AGRA

Nairobi, Kenya, 15^th May 2024…AGRA has announced the opening of applications for the fourth cohort of the Centre for African Leaders in Agriculture (CALA)’s Advanced Leadership Programme, designed for executives and rising stars from across Africa’s agriculture sector in government, the private sector, and civil society.

The Advanced Leadership programme is tailored to support developing leaders in delivering on top national priorities in African agriculture and nutrition security. Applications will be received from May 13th to July 2nd, 2024, with 80 top applicants from eight focus countries – Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda – joining the highly competitive and selective programme.

Announcing the call for applications, AGRA’s Head of State Capability, Yifru Bekele, said that AGRA launched the Centre for African Leaders in Agriculture (CALA) to provide hands-on implementation support for African leaders in the agriculture sector to unlock opportunities and shape the changing landscape of agriculture in the continent.

Mr Bekele, added, “In a continent haunted by multiple challenges that have been affecting its population to liberate itself out of mire poverty while amassed with plenty of opportunities, the importance of leadership cannot be overemphasized. The agricultural sector has not been an exception, it has been cruising on a bumpy road, experiencing both the challenges and opportunities across countries.”

An AGRA-led initiative, the fourth cohort will be delivered in collaboration with implementing partners, the African Management Institute (AMI), CALA’s lead implementation and learning partner, and the African Network of Professional Facilitators (ANProF). Cohort delegates will participate in the collaborative, hands-on, and tailored programme for 16-months.

“It’s been great to watch CALA’s continued mission to support agriculture leaders to drive food systems transformation through improving their leadership capacity. From the delegates’ learning journey to our robust alumni network, solutions to the continent’s challenges are in good hands”- Rebecca Harrison, CEO and Co-founder of the African Management Institute, spoke on the Advanced Leadership Programme’s impact.

The fourth cohort follows the successful implementation of the first, second and third cohorts, composed of 200 leaders from eight focus countries, who began their journey in August 2021, 2022, and 2023, respectively. Selected from over 4,000 applications, the first and second cohorts graduated from the programme, joining the Centre’s robust alumni network, while the third cohort is now halfway into their 16-month leadership learning journey. The cohorts have been progressively inclusive, with women leaders accounting for an average of 50% across each cohort.

The programme cohort delegates will experience offerings such as executive and team coaching, virtual learning lessons, and leadership forums with experts from across the continent and globe. Participants will also access CALA’s exclusive online leadership courses and ‘game-changers’ case studies from experts advancing agricultural transformation in Africa and the global south.

By the end of the programme, within CALA’s unique Action Learning Project format, participants will have delivered on a collaborative keystone project, working with peers from their country cohort to deliver on a key sector transformation project. The projects will be linked to the participants’ job and country agriculture transformation objectives, emphasizing youth empowerment and employment creation.

For more information or to apply visit: https://cala.agra.org/programme/cala-advanced-leadership-programme/