2022 COLEAD Annual Report: “Agricultural production and trade play a crucial role in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals”

2022 has been a year of transformation for our association: new name, new statutory purpose, and the launch of new programmes which expanded the sectoral and geographical scope of the association’s activities. The process of changing our organisation’s name was initiated two years ago in a context of continuous evolution of COLEAD’s scope of action and that of its partners. The choice of COLEAD – Committee Linking Entrepreneurship-Agriculture-Development is the result of a participatory and iterative approach carried out with the Board of Directors, the team, the association’s members, and its key partners. COLEAD is COLEACP with more expertise and networks.

In a disruptive environment marked by political, climate and economic crises, full of challenges but also opportunities, we will continue to design, manage and implement development programmes by providing online and on-the-ground technical assistance, professional training, and support services covering research and innovation brokerage, regulatory monitoring, market insights, networks and alliances, and access to finance.

We believe more than ever that the challenges faced, especially by the most vulnerable communities, need to be approached from an economic, social, and environmental perspective to ensure that appropriate support measures are in place to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals through the construction of more resilient and sustainable food systems for all. This is the essence of the new AGRINFO and Fit For Market Plus (FFM+) programmes, launched in 2022 and funded by our longstanding partners, the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) and the European Union, who we thank once again for their trust.

The 2022 annual report of COLEAD, presented and approved during the Ordinary General Meeting held on June 29^th 2023 in Paris-Rungis, is available here.