By Kelly L. Mataiyan

The Global Agribusiness Management and Entrepreneurship (GAME) Center at the School of Graduate Studies, Research, and Extension has been selected as one of the ten recipients of an International Development Research Center (IDRC) COVID-19 rapid response initiative grant to document the pandemic's impact on food systems in Sub-Saharan Africa. In addition to this, the GAME Centre will also be studying the gender-sensitive implications of COVID-19 on youth agripreneurship resilience, targeting over 500 entrepreneurs across the country.

The project will be collecting short-term data on the impact of the pandemic (and control measures) on local food systems, specifically on the most vulnerable populations, document planned and spontaneous responses in real-time and the rewiring of food systems as they happen, and inform recovery policies for a more efficient and equitable policy and action that minimizes or alleviates the impacts of COVID-19 on nutrition and food security.

The project builds on the Metro Agri-food living lab for gender-inclusive youth entrepreneurship development also funded by IDRC and the Australia Center for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) and led by researchers affiliated to GAME Center led by Professor Francis Wambalaba who is the Principal Investigator, Professor Amos Njuguna, Professor Damary Sikalieh, Dr. Paul Wachana, Dr. Joyce Ndegwa and Dr. Elizabeth Kalunda.

Other organizations selected alongside USIU-Africa to document COVID-19’s impact on food systems in Africa include the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO), The University of Malawi, Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project in Zimbabwe, Economic and Social Research Foundation in Tanzania, the SAMRC/Wits Centre for Health Economics and Decision Science in South Africa, the National Agricultural Research Organization of Uganda, the Centre for Population and Environment Development in Nigeria, the Cooperation Society for International Development in Canada, and the Consortium for Economic and Social Research in Senegal.

Project implementation at the GAME Center offers unique and diverse professional and academic development opportunities for faculty, staff, and students who wish to participate in different activities including consultancies, field data collection, analysis, research publications, communications, and project management.