator to court to overturn laws that would have led to censorship. These findings are echoed in Latin America, where research on Mexico and Colombia also found professional journalism to be a strong source of resistance.
The conversation must also include rethinking how we define capture itself. If we frame it only as total control, we risk missing the everyday ways influence operates – and the spaces where it can be resisted. We would also say it’s really important that citizens are aware and alert to the issues when they think about how they access news media and what platforms they use. This is sometimes called “media literacy” and is about people being more knowledgeable about where trustworthy news comes from.
You can listen to a podcast about the book over here.
– African media are threatened by governments and big tech – book tracks the latest trends – https://theconversation.com/african-media-are-threatened-by-governments-and-big-tech-book-tracks-the-latest-trends-258017
Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen, has called for urgent and proper regionalisation of South Africa’s disease control framework, amid ongoing challenges posed by widespread Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) outbreaks.
“Every credible trading nation in the world understands the principle of regionalisation, that an outbreak in one part of a country should not result in blanket trade restrictions for the entire nation,” Steenhuisen said.
The Minister made the call during the Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) Indaba, currently underway at the ARC-VIMP Campus in Roodeplaat, northeast of Pretoria.
The Minister’s call comes as the country is currently experiencing significant and ongoing challenges with widespread outbreaks of Foot and Mouth disease, affecting several provinces, including KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, Gauteng and, most recently, the Free State.
The resurgence of the disease has resulted in livestock movement restrictions and has also significantly impacted the country’s red meat trade on international markets.
In response to this escalating crisis, the Department of Agriculture, in partnership with the Agricultural Research Council (ARC), the University of Pretoria, and Onderstepoort Biological Products (OBP), is hosting a national Foot and Mouth Disease Indaba.
The two-day event, starting Monday, 21 July 2025, aims to bring together top veterinary scientists, agricultural experts, and key industry stakeholders, to deliberate on and develop long-term solutions to combat FMD.
In his opening address, Steenhuisen said South Africa is falling behind in establishing, certifying, and maintaining internationally recognised disease control zones.
He said the failure to regionalise is not due to a lack of veterinary science, but institutional coordination, legal clarity, and capacity.
“It is unacceptable that South Africa takes years to respond to import health questionnaires, delays that have cost us market access and weakened our negotiating position. This is not a regulatory issue; it is a capacity issue, and we are taking steps to fix it,” the Minister said.
To address this, the Minister announced the appointment of two senior veterinarians, Dr Emily Mogajane and Dr Nomsa Mnisi, to lead the development of a comprehensive national regionalisation framework.
Mnisi and Mogajane bring extensive experience in veterinary science, government, and international trade.
Their work will focus on: • Defining and operationalising regional disease zones for all major livestock sectors, in consultation with industry; • Supporting provinces to assume their responsibilities as prescribed in the Animal Health Act, 2002 (Act No.7 of 2002), aligning disease control with our Constitutional division of powers; and • Strengthening interdepartmental capacity to process export and import applications swiftly and credibly.
Public-private partnerships to improve vaccine security
Steenhuisen also called for stronger public-private partnerships to improve vaccine security, particularly for controlled animal diseases.
He urged the livestock industry, especially red meat, dairy, and game sectors to co-finance vaccine procurement.
“This does not mean you will manage the vaccines or the cold chains. But it does mean that, like in other agro-industries, we establish structured partnerships that ensure we are not caught unprepared again,” Steenhuisen said.
The Minister pointed to a recent breakdown in vaccine availability during the FMD outbreak, and that the national vaccine bank was depleted and the production cycle was misaligned with outbreak realities.
“Most notably, Onderstepoort Biological Products (OBP) currently lacks the infrastructure to produce FMD vaccines at the scale and speed required to respond to outbreaks.
“As a result, we were compelled to import vaccines from Botswana, to mount even a partial response. This situation is unsustainable for a country with South Africa’s livestock footprint and export ambitions,” the Minister said.
In response to this, Steenhuisen said government is establishing OBP, but warned that this will take time.
In the interim, he said efforts are underway to secure vaccine imports and establish forward-looking supply contracts to ensure minimum stock levels of FMD and other priority vaccines, “before the next outbreak, not after.”
He however warned that the State cannot do this alone and urged the industry to invest.
“If you want predictability, you must also invest. The time has come to build a nationally managed but jointly funded vaccine bank, not only for FMD, but for lumpy skin disease, brucellosis, Rift Valley Fever, and all other controlled diseases affecting trade and production,” SAnews.gov.za
Small Business Development Minister Stella Ndabeni has declared this a “historic week” for entrepreneurs and Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).
She was addressing the Startup20 Midterm Engagement Group Meeting held in Gauteng on Monday.
The meeting kicks off a busy week, with Global Trade Promotion Organisations holding a parallel meeting hosted by the Department of Small Business Development (DSBD), together with the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition.
“They will consider how the global trade system is being reconfigured, and how MSMEs can build resilience and pivot towards new markets,” Ndabeni said.
