Workshop
Towards regional investment partnerships: Leveraging agro-logistics for climate-smart cassava along the Abidjan–Lagos Corridor (ALC)
AUDA-NEPAD and ECDPM are co-organising an in-person strategic consultative meeting to discuss how to unlock climate-resilient investment in the ALC cassava value chain, with a focus on agro-industrial parks. The meeting is set within the context of the Scaling investments project.
This workshop builds on the findings of our previous meeting held in February 2026.
The consultation will take place in Accra, Ghana and is invitation-based. However, if you are interested in knowing more, please get in touch with Hanne Knaepen (hk@ecdpm.org)
Aim of the workshop
This workshop aims to discuss how to catalyse investment in the industrial use of cassava along the ALC by connecting private sector demand with agro-industrial parks and other public and private investment processes. Rather than revisiting barriers, it is designed as a co-creation space, moving beyond diagnosing barriers to jointly work towards identifying and developing promising investment cases linked to cassava value chains and agro-industrial processing. We will focus on opportunities that can reduce trade frictions and scale processing capacity along the corridor.
The meeting will convene a select group of approximately 40–50 practitioners across three stakeholder groups: private sector actors, including agri-food firms, farmers’ organisations, (cold-chain) logistics providers and cassava off-takers; agro-park operators and finance and policy stakeholders, including national governments, EU and Member State officials, the AfDB, development finance institutions, and ECOWAS trade and transport directorates.
Format
The agenda is structured over two days. Day 1 will focus on unpacking the investment context, including key opportunities and barriers along the ALC, with a particular emphasis on agro-logistics, cassava value chains and risk-reduction mechanisms. Day 2 will focus on investment matchmaking, with a stronger emphasis on policy, finance and multi-stakeholder platforms.
Across both days, the programme combines high-level keynotes with panel discussions and active participant engagement in breakout groups.
Expected outcomes
By the close of the two-day workshop, participants are expected to have:
- Shared a common, evidence-based understanding of cassava investment opportunities and constraints along the ALC, with a focus on agro-industrial processing and corridor logistics.
- Identified two to three concrete, bankable investment cases that can be taken forward by private sector actors, agro-park operators, and development finance institutions in the near term.
- Agreed on a set of policy and regulatory actions at the national and regional levels that would most effectively incentivise cassava value chain investment and reduce trade friction.
- Defined the architecture and priority workstreams of a multi-stakeholder platform (or reinforced existing platforms) capable of sustaining investment matchmaking and tracking impact beyond the workshop.
