The initial impetus for a partnership with the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (TBI) to bring the best of Israel’s agricultural experience to Africa first took root back in 2019. Then COVID happened. Need I say more?
In spite of this unforeseen hiatus, we’re delighted to be working once more towards potential projects blending The Tony Blair Institute’s unparalleled reach and policy expertise with Israel’s unique agricultural experience and solutions. We believe this is a powerful combination with huge and exciting potential.
Here’s why.
Our mission is to address global food and nutrition insecurity by utilising Israeli agricultural expertise. As we often explain to partners, this can done in at least two ways:
(i) top down - working with governments and multinational institutions;
(ii) bottom up - working directly with entrepreneurs, companies and farmers.
While uniquely placed to bring to bear the best of Israeli agricultural expertise, one challenge in working top down with governments is our lack of presence in target countries. This makes it harder to understand national priorities, identify the real challenges ministries face and ensure effective delivery over time.
This, on the other hand, is one of the Tony Blair Institute’s key strengths. With advisors embedded in governments, TBI directly supports leaders to realise their national priorities and make their bold visions for agricultural development a reality.
Working together, the Tony Blair Institute and Volcani International Partnerships can identify priority challenges and see how Israel’s agricultural experience, expertise and innovation capacity can best serve the government agendas.
Angola
In early November 2022, we were delighted to fly out to Angola with TBI staff to meet with researchers, private farmers and cooperatives to identify how upgrading skills and integrating Israel’s Golden Triangle model into Angola’s research stations can help drive an agricultural transformation.
With only 10% of the 35 million hectares of arable land in the country currently being cultivated, Angola has great potential to emerge as an agricultural powerhouse, unlocking significant economic and food security benefits in the process.
