Mission to Guinea, Côte d’Ivoire Advances 50x2030 Initiative Partnership and Programming

The Program Management Team (PMT) of the 50x2030 Initiative recently traveled on mission to Guinea on 18-20 March and Côte d’Ivoire on 21-22 March. These missions served to advance 50x2030’s partnership and programming in both countries, contributing to efforts to strengthen agricultural data systems that will inform evidence-based policy development in alignment with country goals.

In Guinea, the PMT met with key stakeholders from the National Statistics Institute (INS) and the National Agency of Agricultural Statistics (ANASA) of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAGEL) to sign the Program Implementation Plan, officially signaling the country’s participation in the 50x2030 Initiative.

Also during the mission, the PMT launched the Country Coordination Group and conducted its first meeting. This group will support collaboration and facilitate knowledge sharing to advance data use. Additionally, 50x2030 organized a workshop to discuss Guinea’s specific objectives and the most effective strategies to leverage the data collected in order to add value for data governance in support of agricultural goals.

Following the mission in Guinea, the 50x2030 Initiative PMT travelled to Côte d’Ivoire, meeting with stakeholders from the National Statistics Institute (INS) and the Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Development (MEMINADER) to discuss the progress of the deployment of 50x2030 activities in country. In meeting with these stakeholders, a key priority was to understand the needs of partners in the national statistical system specific to technical assistance for the use of agricultural data.

While in country, the PMT followed up on technical assistance activities and the status of activities for the implementation of the Annual Agricultural Survey and the Fieldside Price Survey planned for 2024. 50x2030's Data Production component, led by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the UN (FAO), conducted a workshop to engage in discussions on the use of data as a governance tool for the Government of Côte d'Ivoire, as well as to discuss the technical arrangements for implementing the first agricultural survey planned for the 2024-2025 agricultural season. In particular, the workshop focused on the review of the survey’s technical tools, namely the questionnaires, tabulation plan and sampling strategy.

Lastly, the PMT exchanged with leadership from the École Nationale Supérieure de Statistique et d'Economie Appliquée (ENSEA) to develop a partnership focused on training executives involved in 50x2030 in the region. This new partnership supports the 50x2030 Initiative’s continued efforts to advance statistical systems in West and Central Africa, as a part of the World Bank’s HISWACA program.