OPENING REMARKS OF HER EXCELLENCY TUMUSIIME RHODA PEACE, COMMISSIONER FOR RURAL ECONOMY AND AGRICULTURE AT THE AFRICAN UNION COMMISSION ON THE OCCASION OF OPENING THE DREA STAFF SEGMENT OF THE RETREAT WITH PARTNERS AND STAKEHOLDERS ON THE 2014-2017 STRATEGIC PLAN AND OPERATIONAL PLAN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF RURAL ECONOMY AND AGRICULTURE
ENTEBBE, UGANDA 2 DECEMBER 2013

Thank you Director. Good morning everybody.
Dr. Abebe Haile Gabriel, Director for Rural Economy and Agriculture
Dr. Mandla Madonsela, Director of Strategic Policy Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation
Members of Staff of the Department of Rural Economy and Agriculture
Let me, first of all, welcome you to Uganda, adding my voice to that of the Director, and in particular to this retreat
I would like to say my appreciation to the for bringing you together her as we had one month to prepare. I commend the role of Dr. Abebe, Director, for ably steering the process of developing our Strategic Plan. I am aware that he has personally been involved in writing most of the sections of this draft Strategic Plan.
I would also like to thank the technical team for the substantive and logistical arrangements. I would like to single out a few. If I don’t mention your name and you’ve been a key-role player, I know this Dr. Hassane Mahammat, Mr. Boaz Blackie Keizire, Mr. Anselme Vodounhessi, Dr. Kennedy Rusugu Oroko, and Ms. Milha Desta, you have been able to put together the improved draft Strategic Plan that we are going to be discussing during this retreat.
I would like to thank the rest of staff for their cooperation and contribution. The working document is quite different from what we had in Debrezeit. We now have a credible document.
I have been informed that you all got actively involved in making input to refine our Strategic Plan and I appreciate this teamwork.
The just-concluding Strategic Plan 2008-2012 to which many of you contributed to in terms of design and implementation was our first departmental Strategic Plan and I congratulate you for having achieved most of the objectives in the strategic intervention areas.
You all share the credit that our Department earned and retained for being the first and, so far, the only Department of AUC with a Strategic Plan, 2014-2017. We created a precedent and we are repeating it by developing the 2014-2017 Strategic Plan. We need to thump ourselves on the chest and raise our Thumbs Up for the vanguard role in setting our strategy and clarifying our vision.
I believe that you cannot build a house unless you have a plan. We have a plan that will be grounded in the bigger picture of the AUC Strategic Plan within which we are developing our departmental Strategic Plan.
It also gives us pride that our brand flagship programme, CAADP has raised the entire African agricultural transformation to the forefront of global debate and engagements. I have seen CAADP becoming a rallying point for actions related to rural development on the continent.
It is also gratifying to see how we have been able to ensure Africa’s effective negotiations in the global arena on climate change and taking forward environment and natural resources including building continent-wide capacity pertaining to Multilateral Environment Agreements and also our work on combating desertification and promoting sustainable livelihoods in arid and semi-arid areas through the GGWSS, SAFGRAD and Fouta Djallon Programmes as well as advancing the continental water and sanitation agenda.
We have also registered with pleasure the recognition of the Pan African Veterinary Vaccine Centre as a world class centre of excellence. In the same vein, we are happy to see how AU-IBAR has led our continental efforts promoting livestock and fisheries development. The achievements under the leadership of AU-IBAR are also known including the eradication of rinderpest on the continent and the AU is recognised for this. You have also seen how PATTEC has been vigorous in extending frontiers of the livestock sector through combating Tsetse and Trypanosomiasis. Even our cooperation with the Arab world has been able to take into account the imperative to eradicate Tsetse under PATTEC.
We have also made inrods on Sanitary and Phytosanitary through the work of IAPSC and PACA. I believe the continent is much more aware of the importance of these issues to improve food safety and public health.
I am mentioning these, just as examples, and you know there are more. I must commend all of you for your contribution as I also appreciate the partnerships, bilateral and multilateral, that supported us towards these accomplishments. That is why, as we finalise our Strategic Plan, we must have our discussions synergised with ideas of those who support us in our work.
We are also proud to have built the capacity of our Department to be able to sustain this momentum
I would like, at this juncture, to urge you to step up efforts given the increasing demand and emerging issues.
As we look at the new Strategic Plan and look to the next decade, CAADP will continue to be our brand and guiding framework in our pursuit for results and impacts especially at country level. We cannot say we have achieved unless we see the desired change taking place in AU Member States.
As we go into the segment of our retreat where we engage with partners, let us articulate our priorities, solicit value-adding input and enhance our partnerships. This is because we are conscious of the fact that for us to be able to deliver on this, the role of partners and stakeholders is critical. And these, in addition to Pan African Institutions, also include financial and technical partners as well as corporate and philanthropic partners. Our prime objective is to come up with a Strategic Plan that enables us to effectively respond to country demands and priorities. Also continue building our inter-personal relations to advance our Department’s vision and mission within the overall vision and mission of the AUC, and indeed, Africa Agenda 2063.
Let me wish you an enjoyable stay in Uganda and a productive retreat. Take advantage of being here to discover why Uganda is The Pearl of Africa.
With these few remarks, I now declare the Retreat officially open.