About the RUFORUM AGM 2020
The 16th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM) will be virtually hosted by RUFORUM Secretariat in Partnership with Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, in Morocco (UM6P). The various activities of the AGM will be held starting October through to November 2020. It will be the first AGM to be hosted in North Africa with an intention of introducing RUFORUM to North Africa as well as UM6P to other universities in Africa.
The 16th AGM will run under the theme: “Higher Education- Private Sector Partnership: Harnessing Opportunities for Agricultural Transformation in Africa” As a continuously growing network of 129 Universities in 38 countries in Africa, RUFORUM activities are held in different countries and regions in the continent as a way of enabling different stakeholders to come together and promote a greater appreciation of the different countries and regions
RUFORUM holds an Annual General Meeting (AGM) as an annual convening for all its member institutions and a Triennial Conference after every three years to bring on board other stake holders. During the AGM 2019 in Cape Coast Ghana, UM6P/OCP made a formal offer to host the 2020 AGM and this was accepted.
Following a review of the AGM 2019, there was a feeling that the AGM had become too big and therefore needs to be trimmed down and to focus on two areas; the meetings of the governance organs and special programme highlighting the host country. Accordingly, the 2020 AGM will serve two purposes:
- Hold the Governance and Business meetings of the various RUFORUM governance organs as is the tradition.
- Provide an opportunity to introduce RUFORUM to North Africa especially Morocco, and to profile higher education sector in Morocco, particularly UM6P. As such, this will help create linkages between Moroccan universities and other RUFORUM member universities.
However, following the previous discussion between the OCP President and the Executive Secretary of RUFORUM, the OCP President was requested to use his vantage position and connections to convene two events:
- A meeting of high net worth persons or philanthropists and private sector leaders to explore how best to support higher education in Africa and indeed RUFORUM activities.
- Host a few senior policy leaders including former Heads of States. It is being proposed that the OCP President considers hosting a meeting of say 2-3 former Heads of State and other Private Sector leaders as UM6P/OCP sees best.
It is therefore proposed that the two events be part of the AGM 2020 convening in Morocco. Accordingly, the following 3-day programme is proposed:
Participation, Venue and Date
Due to COVID-19 Pendamic crisis through out the global, this year's Annual General Meeting will be conducted virtually through zoom from 16 - 20 November 2020