News Overview

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.

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.

Formally including Ugandan women in commercial agriculture—through contract ownership or behavior-change interventions—can increase women’s empowerment without reducing productivity, and with positive spillovers for household welfare and gender relations.

Sandra Milach, CGIAR’s Chief Scientist, visit to the Alliance showcased how integrated food and land systems—linking agrobiodiversity, climate action, landscapes, and inclusive innovation—drive scalable impact and build resilient, healthier food futures.

The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) signed a new memorandum of understanding in January 2026 to deepen research collaboration across crop and livestock systems in Africa and Asia.

Through AICCRA and CGIAR support, Kenya Agricultural Observatory Platform (KAOP) has been enhanced with a national AgData Hub integrating diverse data sources (climate, soil, market, crop info) to provide advisories to over 700,000 farmers to boost productivity and strengthen resilience.

The institutionalization of VBS represents a significant step forward for urban food systems and micro-entrepreneurship. Under the ordinance, Quezon City aims to further strengthen vendors through comprehensive learning on safe food handling, climate change adaptation, and sustainability, ensuring that vendors are prepared to meet both present and future challenges.