Benchmarking transformative capacity building interventions: The case of entrepreneurship training programmes supported by RUFORUM

The regional universities forum for capacity building in agriculture is implementing a programme; Transforming African Agricultural Universities to meaningfully contribute to Africa’s growth and development (TAGDev) with support from the Mastercard foundation. The overall objective of the programme is to transform African agricultural universities and their graduates to better respond to developmental challenges through enhanced application of science, technology, business and innovation for rural agricultural transformation. All this is anticipated to extend transformative education that will support economic growth and impact the lives of local communities through training proactive (talented agricultural education and research leaders and innovators) and entrepreneurial graduates with leadership skills and potential to drive sustainable and inclusive economic growth and create impact in the rural communities. Achieving transformative education can be acquired through several measures including entrepreneurship training where universities serve as innovation and incubation hubs for creating a cadre of entrepreneurial graduates with high success transition levels in employment and job-creation as well as in influencing national and regional social and economic transformation. The transformation arising out of entrepreneurial education can be measured through business innovations established by students; students that engage in self-employment through undertaking entrepreneurship; survival of the enterprises established by the students; and existence of university business incubation centers that serve as a hub to provide opportunity to students, other innovators and entrepreneurs to design and validate their business models and products and test their viability for success in the real world. Measuring such transformation requires that benchmarks are established to identify and evaluate excellence and innovation, and establish a reference point, or baseline for facilitating future comparisons. Within the TAGDev Programme of RUFORUM, several implementation aspects require benchmarking and amongst these include agribusiness/entrepreneurship at Gulu and Egerton Universities and selected TVET institutions; and, scaling-out approaches for strengthening entrepreneurship programs in selected RUFORUM member universities. This paper therefore establishes key benchmarks vital in assessing transformative interventions of RUFORUM.