Start of the year message from the General Delegate

The European dream: from “virtual reality” to “real virtuality”

At the end of 2014, having supported the “Agenda for change” during the EDD (European Development Days) through the “PPP4PPP” Brussels declaration, we wrote that the poor did not have time to wait any longer.

In 2015, they took to the road by foot, by “boat” and on the shoulders of their parents towards the European dream, in fear of their lives.

This dream has taken on a different dimension with the boom in ICT in poor countries. It has been transformed from “virtual reality” to “real virtuality”, identified, geolocalised and far closer than paradise.

Hope must be given urgently to the young Africans and this hope must be converted into reality to avoid these tragic exodus and belligerent indoctrinations.

The private sector, a source of hope!

COLEACP and its members are convinced that good management of their affairs participates – and must participate even more – in the well-being of their entire community. Every business head, from the micro-business to the large multi-national, has a responsibility in the social and economic development of his region.

African agriculture is trying to find its way, it must reinvent itself to face up to the challenges of hunger and poverty and feed the world in the not so distant future.

Africa has major assets to take up this challenge:

– available arable land,
– significant margins for improvement,
– and above all ingenious, courageous human resources endowed with traditional know-how. For the past fifteen years COLEACP has elected to bank on these human resources.

All together, associated with new technologies, they embody the concept of “sustainable intensification”.

Europe is also reinventing its agriculture and its agribusiness – closer to man, more nature-friendly -; this could be called “sustainable de-intensification”. Our organisation, COLEACP, is in the front row of these changes. Our traditional members, the ACP exporters and the European importers, are combining with the Small Producers and their organisations to supply a rapidly-changing international, national and regional. Mass distribution is knocking more and more strongly at our door.

There is now general agreement in recognising that African agriculture will not be transformed without incorporating the small producers properly in its value chains. Competitiveness cannot be based on poverty. Profitable small producers, dynamic SME and large businesses must therefore bring their technology, their know-how and their ability to invest.

This gives us an exceptional opportunity to move this world forward, that explores spatial infinity as infinitely small, but has failed to eradicate hunger and extreme poverty.

The large private groups, the public sector and the civil society are joining forces to combat these scourges for the first time. Let us, together, make sure that this is reality, not just an idea. Do not disappoint the small producers, nourish their dreams and turn them into local, non-virtual and distant “real reality”. Let us dream local and consume global!

COLEACP has conceived the Sustainability and Competitiveness programme to support them better in this daily challenge.

COLEACP is changing its support approach to agri-food businesses in the Southern countries. We have put together a new programme focusing on competitiveness, in line with the post-2015 goals and matching the European Union criteria for support for the private sector.

COLEACP has redefined its strategy, its operation and the nature of its missions to pursue this objective. This rationale is based on the observations compiled by its experts during field assignments, the expectations expressed by the ACP agri-food businesses, the consultants and the public authorities and also the guidelines drawn up by the European Union in its recent strategy for support for the private sector in developing countries.

The objective is competitiveness. In other words, make sure that the technical skills acquired by the businesses serve to improve their economic performances and, beyond that, help to release the agri-food production potential in developing countries. The COLEACP support will therefore extend to all entrepreneurial development, including such aspects as market analysis, marketing, the cold chain, logistics, invoicing, administration, etc.

This diversification is designed to set up a virtuous circle to resolve the main problem of SME in Southern countries – access to credit. By supporting them in consolidating their economic pillar, COLEACP will help to improve their bankability, so that they ease their way towards obtaining financing from credit organisations and thus expand their development.

Competitiveness and responsibility

Profitability, competitiveness, bankability – admittedly, but with a broader vision. COLEACP believes that the economic pillar can only be consolidated in line with the two other pillars of sustainable development: contributing to social well-being and minimising the environmental impact. Only this threefold consistency will encourage lasting competitiveness of sectors and businesses.

The sustainability charter has been prepared with this in mind. It is gradually being introduced, based on a training programme designed to incorporate its precepts into the day-to-day running of the business. The charter will give the businesses a clear framework to use in communicating their commitment and their progress towards sustainable development without necessarily having to invest in certifications. But COLEACP has gone beyond that, by designing a management tool that is an integral part of the new programme.

COLEACP has used its experience to consider both the needs of its beneficiaries and the guidelines of its lending institutions, mainly the European Union.

Call for Financial Partners:

The Sustainability and Competitiveness Programme, initially designed for a seven-year period with a budget of 80 million euros, has so far found an initial budget of 20 million euros from the European Union. To put all its potential at the service of development and follow the recommendations of technical assessments, COLEACP will shortly be launching a call for financial partners to complete this first budget envelope and achieve the goals set initially.

We hope that the institutions will response positively and quickly to this call.

See you soon!

Guy Stinglhamber
COLEACP Delegate General