An academic partnership for agroecology and agri-food innovation - Projet Shift-KF

In Kenya, agriculture and food business are the mainstays of the national economy, accounting for over 25% of GDP and 40% of formal and informal employment. These sectors play a key role in food security, economic development and social cohesion.

They nonetheless face significant challenges:  variability of production, climate change impacts, relatively unstructured value chains, and the vulnerability of small farms. Furthermore, agriculture holds little appeal for young people even though the sector offers high potential for employment.

To address these challenges, it is crucial to train a new generation of professionals capable of shaping tomorrow’s agricultural and food systems, combining development of economic benefits, employment and self-employment, and food security with the preservation of ecological balance through the adoption of appropriate technologies, sustainable practices, innovative business models and adapted public policies.

The SHIFT-KF project aims to strengthen and expand a professionally oriented, attractive and inclusive bachelor’s, master’s and PhD education pathway at the University of Nairobi (UoN), with the objective of training experts in agroecology and food technology to contribute to the development of Kenya’s agricultural and agri-food sectors. This initiative hinges on close collaboration between partner higher education and research institutions, as well as with the business sector.

The priority actions include:

• Modernize existing academic programs by integrating innovative teaching approaches, new courses and competencies, international mobility opportunities, and stronger links with the professional sector, particularly through internships ;
• Develop two professionally oriented and internationally recognized master’s programs: MSc in Agroecology and sustainable development and MSc in Food innovation ;
• Create cross-cutting modules related to fields and challenges such as bioeconomy, digital transformation, AI, public policy, entrepreneurship, gender and inclusion ;
• Design interdisciplinary research projects and support jointly supervised PhD programs, in collaboration with French and Kenyan research organizations ;
• Support the training of higher education professionals in both technical and pedagogical fields ;
• Support student and academic staff mobility to and from Kenya in order to foster learning and strengthen the internationalization of degree programs ;
• Strengthen the UoN’s equipment and infrastructure to promote competency-based learning ;
• Favoriser l’apprentissage du français par les étudiants et les enseignants-chercheurs.

This project was selected for the third edition of the Academia Partnerships Africa-France program (PeA). The PeA is financed by the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (MEAE) via the Agence Française de Développement (AFD), which oversees the program. It is implemented, with support from the French Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Space (MESRE), by the French National Research Agency (ANR) on project evaluation and monitoring, and Campus France on events management.

By the end of the project:

• 100 students will be enrolled each year in the master’s programs ;
• 4 PhD candidates will have received support ;
• 30 partnerships will have been established with socio-economic stakeholders ;
• 1 innovation center will have been created within the Faculty of Agriculture at the UoN.

This project also contributes to achieving numerous Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), SDG 4 (Quality Education), SDG 5 (Gender Equality), SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure), SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production), and SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals).