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The Grow Africa Partnership was founded jointly by the African Union (AU), The New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) and the World Economic Forum in 2011. Grow Africa works to increase private sector investment in agriculture, and accelerate the execution and impact of investment commitments. The aim is to enable countries to realise the potential of the agriculture sector for economic growth and job creation, particularly among farmers, women and youth. Grow Africa brokers collaboration between governments, international and domestic agriculture companies, and smallholder farmers in order to lower the risk and cost of investing in agriculture, and improve the speed of return to all stakeholders. 

Grow Africa is:

  • an African-owned, country-led, market-based and inclusive platform for cross-sector collaboration,
  • to increase inclusive and responsible investment in to African agriculture,
  • and thereby generate agriculture-driven economic growth that contributes to reducing poverty and hunger.

Grow Africa consists of a partnership platform, network, and secretariat.

Partnership Platform:

The Grow Africa Partnership comprises over 200 companies and governments in 12 countries. These companies have made formal commitments with the government in the respective country to invest in agriculture. Ten of these countries are part of the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition, a partnership in which stakeholders – public and private sectors, and donors - commit to specific policy reforms and investments, outlined in Cooperation Frameworks that accelerate implementation of African country food security strategies.

Network:

The Partnership is supported by a network of knowledge partners and topic specialists.

Secretariat:

Grow Africa is supported by a Secretariat which during 2012-2015 has been designed and incubated by the World Economic Forum in Geneva, Switzerland. The Secretariat transitioned in 2016 to Johannesburg, South Africa and is now hosted by the NEPAD Agency.

Governance

Grow Africa is an autonomous entity, hosted by the NEPAD Agency and governed by a multi-stakeholder Steering Committee.

Additionally, Grow Africa’s priorities are guided by a Leadership Council, an informal group of leaders committed to realizing the investment commitments pledged by the private sector, governments and development partners within the New Alliance and Grow Africa. It consists of high-level representatives from African governments, development partners, the African and multi-national private sector companies, civil society, and farmers’ organizations that monitor, support and advance progress. Two co-conveners lead the Leadership Council. These are:

The Leadership Council has met bi-annually since its formation. Starting in 2015, it will have one official meeting per year. The co-conveners will publicly release a joint statement after each meeting.

Funding

Grow Africa is supported by grants from the following donors: