While 2025 was, in many ways, stellar, it showed us just how many possibilities lay ahead, and we have, thus, entered 2026 with special motivation.
Amid the many wins as detailed in our Annual Letter dispatched last December, we sat to analyse what we could improve on, without losing sight of our overarching goal of contributing to food security and the betterment of planetary health.
Last year, we drew our swords and went to war with misinformation and disinformation, battling to suppress falsehoods, that have, for years, inhibited the success of scientific innovations. From every discipline possible- faith, politics, private sector, academia- we received great support in this noble endeavour. While the war is not yet won, we are greatly optimistic that, together, we shall gradually decimate these dragons of progress. We have not set down our armaments.
Our eyes remain focused on enhancing Africa’s bio-innovations ecosystem, as hundreds of millions of Africans continue to contend with hunger in a highly fragile environment. Feeding the global citizenry, we feel, is within reach. Agricultural biotechnology is advancing towards this goal, and we believe this could contribute greatly not only to food and feed security but also to environmental sustainably. We remain cognizant of existential crises, such as civil wars, climate change and poor governance which significantly increase the difficulty of achieving these goals, but we are committed to the course and are determined to, eventually, forge a long-lasting solution that will ensure Africa’s children are well fed and achieve the necessary nutritional quality.
Like in 2025, we also aim to keep consistent engagement with the media, our core soldiers in the effort to consistently disseminate scientific truths. As most of us are aware, pseudoscience, alongside needless anti-science activism, only drag communities back, preventing achievement of key milestones that, subsequently, leave economies teetering. The world does not wait for the errant to find their way, and we have no time to waste. We shall, once again, be focused on speaking, and insisting on amplifying scientific facts while respecting stakeholder values and interests on new innovations, necessary for trust-building, moving forward.
In this light, we will keep training stakeholders on delivering value-based messaging. We are aware that poor, or unsatisfactory communication remains one of the impediments to society’s willingness to adopt new scientific innovations. Historically, it took a badly considered opinion to tarnish an innovation that had the potential of overhauling socio-economic prospects of a people, and rebuilding, once the reputation of a scientific innovation is burnt down to ashes, is a monumental chore.
We also are keen on pushing for the advancement of policy and regulatory clarity through engagement of key decision-makers
Oftentimes, it is the blur in the policy space that prevents progress, and we are keen on engaging stakeholders to ensure that there are no doubts as bio-entrepreneurs march towards commercialization, and as players in One Health collaborate towards advancing the use of this invaluable approach towards achieving a better, healthier Africa, and world.
We aim to significantly, and deliberately, contribute to the achievement of key Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including SDG 2 (Zero hunger and enhanced food security), SDG 3 (Health and wellbeing), SDG 8 (Sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all), and SDG 17 (Global partnerships).
In all these, we shall be leveraging the strong networks that we have established over the years, and our expertise in strategic communication and convening, to ensure no stakeholder is left behind. We are optimistic that you share in our dream of achieving food security and planetary health, and we shall count on you to be part of this journey. We shall explore, together, every available avenue to achieve these two, and we shall be relentless in it. So, on we go!
The ISAAA AfriCenter Board and staff wish you a successful 2026, punctuated by thrilling discoveries along the way and achievement of new milestones. Together, we can do it.