Nana Muazin
As global stakeholders—including philanthropic titans, impact investors, and high-level policymakers—gather at the Skoll World Forum, the discourse has shifted from mere conceptualization to a sharper focus on execution. For Africa, this transition is not just a strategic preference; it is an urgent necessity. While the continent has long been a hotbed of bold political declarations regarding food security, a recurring pattern has emerged: high-level policy ambition often stalls at the threshold of implementation.
The central question facing the continent as it enters the "Kampala Decade" (2026–2035) is why, despite robust frameworks, outcomes at scale remain elusive. The answer, experts increasingly argue, lies not in a lack of resources or technology, but in a critical deficit of "food systems leadership"—the capacity to bridge the gap between policy mandates and on-the-ground delivery.
The Chronology of Commitment: From Malabo to Kampala
To understand the current imperative, one must look at the historical trajectory of Africa’s agricultural agenda.
- 2014–2024: The Malabo Decade: The African Union’s Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), anchored by the 2014 Malabo Declaration, set ambitious goals for agricultural transformation. However, successive African Union Biennial Reviews revealed a sobering reality: most member states failed to meet their own performance targets.
- 2025: The Reflection Point: As the Malabo decade concluded, analytical assessments indicated that while the political will existed, the institutional mechanisms for cross-ministerial and cross-sectoral coordination were fragmented.
- 2026: The Kampala Declaration: Taking effect in January 2026, this new ten-year framework serves as the continent’s blueprint for resilient and sustainable agri-food systems. It signals a move away from siloed planning toward a more integrated, systems-based approach.
- The Road to 2035: The current mandate is clear: the next ten years must be defined by measurable delivery rather than descriptive aspiration.
The Anatomy of the Implementation Gap
The failure of policy to translate into impact is rarely due to a single "silver bullet" constraint. While traditional discourse often cites a lack of financing or poor infrastructure as the primary culprits, the reality is more nuanced.
In many African nations, the "execution stall" occurs because system actors operate in parallel silos. Ministries of Agriculture, Trade, Finance, and Environment frequently design strategies without meaningful cross-sectoral consultation. Furthermore, innovations—whether in climate-smart seeds or digital extension services—often fail to scale because there is no mechanism to bridge the divide between government policy, private sector markets, and the realities of smallholder communities.
This is where "food systems leadership" becomes the critical variable. It is not defined by titles or the exercise of bureaucratic power. Rather, it is the ability of individuals within the ecosystem to look beyond their specific mandates, manage the friction of competing interests, and foster collective action.
Supporting Data: The Case for Targeted Investment
Data from institutions like the Centre for African Leaders in Agriculture (CALA) and the African Food Fellowship (AFF) demonstrate that when leadership capacity is treated as a strategic asset, the return on investment is disproportionately high.
Case Study I: The Poultry Transformation in Tanzania
In Tanzania, a leadership intervention supported by CALA tackled a systemic failure in the poultry sector. Producers, input suppliers, and extension agents were historically disconnected, leading to high mortality rates and low productivity. By fostering a "cluster production model," leaders were able to align incentives across the value chain.
- Result: Poultry mortality plummeted from 55% to 3%.
- Impact: The successful pilot was integrated into national policy via the Poultry Compact (2024–2028), demonstrating how bottom-up leadership can shape top-down reform.
Case Study II: Scaling Aquaculture in Kenya
The African Food Fellowship facilitated a breakthrough in Kenya’s aquaculture sector. By bringing together financial institutions, government regulators, and private enterprise, fellows helped de-risk lending for fish farmers.
- Result: Launch of the continent’s first dedicated aquaculture credit product.
- Projection: 25,000 MT of annual production by 2031, with 8,000 new jobs and increased incomes for 10,000 smallholder households.
These examples underscore a vital economic fact: Leadership is a force multiplier. The estimated cost to train 25,000 cross-sector leaders over the next decade is roughly $25 million annually. This represents a mere 0.1% of annual agrifood spending in Africa. Viewed through this lens, investing in leadership is not an additional cost; it is an insurance policy that ensures the remaining 99.9% of investment is actually utilized effectively.
Official Perspectives and The Call for Action
During the ongoing dialogues at the Skoll World Forum, a consensus is emerging among development partners and policy influencers: the era of "technical-fix-only" aid must end.
"Leadership is the missing link in the implementation chain," notes a representative from an ecosystem-building organization. "You can have the most advanced climate-resilient crop varieties in the world, but if you don’t have leaders who can navigate the bureaucratic, financial, and social hurdles to get those seeds to the farmer, you have zero impact."
The African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) and other advocacy groups are now calling for a shift in donor funding priorities. They argue that international development finance must pivot from funding static infrastructure to funding "institutional and human capacity." This involves:
- Establishing a Community of Practice: Connecting alumni from programs like CALA, AFF, and AWARD (African Women in Agricultural Research and Development) to share "what works" in real-time.
- Institutionalizing Leadership: Integrating leadership development into the core requirements of government ministries, moving it from a "soft skill" to a "core performance metric."
- Accountability Mechanisms: Using the platform of the 2026 Africa Food Systems Forum in Kigali to codify leadership targets alongside production targets.
Implications for the Future: A New Generation of Leaders
The implications of this shift are profound. By fostering a network of leaders who are "systems thinkers"—individuals capable of wiring connections across the public, private, and civil society sectors—Africa can create an organic movement for transformation.
When these leaders are connected, they form a defensive wall against corruption, inefficiency, and fragmented policy. They hold one another accountable, share insights on market dynamics, and advocate for policy coherence. This collective force is far more resilient than any individual government initiative, as it creates a permanent, professionalized cadre of change-makers embedded in the continent’s socioeconomic fabric.
Conclusion: The Path Forward to 2035
As the Kampala Decade moves from its nascent stages into full swing, the challenge is clear. Africa possesses the land, the labor, and the potential to be a global breadbasket. It also possesses the political rhetoric. What remains is to solidify the "delivery architecture."
The transition from ambition to results requires a move away from the belief that top-down policy, in isolation, can change systems. Instead, it requires a conscious, funded, and strategic effort to build leadership capacity at every level of governance. If governments and development partners can commit to this, they will move Africa past the cycle of "off-track" biennial reviews and into an era of verifiable, sustainable, and scalable food systems transformation.
The 2026 Africa Food Systems Forum in Kigali will serve as the next litmus test. The world will be watching to see if the continent’s leaders can move beyond the language of declaration and into the hard, necessary work of building the human infrastructure capable of delivering on the promise of a hunger-free Africa.
Dwi Wanna
Asep Darmawan
