Strategy for agricultural transformation in africa

Skill 
Assessment
Required resources 
FTE 
require-
ment 
(OSAN) 
and risk participation agreements—remain 
very traditional. More generally, OPSD 
currently lacks the necessary agriculture 
expertise 
to 
scale 
up 
agribusiness 
investments.
Policy Analysis 
and Development 
Previous expertise, but need to develop 
expertise at scale:
The Bank’s current track 
record on policy is limited, with clients 
indicating that one of the main barriers to 
selecting the Bank as a preferred development 
partner is its limited engagement in policy 
formulation and expertise. Stakeholders are 
genuinely encouraging the Bank to develop 
capacity in this role as a natively African 
institution capable of providing policy advice 
and 
facilitating 
policy 
formulation, 
particularly on infrastructure, agriculture and 
food 
security, 
employment 
promotion, 
reducing 
inequality, 
climate 
change 
adaptation, and investment promotion.
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Currently, OSAN does not have a sufficient 
number of policy experts, and has not been 
able to decisively become a leader on 
country-level policy dialogue and advice. 
However, ONRI has been building some of 
these capabilities. 
The Bank will need to hire policy experts that can be relied upon to conduct 
policy analysis and development, advocate for these policies through continental 
and regional economic bodies, and support governments and private sectors 
actors in doing similar activities over time. In particular, these experts will need 
to focus their efforts on pushing an agenda of key agricultural policy priorities as 
defined in the ATA policy matrix. The priorities have been proposed as input 
subsidies, land and property rights, regional integration and trade, incentives to 
develop local industries and markets, and financial sector deepening. However, 
these may be adjusted through partner consultation, particularly with the World 
Bank. Regardless of the final list of priorities, these experts must have a 
command of the subject matter and must have the credibility to convene relevant 
key actors (e.g., UNECA, World Bank) so as to effectively advocate for the 
change required to enable agricultural transformation. They will work with IFPRI 
through the TAAT as well as with other policy teams within the Bank. 
The required FTEs must have previous experience developing and advocating for 
agriculture-related policy at multiple levels (e.g. national, regional, international) 
in the African context. They must have a deep understanding of and/or past 
working relationship with the most relevant actors mentioned earlier (e.g. 
UNECA, World Bank, IFPRI). At least one FTE must also have experience 
engaging the private sector in policy advocacy. 
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