A 5-minute documentary on the achievements of African Development Bank‘s flagship programme, the Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) has won the 2021 Stevie Award. The video, which was produced for the 2021 High-level Dialogue on Feeding Africa, won the best “video – documentary” in the competition. The 2021 International Business Awards, the world’s only all-encompassing business awards competition, drew more than 3,700 nominations from 65 nations.
“Through the experiences of women and men participating in the TAAT programme, these videos tell the story of how Bank-funded agricultural technologies are helping 11 million farmers across 29 African countries produce more food and adapt to climate change,” said Dr. Beth Dunford, AfDB’s Vice President for Agriculture, Human and Social Development. “This Gold Stevie award speaks to the collaborative work of our staff, implementation partners, and program beneficiaries to share these stories,” she added.
The videos, beamed to more than a dozen Heads of State, global leaders and thousands of high-level online participants, showcased the experiences of farmers.
“The 17 Heads of State and others who watched would have been impressed with the quality of the film and, more importantly, the programme itself. “Excellent initiative,” wrote one judge who recognized the challenges of documentary film production during Covid-19 lockdowns.
“These programs are just so necessary to bring positive change, and this documentary shows it excellently,” said another awards panel member.
“I emotionally connected with each video provided…the documentary captured wonderful, intimate and sensitive interviews with people. It became personal and heartfelt,” another judge remarked.
This 18th annual International Business Awards recognize outstanding organizations and highlight their positive contributions globally. Last year, the African Development Bank earned a Gold Stevie for its 2019 Annual Report in the publication category and bronze for the Report’s companion video.
This year’s other award winners include Google, IBM, Yapi Kredi, DHL Express Worldwide, Dubai Municipality and Tata Consultancy Services. The winners will receive their prizes during a virtual ceremony slated for 8 December 2021.
TAAT is the flagship programme that translates the AfDB’s Feed Africa objectives of eliminating extreme poverty, ending hunger and malnutrition, achieving food self-sufficiency and turning Africa into a net food exporter, through its focus on improving agricultural productivity using the power of science, technologies and innovation as well as knowledge-based agricultural approach. TAAT achieves these through an innovative partnership with 29 African countries, nine OneCGIAR Centers led by IITA and three specialised technical institutions, Sub-regional and National Agricultural Research Systems and Organizations.
