Advancing the Kampala CAADP Agenda through Evidence Based Policy Research
Bridging Science, Policy and Implementation for Scaled Agricultural Transformation — Insights from Members of the Pan-African Network for the Analysis of Economic Policies (PANAP-StEPPFoS)
Background
StEPPFoS, FARA, CSIR-STEPRI, KIPPRA, CIRES, ECDPM, ASARECA The Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) remains Africa’s flagship framework for driving agricultural transformation, food security, and economic growth. The new phase of the CAADP
(Kampala CAADP) discussions and commitments have emphasized the need for strengthened accountability, data-driven decision-making, and comprehensive policy processes to accelerate progress toward the Kampala Declaration targets and beyond. Despite significant progress under CAADP, implementation across many African countries remains constrained by fragmented institutional mandates, weak coordination between research and policy processes, limited use of data and analytics in decision-making and inadequate translation of research into actionable policies. In addition, national and subnational planning processes often operate in silos, limiting the effectiveness of integrated food systems’ transformation. Addressing these gaps requires strengthening the science-policy interface and ensuring that evidence generated by research networks such as PANAP is systematically
embedded into policy design, implementation and monitoring frameworks. In this context, the Pan-African Network for Economic Analysis of Policies (PANAP) members, through the StEPPFoS Project have undertaken a range of policy studies which address priority areas aligned with the
evolving CAADP agenda. These priority areas include sciencepolicy interface, climate resilience, agricultural research financing, regional trade, and inclusive agrifood systems. These studies are aimed at supporting countries to domesticate the Kampala CAADP Strategies to achieve the Agenda 2063. Importantly, the emerging Kampala CAADP agenda places strong emphasis on implementation, accountability and measurable results. This requires moving beyond projectbased approaches toward programmatic, system-wide interventions anchored in national development frameworks, including Agenda 2063, National Agricultural Investment Plans (NAIPs) and country-level strategies. PANAP’s work provides a critical evidence base to support this transition by offering policy-relevant insights, analytical tools and cross-country learning. The Agricultural Science Week, hosted by the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), provides a strategic platform to position PANAP-generated evidence within the broader Kampala CAADP process. It offers a critical opportunity to bridge the gap between research outputs and policy implementation by ensuring that evidence generated by PANAP members directly inform both continental commitments and national-level agricultural policies.