Kampala, 01 August, 2024- The Regional Universities Forum for capacity building in Agriculture (RUFORUM) aiming to transform agriculture in Africa through innovative scientific research, educational and training approaches will host its second Triennial Conference from 12 to 16 August 2024 in Windhoek, Namibia. Hosted by the Government of Namibia and RUFORUM member Universities in Namibia, the Triennial Conference will take place under the theme “Operationalising Higher Agricultural Education and Research Ecosystems for Innovation, Industrialisation, and Economic Development in Africa: A Call for Action.” The Conference is also a landmark celebration for RUFORUM’s 20^th anniversary.

His Excellency Nangolo Mbumba, the President of the Republic of Namibia will officially open the Conference that is anticipated to be attended by over 1000 delegates, including Ministers of Agriculture and Education and their respective Permanent Secretaries, Vice Chancellors, Principals and Deans, partners and Heads of development institutions, private sector leaders, farmers and farmer representatives, emerging and early career researchers and young entrepreneurs from especially Namibia and other Southern African countries. 

The opening ceremony will also mark the kickstart of the second phase of “Transforming African Agricultural Universities to meaningfully contribute to Africa’s growth and development” (TAGDev 2.0), a program that seeks to strengthen universities and Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) to drive inclusive, equitable and climate resilient transformation of agriculture and agrifood systems through experiential learning, skilling and empowering of Africa’s young people.

Representatives from universities, private sector actors and young entrepreneurs shall have the opportunity to showcase their innovations, products and services through an exhibition while networking and brokering partnerships at institutional, regional and global levels.
RUFORUM shall recognise model farmers in Namibia and young scientists from southern Africa as part of supporting agricultural practices and advancement of excellence in research and higher education for the development of Africa.

“We must harness our collective knowledge as scientists to generate solutions that will underpin the growth of Africa. And for agriculture, this is important given the existential threats that we face as a continent”- Prof. Patrick Okori, Executive Secretary, RUFORUM

A number of pre-Triennial Conference events will take place, including the post-doctoral fellows’ trainings, targeted skills enhancement trainings focusing on entrepreneurship competency, scientific data management, social media and communication among others. The Windhoek Triennial Conference comes after a successful inaugural one hosted in Cotonou, Benin in 2021.

Participants taking part in the second RUFORUM Triennial Conference, physically or remotely, are encouraged to register online. Detailed information on registration, including fees and deadlines, can be found on the official Conference website https://www.ruforum.org/Triennial2024/.

Additionally, attendees are advised to apply for their visas online as soon as possible to ensure timely processing. Visit https://eservices.mhaiss.gov.na/ for more information

Notes to Editors:

About RUFORUM:
The Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM), is a consortium of 170 African universities operating in 40 countries on the continent with a mission to ‘strengthen the capacities of Universities to foster innovations responsive to demands of smallholder farmers through the training of high quality researchers, the output of impact oriented research and the maintenance of collaborative working relations among researchers, farmers, national agricultural research institutions’. RUFORUM was established by Vice Chancellors in 2004 with a Secretariat hosted at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda. In 2014 RUFORUM signed an MoU with the African Union Commission to support implementation of the Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy for Africa (STISA 2024) Priority One on reducing poverty and ensuring food and nutrition security. RUFORUM has supported the training of 2053 MSc, 627 PhD graduates and 229 BSc, of whom 98% work in their countries or region, the generation of over 300 agricultural technologies and mobilized over US$236.3 million for strengthening postgraduate education in Africa. Please visit www.ruforum.org for more information.
 
For additional information, please send an email to
communications@ruforum.org
triennial@ruforum.org

Please visit our conference website for detailed information about the program and speakers. We look forward to your active participation at the RUFORUM second Triennial!
 
Kind regards,
RUFORUM Triennial Communication Team