Agroecology Leadership Academy 2024: Lessons Learnt

GIZ’s Agroecology Leadership Academy was a comprehensive learning and developing programme for 38 participants from seven countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Kenya, India, Madagascar, Tunisia), implemented over 11 months in 2024. It aimed at empowering leaders and transformation agents from the public sector, civil society, private sector and academia to catalyze sustainable development, to navigate complexity and to advance agroecology.

The Agroecology Leadership Academy is conducted with financial support from the European Union (EU) as part of the EU co-funded Action “ProSilience: Enhancing soils and agroecology for resilient agrifood systems in Sub-Saharan Africa”. ProSilience is integrated into the Global Programme “Soil Protection and Rehabilitation for Food Security” (ProSoil) commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, As a core part of the Academy, the country teams from the seven countries were supported to put transformation initiatives into actions. Within a few months, the participants catalyzed effective action by advancing national policies, bringing a wide range of stakeholders together, spreading hands-on knowledge and developing innovative media products.

This document summarizes Lessons Learnt on the base of internal reflection and harvesting workshops, a meeting with country facilitators, a survey by participants and focus group interviews with participants. It aims to openly share experiences with other practitioners interested in setting up similar programmes.