Kah Walla’s keynote at the SNRD conference made a simple but demanding point: Africa has micro-level success, yet the next hurdle is scale and sustainability. The key is functionality — not as a buzzword, but as a practical test for rural areas and agro-food systems:

1. Presence & effectiveness — Government must be there in rural areas with basic services (water, electricity, roads, administration, extension). Projects built on “perfect conditions” (generators, 4×4s, bespoke wells) do not scale when those supports leave.

2. Safety & sustainability (rights) — Policies only matter if rights (especially land rights) are affordable, accessible, and enforced. Rural people and producer groups must be able to meet, speak, negotiate, and hold duty-bearers to account.

3. Hope & adaptability — People invest where they see a future. Growth, jobs, culture, science, and innovation build reasons to stay, learn, and reinvest locally.

Implications for programs

• Assess functionality at the start, midterm, and end; design for the actual delivery capacity on the ground.

• Favor fewer, deeper programs in defined geographies.

• Coordinate donors and IFIs to one national plan; coherence beats fragmentation.

• Re-empower local governments and revive tough, multi-actor planning to align objectives and indicators.

▶️ Watch the keynote (French subtitles available via CC → French).