Later this week, the department will host the Global SME ministerial meeting with the International Trade Centre.
“This meeting will see Ministers, Deputy Ministers and officials from more than 60 countries, as well as various multilateral organisations, converge to discuss entrepreneurship and MSME policy, and look at ways to scale global support for MSMEs, especially in underserved countries,” Ndabeni explained.
The Global SME ministerial meeting will take aim at:
How to bridge the digital divide to empower MSMEs and startups with the infrastructure, skills, and tools needed to compete globally;
How to unlock capital access, especially for women- and youth-led businesses, through inclusive financial ecosystems;
How to position MSMEs as key actors in the green economy, supporting sustainable practices and circular innovation, and
How to foster inclusive trade policies that ensure MSMEs have a seat at the global economic table.
“The outcome will be a Call to Action, endorsed by the 60 plus countries, which will contain practical policy measures and reforms that will be championed in the UN system and which we can integrate with our G20 MSME agenda.
“Building on the work started in Brazil, as South Africa we want a dedicated G20 MSME and Startup Working Group, and this week’s deliberations will greatly assist us craft clear terms of reference and agenda for this working group,” Ndabeni said.
The ministerial meeting will also allow opportunities for inputs from the Startup20 Midterm engagement.
“Some of you… will be given space to share your thinking with the delegates at the ministerial meeting.
“Together, we will build a more equal and sustainable future led by MSMEs and startups,” Ndabeni said. – SAnews.gov.za
Small Business Development Minister Stella Ndabeni has unveiled South Africa’s priorities for the Startup20 Engagement Group – an official engagement group under the country’s G20 presidency.
The Minister was delivering remarks at the midterm meeting held at Birchwood in Boksburg on Monday.
Startup20 serves as a platform for startups and Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to engage with G20 leaders on the challenges and opportunities they face.
The five priorities are:
Foundation and alliance – with the focus on enabling policies, and ways to build a more supportive and resourced eco-system for early-stage entrepreneurs and scale-ups.
Finance and investment – with the focus on addressing gaps in early-stage financing, cross-border financing, and ways to derisk investment, for underserved regions and groups like women and youth, including through pre-investment capital readiness support.
Inclusion and sustainability – with the focus on circular economy models, green innovation incentives, and pre-investment business support for youth and women led enterprises to improve capital readiness.
Market access – with the focus on facilitating international trade, enabling e-commerce, reforming public procurement systems and supporting regional integration
Township and rural entrepreneurship – with the focus on strengthening local value chains, improving infrastructure and connectivity, and improving access to finance and eco-system support for supporting co-operatives and micro enterprises.
“Task teams made up of South African and international representatives have been established in these five priority areas.
“This Midterm Engagement Group Session provides the opportunity for these task forces together with others in the broader eco-system to develop policy recommendations that culminate in a clear programme of action to be finalised in the Startup20 Summit on the 13th and 14th of November.
“This summit in November will also include the inaugural Startup20 Awards, where the best startups and eco-system enablers from the G20 countries will be recognised. We will also, as DSBD, integrate our Presidential MSME Awards where we recognise and reward our best local talent,” Ndabeni said.
She emphasised that South Africa would utilise its G20 presidency to champion “issues of the Global South and Africa in particular, including issues of public debt, food security, market access, and the availability and cost of capital”.
“With the African Union’s induction as a permanent G20 member in 2023, Africa’s voice is now more prominent in global policymaking. South Africa plays a dual role: both as a sovereign G20 member and as a strategic member of the AU. As such we are well positioned to support the continent’s startup and MSME agenda.
“This alignment allows for greater policy coherence, enabling South Africa to serve as a bridge between global discourse and regional development aspirations, particularly in areas such as startup financing, regulatory reform, and digital transformation,” the Minister said. – SAnews.gov.za
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in collaboration with the Government of Zimbabwe launched a technical cooperation programme to enhance national capacity to support meaningful youth engagement in agrifood systems through policy support, leadership development and institutional strengthening.
FAO provides technical support to the Government of Zimbabwe to ensure that youth are meaningfully integrated into agrifood systems as key actors in productivity, innovation, and food security. This project builds upon the experiences of the FAO in Zimbabwe including the Green Jobs for Rural Youth Employment. It represents a crucial step in addressing the youth-related knowledge and skills and policy gaps identified in previous initiatives.
FAO highlights the urgency of creating 10–12 million new jobs annually in Africa and positions agrifood systems especially given their rapid growth and high potential for value addition as key to unlocking youth employment. Drawing on FAO Investment Guidelines for Youth in Agrifood Systems, the approach emphasizes integrating youth perspectives throughout the project cycle. The approach encourages recognizing youth as a diverse group with varied needs, capacities, and aspirations, and calls for collaboration among public, private, and civil society actors to create enabling environments.
