🌐 CAADP’s Backbone: USAID/Policy LINK

Behind many visible milestones of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) is an often-hidden engine: backbone support.

Through USAID/Policy LINK, the African Union’s Department of Agriculture (AUC-DREA) gained a neutral convener, coordinator, and integrator—keeping partners aligned, platforms purposeful, and evidence moving from Biennial Review (BR) dashboards to real decisions in National Agriculture Investment Plans (NAIPs) and across Regional Economic Communities (RECs).

Why this matters

✅ Coordination that sticks: A shared rhythm for AU, RECs, Member States, and partners—so agendas connect, roles are clear, and follow-through happens.
✅ Evidence → action: BR insights translated into practical country dialogues and peer learning—closing the loop from data to policy adjustments in NAIPs.
✅ Platforms with purpose: The CAADP Partnership Platform and policy learning fora curated to surface what works, de-risk scale-up, and track commitments—not just host events.
✅ One voice, clearer signals: Joint communications, knowledge curation, and toolkits that help policymakers, media, and citizens grasp the “so what” of CAADP and the BR.
✅ Stronger systems, not projects: Process management, facilitation, and light-touch technical support that build institutional muscle memory beyond any single program.
✅ Alignment with AU priorities: Workstreams anchored in the AU’s CAADP/Malabo agenda—reinforcing accountability, inclusivity (youth & women), climate resilience, and market-led growth.

The legacy is a more coherent continental architecture for agriculture, characterized by continental goals that align with regional priorities, which in turn drive national choices and budget lines—so farmers, firms, and food systems feel the difference where it counts.

👉 Your turn: If you engaged in CAADP—at AU, a Regional Economic Community (REC), Member State, civil society, farmer organizations, or private sector, what backbone element made the biggest difference? A coordination fix? A BR learning loop? A communications product that unlocked political will?

🙏 With appreciation to the leaders and technical experts from AUC-DREA, AUDA-NEPAD, Regional Economic Communities (RECs), Member States, farmer and private-sector groups, civil society, development partners, and the USAID/Policy LINK team who carried this work forward.

Panduleni Elago, Godfrey Bahiigwa, Clement Adjorlolo, PhD (Pr.Sci.Nat), Manyewu Mutamba, Robert Ouma, Edwin Odhiambo, Shannon Sarbo, Catherine Mbindyo, Loise Wagaki, Ruthpearl Ngángá, Emmanuel Otieno Ngore MSc, Kudzai Madzivanyika, Alexis Curtis, DAI.