About the Knowledge Hub Project
The Eastern Africa Knowledge hub for organic farming is under the overall umbrella of the Global Project Knowledge Centres for Organic Agriculture in Africa executed by GIZ under funding support from BMZ Special Initiative One-World-No-Hunger (SEWOH). The project is in 3 regions of west, south and east Africa with a 4th region in north Africa in cooperation with SEKEM. The project goal is to ensure Knowledge hubs are being successfully introduced as an innovative strategy for promoting organic agriculture with actors in the regions of West, East and Southern Africa. The first phase covers a period of 5 years from 2019 to 2024. The overall goal of the Eastern Africa knowledge hub to ensure that Ecological Organic Agriculture is integrated into the Eastern Africa agricultural systems in 4 countries of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda.
Objectives and Field of Action of the KCOA Initiative
Knowledge hubs are being successfully introduced as an innovative strategy for promoting organic agriculture with actors in the regions of West, East and Southern Africa with an aim of:
- Collecting and preparing of OA knowledge:
Validated technical and methodological knowledge for the promotion of organic agriculture, including processing, is prepared for the context of the participating countries and stakeholder groups. - Dissemination of OA knowledge:
Validated knowledge, strategies and good practices in the field of organic agriculture, adapted to the contexts of the countries participating in the regional knowledge hubs, have been disseminated. - Networking:
Key actors in the organic agriculture value chains of the participating countries in the three regions have been networked in an exemplary manner.
Regional Knowledge Hubs (Networks and Partnerships)
The knowledge hubs have been set up in three locations and with possibility of expanding to North Africa. The Eastern Africa knowledge hub is co-hosted by Biovision Africa Trust (BvAT) and Participatory Ecological Land Use Management (PELUM) Uganda. The main hub set up is in Kampala, Uganda while the country hubs will be hosted at the lead country partners across the project countries. The Eastern Africa hub is the pilot for the continental project.
| Region | Implementing Partners | Coordinating Agency |
|---|---|---|
|
West Africa |
Senegal, Benin, Gambia, Mali, Nigeria, Togo |
FENAB, Agrecol Afrique, ENDA ProNat |
|
Eastern Africa |
Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania (Later Ethiopia and Burundi) |
Biovision Africa Trust (BvAT) |
|
Southern Africa |
Zambia, Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe (later Malawi and Madagascar) |
Sustainability Institute (SI) Zambia, PELUM Zambia |
|
North Africa |
Egypt (Other countries TBD) |
SEKEM |
The KCOA will be implemented in collaboration with the African Union-led Ecological Organic Agriculture Initiative (EOA-I). A digital knowledge platform will be established at the continental level with region specific sections with networking and leadership training on OA.
During KCOA phase 1, the project will focus only on the countries that are mentioned. But there is possibility to consider other countries. Expansion to more countries remains open depending on the outcomes, performance and impact of this first phase
Implementation Project Partners in Eastern Africa
Country Partners (Sub-Hubs): Country partners with good membership networks and National Organic Movements (NOANs) and EOA-I partners.
BvAT will collaborate with 6 main partners in 6 Eastern Africa countries, but initially beginning with four (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda):
- Uganda: Pelum Uganda.
- Tanzania: Tanzania Organic Agriculture Movement (TOAM).
- Kenya: Pelum Kenya.
- Rwanda: Rwanda Organic Agriculture Movement (ROAM) for Rwanda.
- Burundi: Burundi Organic Agriculture Movement (BOAM) for Burundi.
Role of Sub-Hubs /Country Partners
1. Technical-Knowledge (Compilation, Validation, Packaging)
- Carry out an information, knowledge and training needs assessment (TNA)
- Develop capacity to gather, assemble and validate knowledge on organic agriculture from various sources
- Gather and assemble knowledge on OA from the identified sources
- Develop knowledge repositories/formats (databases, websites, audio-visual, mobile apps and print materials
- Validate and fill assembled knowledge in the various repositories
2. Dissemination of knowledge on organic farming practices and household nutrition improvement
- Undertake trainings
- Build community of target groups of farmer groups, processors, service providers, to share and use knowledge repositories by RSPs
- Establish or link target groups to existing demonstration plots at country level
- Carryout out intra country exchange visits once a year
3. Market Development
- Assess business support service needs and capacity gaps in the market for key actors along strategic value chains.
- Link farmer groups and other actors to business services (agrovets, transporters, bulking agents, sprayers, bio-pesticide dealers, seed merchants etc) through events where the farmer groups are participating like field days, trainings, workshops, trade fairs etc.
- Training on value chain, entrepreneurship and market development by RSPs of target groups ( inputs, marketing, pricing, technology, bulking, storage, transportation, labelling and certification)
- Facilitate marketing of organic produce at local, regional, national and international levels
- Facilitate micro-intervention activities
- Training and promoting consumer awareness (campaigns and marketing forums/events)