2021 ReSAKSS Conference concludes on a high note with renewed commitment to continental goals

“The ReSAKSS Conference is a time when we come together to look back, take stock, and look forward with a focus on strong thematic areas of strategic importance to the African Union agenda,” said Dr. Ousmane Badiane, AKADEMIYA2063 Executive Chairperson. “After a challenging 12 to 18 months amid the COVID-19 pandemic, we decided to take a look at what would happen in the event of a more complex crisis, maybe spanning the entire globe, disrupting livelihoods and economies, based on lessons learned. The 2021 ReSAKSS Annual Trends and Outlook Report looks at the ramifications of the COVID-19 crisis, the variety of responses and commitments made for readiness in addressing future shocks across various sectors. We must use the resources contained in the report to guide our efforts to build back better, enhance our preparedness to confront future crises and accelerate the progress of the last 20 years,” he said.

“The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the fragility of the African and global food systems,” said Commissioner Josefa Sacko, AU Commissioner, Department of Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy and Sustainable Development (AUC-DARBE). “The pandemic clearly demonstrated multisectoral convergence, particularly agriculture, food security, public health, safety, and employment. But it is not all doom and gloom. The pandemic has provided us with an opportunity for self-reflection to rethink our development path. We should recognize this opportunity and build back better, reexamine current partnerships and aspire for genuine global solidarity and support. I congratulate AKADEMIYA2063 for producing this report and commend the choice of elaborating on the impact of COVID-19 on African economies, the response from member states, and proposed measures to rebuild more resilient food systems,” she said.

Day one (https://bit.ly/3DwQcFq) of the conference focused on an overview of the 2021 ATOR, a keynote presentation on impacts of and responses to COVID-19 in African countries, with presentations and thematic sessions on “Impacts of COVID-19 on African Economies”. The opening plenary was chaired by Ambassador Ertharin Cousin, Founder and CEO of Food Systems for the Future and Vice-Chair of AKADEMIYA2063's Board of Trustees, with opening remarks by Dr. Ousmane Badiane, Executive Chairperson of AKADEMIYA2063, Ms. Maura Barry, Senior Deputy Assistant Administrator at United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and H.E Josefa Sacko, African Union Commissioner, Department of Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy and Sustainable Development (AUC-DARBE). Day 2 (https://bit.ly/3CwRr60) featured presentations and panel discussions focused on "Responses of African Countries to COVID-19 and Social Protection" and "Measurement Issues", with Day 3 (https://bit.ly/32gD61g) tackling “Progress toward Achieving the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) Goals”. The conference attracted over 100 attendees from over 23 organizations, with the participants underscoring to need to strengthen implementation of policies and strategies in order to accelerate recovery from the impacts of COVID-19 and progress toward achieving CAADP goals.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of AKADEMIYA2063.

Media Inquiries: Dr. Layih Butake Director, Communication and Outreach, AKADEMIYA2063Lbutake@akademiya2063.org +221 773235609

About ReSAKSS: Established in 2006 under the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), the Regional Strategic Analysis and Knowledge Support System (ReSAKSS) supports efforts to promote evidence and outcome-based policy planning and implementation. In particular, ReSAKSS provides data and related analytical and knowledge products to facilitate CAADP benchmarking, review, and mutual accountability processes.

AKADEMIYA2063 leads the work of ReSAKSS in partnership with the African Union Commission (AUC), the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD), and leading Regional Economic Communities (RECs). The mission of AKADEMIYA2063 is to provide data, policy analysis, and capacity-strengthening support to enable African Union (AU) Member States to achieve economic transformation and shared prosperity in support of the AU’s Agenda 2063. As the main platform for monitoring CAADP implementation, ReSAKSS tracks the progress of core CAADP indicators through an interactive website and a flagship Annual Trends and Outlook Report (ATOR), the official CAADP monitoring and evaluation (M&E) report. In addition to tracking progress on CAADP core indicators, the ATOR presents analysis on a feature topic of strategic importance to the CAADP agenda each year. For more information, visit www.AKADEMIYA2063.org; conference.ReSAKSS.org.