By Saba Ermyas CGIAR’s regional initiative Ukama Ustawi (UU) partners in the East and Southern Africa (ESA) region, CGIAR (IWMI, ILRI, IFPRI, ABC, CIMMYT, WorldFish, IITA), and GIZ scaling experts came together in Nairobi from 22–24 November to discuss scaling agri-food system innovations where they launched the CGIAR Food Systems Accelerator program on 23 November at the International Livestock Research
From 16–18 December 2025, ACTS and WorldFish hosted a hands-on fish value addition training at Kakione Beach (Sindo), Homa Bay County, bringing together 32 value-chain actors—mostly women (22 women, 10 men) from Homa Bay and Migori within the Lake Victoria fisheries system. The training tackled persistent barriers facing women-led enterprises, including post-harvest losses, limited access to improved processing technologies, and weak food safety compliance, while also addressing gender inequalities in ownership and decision-making.
Boeng Sneh Lake (3,924 ha) in Cambodia’s Prey Veng Province is a vital freshwater system that stores up to 80 million m³ of water—buffering floods, supporting 22,899 ha of rice fields, and sustaining 10,911 households across 44 villages with water, fish, and livelihood stability. Home to 50+ waterbird species and important fisheries, it’s protected through community fisheries refuges and a designated Multiple Use Area, yet faces growing strain from intensified irrigation, drought, agro-chemicals, overfishing, and land encroachment. In 2024, partners established a District Technical Working Group to coordinate action and safeguard the lake for people, food, and nature.
International migration has expanded rapidly over the past two decades, outpacing global population growth. A large share of migrants come from rural areas, which also receive about 40% of worldwide remittance inflows
A two-day pilot workshop (5–6 November 2025) in Lilongwe brought together government, technical experts, civil society, and partners to test the NDC Capacity Scorecard and ask a hard question: is Malawi institutionally ready to deliver NDC 3.0? Led by the Ministry of Natural Resources/EAD with support from UNFCCC RCC ESA, IWMI, and AGNES, the process shifted from “scoring” to an honest diagnosis of readiness across finance, technical systems, governance, and M&E. Participants surfaced real bottlenecks—especially local financing gaps, weak coordination, and data hoarding—and then co-designed improvements to make the tool practical for government use. The pilot helped reposition validation as a strategic moment for alignment and stronger implementation, showing that Malawi’s challenge is no longer ambition, but capability to execute.
The Government of Nepal is scaling CIMMYT’s Maize Commercial Model (MCM)—an inclusive, market-based approach that turns spring and winter rice fallows into a productive 90–120-day maize window, backed by bundled climate-smart practices, services, and coordinated value-chain partnerships.
Boeng Sneh Lake in Ba Phnom, Prey Veng, Cambodia has reached a major milestone in sustainable water and fisheries management. In late 2025, the District Technical Working Group (DTWG) secured Provincial Department of Water Resources and Meteorology (PDoWRAM) funding to replace the lake’s deteriorated water gate.
This work demonstrates how mechanized rice straw composting and the 4R nutrient management principles can transform agricultural byproducts into high-value assets, significantly boosting farmer incomes while providing safe, organic produce for local school feeding programs in Vietnam.