Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture Secretariat Quarterly Report (1st January- 31st March 2020)

This report is a synthesis of key achievements and progress made during the period 1st January- 31st March 2020 (the third quarter of the Financial Year 2019/2020, and the second year of implementing the operational plan-2018-2022 of RUFORUM Vision 2030). The Operational Plan is designed around four (4) flagship programmes underpinned by activities to support regional collective action and learning to give impetus to achieving the RUFORUM vision for vibrant transformative universities catalyzing inclusive agricultural development to feed and create prosperity for Africa. The four flagship programmes are:  Transforming African Agricultural Universities to meaningfully contribute to Africa’s Growth and Development (TAGDev) seeks 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.  Cultivating Research and Teaching Excellence (CREATE) seeks to realign universities’ research and teaching functions into a more integrated model with a focus on problem solving and enhancing the capacity of the entire university academic practice and outreach system mainly.  Regional Anchor Universities for Higher Agricultural Education (RANCH) seeks to escalate the setting up of a network of linked universities as African anchor universities/African centres of excellence and academic leadership in agricultural higher education and learning.  Knowledge Hub for University Networking, Partnership and Advocacy (K-Hub) builds on RUFORUM’s convening power and facilitates the creation, capture, organising, sharing and refining of information and content across teams and geographic locations – thus increasing access to latest evidence based information and knowledge.