The Declaration adopted at the 2nd Africa Rural Development Forum (ARDF) held in Cameroon endorsed a Blueprint to implement Rural Development Policies in Africa as a vehicle for advancing rural transformation across Africa and accelerating the pace towards the Visions of the African Union’s Agenda 2063. It follows the Cotonou Declaration on Rural Futures, adopted during the 1st Africa Rural Development Forum aiming at promoting inclusive growth and empowerment of rural areas through people-centered development. The Blueprint aims at guiding Member States and regional players toward an integrated, cross-sectorial, and coherent set of actions based on local realities, priorities, and a shared African vision. The main thematic issues tackled by the Forum are (i) youth economic empowerment and skills development; (ii) rural development, including the issuance of Policies and enhancement of the institutions; (iii) the development of rural infrastructure and ICT. The strategy adopted for rural transformation requires the following (i) it has to be driven by the whole economy as an overarching approach to graduating from the structural limits; (ii) land and agrarian reforms as well as agriculture-led rural industrialization are needed to grow the domestic market base; (iii) crucial role of the State in policy reforms and legislation to direct the public expenditure architecture towards rural transformation investment priorities.
2016-09-10