Cornelia Richter, a German national and former Managing Director and member of the Executive Committee of the German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ), joined the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) today as Vice-President.
In her new role, Richter will provide strategic direction to IFAD, promote corporate approaches and solutions, and will oversee the budget, quality assurance and ethics offices.
IFAD is a specialized agency of the United Nations dedicated to eradicating rural poverty in developing countries. Seventy-five per cent of the world’s poorest people – 1.4 billion women, children and men – live in rural areas and depend on agriculture and related activities for their livelihoods.
“At such a crucial moment as we look to reach the Sustainable Development Goals, I am excited and honoured for this leadership opportunity to support IFAD’s unique mandate both as an international financing institution and United Nations agency focusing on rural development,” Richter said.

The African Risk Capacity (ARC), an agency of the African Union, and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) announced a new partnership which will see the two organizations work together to increase insurance coverage against climate risks for African states.
The multilateral deal was announced at the African Union’s Annual Summit in Addis Ababa, and commits ARC and ECA to build the capacity of their 33 common Member States by embedding risk management investments into government planning through policy development. ARC and ECA also will share expertise and commit financial resources to joint analytical work in areas of economic and climate risk research in order to promote risk transfer instruments.
The UN estimates that Africa will see the adaptation costs of climate change rise to $50 billion per year by 2050.
“This partnership marks a bold new phase of heightened collaboration on combatting the effects of climate change in Africa,” said Mohamed Beavogui, Director-General of ARC Agency. “The future of disaster risk management is an increasingly urgent economic issue, and ECA’s unique expertise will complement ARC’s work serving its Member States and building preparedness and resilience on the continent.”
In the four years that ARC has offered insurance coverage to its Member States, it has paid out more than USD 34 million to Member States affected by drought events. These resources have assisted over two million people affected by climate disaster.
“Climate change is one of the biggest threats to Africa’s economic and social development,” said ECA Executive Secretary Vera Songwe. “We believe that efforts like our partnership with ARC will help move the needle, so that African countries can be well-guarded against these threats, and they can thrive.”

The annual Africa Energy Forum will celebrate its 20th birthday by inviting the international energy community to Mauritius for the four day conference and private exhibition. Two hotels will be reserved for the duration of the conference with the AEF Village to be purposely built on the grounds of a football pitch in the South West of the island.
The decision to move the Forum to Mauritius from its usual location in Europe came about to celebrate the achievements of the AEF community on ‘home turf.’ Strategically located in the Indian Ocean, Mauritius is ideally located for doing business in Africa, as well as being internationally recognized for its governance framework, ease of doing business and investor-friendly environment.
The theme for this year’s Forum is ‘Reflections on the last 20 years.’ Key figures who have shaped Africa’s energy sector will be invited back to share their knowledge, experiences and future forecasts with attendees.
Agenda highlights include the Ministerial Opening Ceremony with the overarching theme ‘Building a Coherent Strategy for the Next 20 Years,’ country focus sessions exploring the unique energy environments of countries across the continent, Africa’s Gas to Power Future – An Update on Current Projects, and an in depth look at the success rate of initiatives and tools developed by the likes of Power Africa, KfW & IFC over the last 2 decades.
Awards of Recognition are to be presented to individuals who have made a significant contribution to the sector over the 20 years in the ‘Africa Energy Forum Hall of Fame.’
AEF welcomed almost 2,000 participants to Denmark in 2017 from 77 countries – 33 of those being African. A number of deals took place including announcements from USTDA, World Bank and InfraCo Africa.