“This project is set to inform and shape future priorities for collaboration between the Government of Zimbabwe and FAO on youth-related matters. By fostering this collaboration, the project aims to create an enabling environment that supports more effective interventions for youth engagement in agrifood systems, ultimately empowering young people to take a leading role in transforming these systems for the better,” said Patrice Talla, FAO Subregional Coordinator for Southern Africa and Representative to Zimbabwe.
This milestone comes at an opportune time when the country is starting to operationalize the second phase of the Agriculture and Food Systems and Rural Transformation Strategy (AFSRTS 2.0) with a particular focus on mainstreaming and integrating youth in agrifood systems.
“Mainstreaming youth is not an optional add-on; it is the fundamental strategy for achieving resilient, productive, and transformed agrifood systems and rural communities. The Government of Zimbabwe will provide visionary leadership, enact enabling policies, prioritize budget allocation for youth mainstreaming initiatives within Strategy 2.0, and ensure coordination across ministries,” said Mr. Jairos Mandizadza, Director – Gender Mainstreaming, Inclusivity and Wellness in the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development in his keynote address.
As part of its commitment to enhancing youth participation in Zimbabwe’s agrifood systems, the FAO-led project will initiate a consultative and participatory process to support the development of a comprehensive national strategy that integrate youth issues. The approach is designed to engage a wide spectrum of stakeholders, from primary producers to tertiary institutions and development partners while ensuring that the strategy is grounded in local realities and informed by diverse perspectives.
As the project gains momentum, young people across Zimbabwe are expressing optimism and a renewed sense of purpose.
“With this project we are energised, motivated, by being heard, valued, seen and more importantly included, we are no longer participants but change makers and this proves that there is nothing for us which can be done without us,” said Getrude Chambati, Secretary for the World Food Forum Zimbabwe Chapter.
The process of project implementation will include a combination of face-to-face stakeholder consultations, strategic planning meetings, and a desk review of existing work by other partners in the sector. This blended methodology will ensure that the strategy builds on past efforts while introducing fresh, youth-centred insights. The project ultimately aims to support Zimbabwe in formulating a National Youth Investment Plan and a Youth-inclusive Agrifood Systems Strategy, laying the groundwork for sustainable and inclusive agricultural transformation.
The inception meeting provided the platform to key stakeholders, including youths to review and provide input on how the draft AFSRTS 2 can integrate more youths issues. This was achieved through breakout sessions where participants were put into groups to review and update pillars of the AFSRTS 2. During the launch key stakeholders had the opportunity to appreciate the current youth in agrifood systems frameworks and policies at national, regional and international levels.
Going forward, the project is poised to play a transformative role in shaping Zimbabwe’s agrifood landscape by supporting the development of a robust national strategy and targeted investment plans for youth. By enhancing the capacity and skills of both young people and agriculture ministry personnel, FAO is committed to strengthening governance and leadership frameworks that support youth inclusion. This marks a pivotal step toward building a more resilient, inclusive, and future-ready agrifood system, driven by the energy, innovation, and potential of Zimbabwe’s youth.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO): Regional Office for Africa.
The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group (www.AfDB.org) has approved a €100 million loan to support Morocco’s inclusive solidarity-based agriculture program, focused on empowering women and young people.
The project aims to generate sustainable economic opportunities for women and youth, boost food security, and strengthen the resilience of small-scale farming against climate change. It will stimulate entrepreneurship through tailored financing and incentive mechanisms and by bolstering technical and financial support systems.
The program will also facilitate the deployment of new agricultural production and service infrastructure, helping to anchor women in local value chains, strengthen their skills, and boost their productivity. These actions will encourage the emergence of women entrepreneurs across agriculture, agro-processing and digital technologies. It will support the new roadmap for employment by promoting rural entrepreneurship.
“Women who have the ambition to undertake and succeed in agriculture are our priority,” said Achraf Tarsim, head of the African Development Bank country office in Morocco. “Through this new operation, we will support them step by step to build a modern, inclusive and resilient agriculture, capable of revealing the full potential of those who aspire to innovate and create value and employment in their territories.”
Aligned with Morocco’s priorities, the program will support the implementation of the Green Generation 2020-2030 Strategy, Morocco’s plan for transforming agriculture into a more inclusive, sustainable and efficient sector; the National Solidarity Agriculture Program, and the National Youth Entrepreneurship Program.
For more than 50 years, the African Development Bank Group has supported the Kingdom in a partnership based on a shared and integrated vision of development. Over the period, the Bank invested nearly €15 billion in more than 150 high-impact projects in strategic sectors such as transport, water, energy, agriculture, social protection, governance and finance.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Development Bank Group (AfDB).
Media contact:
Fahd Belbachir
Principal Communication and External Relations Officer media@afdb.org
About the African Development Bank Group:
The African Development Bank Group is Africa’s premier development finance institution. It comprises three distinct entities: the African Development Bank (AfDB), the African Development Fund (ADF) and the Nigeria Trust Fund (NTF). On the ground in 41 African countries with an external office in Japan, the Bank contributes to the economic development and the social progress of its 54 regional member states. For more information: www.AfDB.org
