The Malawi Strategic Analysis and Knowledge Support System (SAKSS-Malawi) program has issued its first quarterly newsletter.  The newsletter serves as an informal publication that informs readers of the program's activities and upcoming events, as well as describes the broad services of the SAKSS.

Read the first issue here.

On November 3, 2010 the Global Agriculture and Food Security Fund awarded USD 51 million to Ethiopia for support of the national Agricultural Growth Program and USD 33 million to Niger for the support of water harnessing and irrigration development programs in three of the most vulnerable regions of country.

For more information, visit the GAFSP website.

The 7th CAADP Partnership Platform (PP) will take place in Yaounde, Cameroon in early 2011. The theme of the PP is "Mutual Accountability in the formulation and implementation of country CAADP investment plans". The venue and dates are still TBD.

More information will soon become available at www.nepad-caadp.net.

The Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP) has launched an offical website housing information on the fund, its recipients and the proposal process. The fund is a multilateral mechanism to assist in the implementation of pledges made by the G8++ at L’Aquila in July 2009 and set up in response to a request from the G20 in Pittsburgh in September 2009. The fund is administered by the World Bank and assist the programs resulting from the implementaiton of CAADP.

View the new site at www.gafspfund.org.

Funding for countries implementing CAADP under the World Bank-administerd Global Agriculture and Food Security Programme (GAFSP) has begun flowing. Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Togo are the three countries to have started receiving payments through the fund. According to a recent allAfrica.com article, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi and Uganda are all also expected to beneift from the fund pending approval of their proposals.

From allAfrica.com: 

A one-day validation workshop for a proposal for the Global Agricultural and Food Security Programme (GAFSP) was held yesterday at the Kairaba Beach Hotel.

From the UN: With only five years left until the 2015 deadline to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called on world leaders to attend a summit in New York on 20-22 September to accelerate progress towards the MDGs.

From COMESA: The President of the Republic of Kenya, H.E Mwai Kibaki on  24 July 2010, officially launched the Kenya Agricultural Sector Development Strategy and witnessed the signing of the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Program (CAADP). COMESA has been providing technical support to its Member States in view to having them sign and implement national and regional CADDP compacts.

From CAADP: The African Union Commission (AUC), the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Development Partners and the Private Sector have signed a Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Program (CAADP) country compact agreement with the Government of Burkina Faso, today, 22 July 2010, in Ouagadougou.

From CAADP: Kenya, Burkina Faso, and Ivory Coast, within the next few days, will sign the CAADP compacts bringing the number of countries that are committed to improving their agriculture to 22 according to Martin Bwalya, head of CAADP at the Nepad Planning and Coordinating Agency. Bwalya was addressing the media at a press conference organized ahead of the CAADP Day that took place in Ouagadougou Burkina Faso.