ADRES Group Program Support of the 2024 WAYA Awards in Kigali, Rwanda.

The 2024 Women Agripreneurs of the Year Awards (WAYA), under the Value4Her initiative by AGRA organisation, was a landmark event  that celebrated the remarkable contribution of African female agripreneurs toward food security, climate resilience, and community empowerment. The awards were managed by the ADRES Group and led to a grand ceremony at the African Food Systems (AFS) Forum which was held in Kigali, Rwanda, testifying to innovation and resilience in African agribusiness from 2^nd to 6^th September, 2024.

A Legacy of Empowerment for Africa’s Women Agripreneurs
Launched in 2021 during the Africa Green Revolution Forum summit, now known as African Food Systems Forum (AFS), the WAYA Awards recognizes African women agripreneurs in the content who are excelling in the agriculture and the allied value chains. Women play a pivotal role in Sub-Saharan Africa agriculture, but often lack recognition and support. The WAYA Awards brings them to the spotlight, amplifying their contribution towards inspiring other women in this same direction.

The WAYA Outreach Campaign
The ADRES Group supported the WAYA partners with the communication and outreach campaign of the WAYA 2024 initiative by reaching out to women agripreneurs in over 44 countries in Africa, especially in vulnerable and hard-to-reach communities.
Main activities included:
- Mapping of stakeholders, partners, and networks in the target countries across Africa.
- Creation and updating the database of the stakeholders: local organizations, INGOs & NGOs, women’s groups, cooperatives and government ministries and agencies.
- Message crafting to resonate with diverse audiences, using multiple languages – in English, French and Portuguese to communicate the benefits of the WAYA awards.
- Communication and outreach via traditional and digital platforms: Newspapers, Radio, Op-eds, Blogs, LinkedIn, Facebook and WhatsApp and Webinars.

Evaluation Process
The ADRES Group team leveraged on its multi lingual team to support the research and evaluation to harness integrity and credibility for the WAYA Awards. Some of the processes which were multi-staged included carrying out eligibility checks, long listing and short listing of over 1500 applicants across Africa. The various categories for the evaluation process were: Young Female Agri-preneurs, Females in Ag-Tech and Innovation, Outstanding Value Addition Enterprises, Women Empowerment Champions and Resilient women involved in agriculture and allied value chains in Africa. The finalist participants after the evaluation process were 17, drawn across the various categories and across various regions in Africa.

The AFS event
The ADRES Group team supported the WAYA partners in the management of the awards to the winners during the AFS event in Kigali, Rwanda. The notable pre-awards activities included: logistical support for the pre-selected winners across Africa, designing and printing of IEC materials – banners, t-shirts, booklets, pens etc and media engagement. During the awards in the event, ADRES Group supported with the media outreach and engagement, interpretations and translation, logistical support and the overall well-being of the finalists. A total of 15 winners were awarded during the event with the grand prize winner being awarded USD 40,000.

Our lessons Learned

1. Multilingual Interaction: The Pan-African nature of the competition encouraged a multilingual approach necessary for effective interaction and communication across so many diverse linguistic groups which were in English, Swahili, Portuguese, French, and Arabic, and involved the services of multilingual experts.
2. Human Interaction in a Digital Era: Despite the ready availability of social media platforms, the participants showed a strong preference for personal interaction with the WAYA program team. This stressed the importance of personal level engagement in developing trust and resolving issues, to improve participants’ experience.
3. Media and Outreach Strategy: Media engagement and outreach was a significant aspect in creating awareness for the awards. The traditional media of radio, television, and newspapers were greatly involved to reach out to hard-to-reach women agripreneurs. Future programs management needs to continue using the traditional media channels for better outreach to women agriprenuers in hard-to-reach areas in Africa.
4. Cultural Competency: The competition brought together participants from diverse cultural backgrounds across Africa, emphasizing the importance of cultural sensitivity and competency.
5. Logistics and Coordination: The movement and travel of the winners across Africa to the AFS 2024 event in Kigali, Rwanda, needed early preparation, effective liaison, communication, and coordination to ensure smooth movement and support for the winners.