The introduction and welcome committee (From L to R Dr. Robin Buruchara, Dr. Stella Ennim, Ms. Marie-Claude Harvey, Dr. James Asibwo and Mr. Dopavugui Siba 1) got a chance to introduce the members at the meeting
Mr. Dopavugui Siba 1, who has been the WECABREN chairman since the last meeting gave an update on what has been done since the last steering committee meeting. Dr. Robin Buruchara gave an update of what PABRA has been doing in the region and the network. Ms. Marie-Claude Harvey highlighted the position of women in the agricultural sector from the Canadian High Commission’s point of view.
Participants received updates from the bean team in Cameroon, Guinea Conakry, Congo, Central Africa Republic, Mali, Nigeria, Togo, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Ghana.
…And got a chance to ask each other questions on specific aspects of each country and the progress they are making towards making the bean the it crop. Current developments, opportunities for partnership and cases that can be replicated were shared.
Dr. Eliud Birachi introduced the corridor concept to the participants who got a sense of what how the concept works.
On the second day, Dr. Eileen Nchanji made a presentation on how gender mainstreaming along the corridor. She used a practical example of how gender affects both men and women, and how working together can ensure progress for the society.
To gain an understanding of who they need to work with, stakeholders from the corridors; Togo, Ghana and Burkina Faso (TOGABU and Ivory Coast), Cameroon, Congo and Central Africa Republic (CAMCOCA and Nigeria) Senegal, Mali and Guinea Conakry (SEMAGUI) got a chance to deliberate visualization of stakeholders in the corridor. This helped the teams to gain an understanding of who they need to work with to ensure each of their corridors functions appropriately.
Dr. Claire Mukankusi reflected on the implementation of demand-led breeding would provide a sustainable food, nutrition and income creating opportunity for the countries and the potential the region has for the future before country teams. With the help of PABRA staff, country representatives begun to prepare their country workplans.
The team got an opportunity to visit the Crops Research Institute (CSIR) Ghana where they learnt from Dr. Stella how the institute works. They also got a chance to see some of the products that CSIR is working on.
During the closed door steering committee session, Dr. Martin Ngueguim from Cameroon was selected as the chairperson for the year and the next meeting will be held in Ivory Coast.
Dr. Martin Ngueguim
Ivory Coast on the map of Africa