The Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM) is pleased to announce its 21st Annual General Meeting (AGM), scheduled to take place from 1st to 5th December 2025 in Gaborone, Botswana. Themed "Positioning Africa’s Universities and the Higher Education Sector to effectively impact development processes on the continent", the AGM will bring together over 500 participants including university leaders, policymakers, development partners, private sector actors, young innovators, students, and researchers from across Africa and beyond.

Among the universities that will be in attendance is the University of Eldoret, joining other 175 institutions across the continent to engage in high-level dialogues, knowledge sharing, and strategic networking aimed at strengthening the role of African universities in delivering sustainable development outcomes.

Hosted in collaboration with the Government of Botswana and the Botswana University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (BUAN), the AGM will serve as a premier platform for strategic dialogue and collective action.

This year’s AGM will focus on the following sub themes:

Sub-theme 1. Strategic partnerships for growth: Building bridges for the future – Exploring collaborations to support university missions, mobilize resources, promote knowledge transfer, and address shared challenges, including South–South and North–South partnerships.

Sub-theme 2. Science for development: Generating contemporary and relevant solutions at scale – Strengthening universities’ innovation capacities through partnerships, a scientific conference, scaling of science solutions, digital innovations, hackathons, and investor pitch sessions.

Sub-theme 3. Capacity sharing to train the next generation of leaders in agri-food systems transformation – Highlighting cooperative capacity development, digital networks, mobility programmes, and regional centres of excellence to harmonize learning and foster cross-border knowledge exchange.

Sub-theme 4. RUFORUM Governance Meetings – Bringing together the RUFORUM Annual General Assembly, Principals and Deans Committee, and other statutory organs to review progress and guide future mission delivery.

Speaking ahead of the event, Prof. Patrick Okori, Executive Secretary of RUFORUM, stated:
"Our universities are central to Africa’s development. By focusing on collaboration, science, and skills, this AGM will help shape the future of higher education in Africa to be more responsive, inclusive, and impactful. We are honored to work with the Government of Botswana in advancing this vision."

For additional information, please contact:

Ms. Luise Mwanyangapo, Senior Programme Officer - Marketing and Communications l.mwanyangapo@ruforum.org, with a copy to communications@ruforum.org and agm@ruforum.org