AGRA’s Centre for African Leaders in Agriculture announces inaugural cohort members

24th February 2022 by CALA

Back to Updates

The members of the Centre for African Leaders in Agriculture’s (CALA) inaugural cohort for the Advanced Leadership programme have been announced. The cohort, which began the programme in late August 2021, consists of nearly 80 participants from 8 countries – Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. The cohort has already completed six months of the 16-month, highly selective and collaborative learning journey designed for senior leaders and rising stars spearheading country level priorities across government, private sector and civil society.

The cohort boasts a wide representation across the three sectors with 44% government, 31% private sector and 25% civil society. The participation of women leaders is also of note, accounting for nearly half of the cohort.

An AGRA-led initiative, CALA was established to support sector leaders to deliver on top national priorities in African agriculture and nutrition security. Its establishment was made possible by funding support from the German Development Cooperation through the KfW Development Bank, and was officially launched in August 2021 at the inaugural CALA Leadership Forum.

The Centre’s Advanced Leadership programme, a 16-month highly selective and collaborative learning journey, is designed for senior leaders and rising stars spearheading country level priorities across government, private sector and civil society. Implemented over an initial three-year period (from 2021-2023), the programme will have two initial cohorts of 160 leaders from Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.

Supported by a hands-on unique learning experience, CALA cohort members are currently collaborating to share knowledge across the different sector functions, work together on Action Learning Projects, learn from each other and hone their leadership skills. With access to opportunities such as learning events, Leadership forums, online courses, case studies of agriculture transformation and more, CALA is setting the stage for African-led solutions and future impact on delivery of sector priorities across the continent.

The Centre is led by AGRA in collaboration with the African Management Institute (AMI), the Centre’s lead implementer and learning partner, and USAID’s Policy LINK, who lead the programme’s design and implementation of coaching elements.

Click here to learn more about each of the Centre’s inaugural cohort members.

Applications for cohort 2 will open in late March 2022. To register interest, visit https://cala.agra.org/learn-more-alp/