In the coming decades, megatrends will shape the green sector and Africa’s rural landscapes. New challenges can be expected to have a great impact on our work with our partners. Conference participants will have a closer look at these challenges and their effects on GIZ’s portfolio. To tackle them, we’ll explore innovative solutions and partners.

The Green Portfolio in Africa: Innovations Towards a Better Future

Africa’s future and the ongoing rural transformation are fueled by major, powerful drivers:

• Globalization with changing (agricultural) trade relations
• Climate change causing loss of arable land
• Rapid demographic developments with millions of young Africans entering the (rural) labor market every year
• Increasing urbanization which leads to changing food patterns of a new middle class,
• Advancing digitalization and new technologies provoke ever-faster changes in the (rural) economy and the sphere of labor.

These global trends have local impacts shaping rural Africa – now and in the future. Tremendous challenges are associated with them. But also great new opportunities are coming along, emerging innovations and new ways of thinking and acting.

In the member projects of SNRD Africa awareness and understanding of these trends, their impacts and challenges need to be fostered. There are opportunities to be seized and impending innovations have to be integrated better into project work and design as well as in advisory services to partners. All this has to to be prepared well in advance and should include innovative elements.

Plenty of time and space

During the 2019 SNRD conference, we will discuss these topics with outstanding and inspirational speakers. We’ll have a look at related innovations and innovators — some still in the development stage, others ready for the market. We will do so with many practical and flexible components and formats but leaving enough room for networking and collaboration.

We look forward to this joint event, bringing together experienced and younger colleagues in the network. We’ll involve national and international colleagues in interesting reflections and inspirations.

There’ll be plenty of time to dive deep into thematic discussions on specific approaches or fly high and reflect on rural Africa in fifteen years:

• What will be relevant in the future and what do our partners and target groups need to tackle their challenges?
• Which solutions do we have to offer?
• How can we make use of innovations and measure their impact?
• What do we need to support a real scaling-up of best practices for quick and efficient responses, especially for women and the rural youth?

We will use a new conference design, allowing us to interact with inspiring speakers from science, politics and development — with creative people and start-ups, with innovators and young African leaders, and for sure great colleagues. All in all a fresh and powerful group of people. The design will allow for a mix of inspirational talks, practical demonstrations, co-creation and learning.

We need your help!

The 2019 SNRD Africa conference does not only show innovations, it’ll also give you the chance to try, test and spread them across rural Africa, back to your projects and countries. However, to make it a successful event, we need your help! We need your ideas for innovations, innovators and start-ups from your project and working environment. Bring your best practices to Abidjan. Present your best innovative ideas and inspire others. Discuss how your approaches might work elsewhere and gather ideas of how others are tackling their challenges.

Time and place

The event is scheduled for 28 October to 1 November 2019 in Abidjan, Ivory Coast

Thematic working sessions

Working sessions will focus on one of these objectives

Working sessions will focus on one of these objectives

Co-creation — You are facing a challenge in your project or country and want to think about (innovative) solutions with your colleagues. Creativity, ideas and support of colleagues are requested. What is the result that should be co-created during the working session and maybe even beyond in a continued collaboration of the group?
The outcome of the working session is flexible. You might develop a physical or digital prototype, make a short video, pitch an innovative idea. An innovator from day 1 might join this working session.

Learning — You developed and tested innovative learning formats and training in your project and want to share the content, skills and methods with your colleagues. You want to offer training – or at least some modules – to the participants and make them gain new knowledge, experience new didactic approaches and feel the power of the format.
What will participants learn from your training and transfer to their own work and project?

Upscaling — You successfully implemented an innovative approach, tool, technology or something even bigger in your project, like the famous silver bullet. Maybe even with an interesting partner — private, public or social. You think the innovation is ready, transferrable or adaptable and shows a positive impact. You want to spread the innovation and its impact in rural Africa, make other projects benefit from your experience and support them in the first steps to integrate it into their work. How will participants be convinced of the innovation and what will be achieved in the working session?

Don’t’ forget: After the working session is just before the working session — the results might be considered by the SNRD working groups and inspire their exchange and annual work plans.

Innovation market: Present your innovations and inspire others!

Bring your project’s innovations and demonstrate them at your own stall during the innovation market on inspirational day. Inspire your colleagues with a “product to touch”. What can it do? Which results have you reached? Maybe you have a prototype, video, poster or Pecha Kucha prepared? Bring a success story or let the product convince by itself. Who will be the winner of the 2019 SNRD innovation prize?

Agenda

Download

Live streaming

Panel sessions on Tuesday with keynotes und innovations and the closing on Friday will be streamed live online. We will communicate the respective links to our newsletter subscribers closer to the time.