University Engagement with Farming Communities in Africa: Community Action Research Platforms

-explains and showcases how collaborations can be built and strengthened between African universities and farming communities to address real-world contemporary challenges -specifically focuses on Community Action Research Platforms, an approach that has successfully enabled African universities to develop new roles as agents of change through deep collaborative engagements - developed in a pan-African network of one hundred and forty universities (RUFORUM), across 38 countries and 15 years -explores the experiences and lessons drawn from nineteen different projects initiated by member universities in Benin, Botswana, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, Sudan, Uganda and Zimbabwe -highlights a critical yet under-utilised role for African universities as collaborators and catalysts for multi-sector solutions for agricultural communities -holds appeal for university leaders, higher education, agrifood and development specialists, researchers and practitioners, policy-makers and development agencies engaged in African agriculture and rural development, higher education and sustainable growth