Created by the Leadership Council of the New Alliance and Grow Africa, the Analytical Framework for Land-Based Investments in African Agriculture is a tool to help investors identify, understand and address risks related to land-based investments so that these can be managed more responsibly. The Operational Guidelines for Responsible Land-Based Investment, which was developed by USAID, formed the basis of many of the recommendations in the Analytical Framework.
To understand and address risks related to land-based investments, the Analytical Framework helps investors and provides a guide for aligning internal policies and actions with existing international and regional documents such as the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (VGGT) and the Guiding Principles on Large Scale Land Based Investment in Africa. The Analytical Framework should help to improve due diligence processes and practices and operational activities with a goal of improving agricultural value chains.
The Analytical Framework provides practical advice to users and highlights best practices associated with developing and structuring an investment. It also provides “red lines” – situations which raises serious enough concerns that investors should consider terminating an investment or foregoing an opportunity unless appropriate alternatives can be identified. Investors can use the Analytical Framework throughout the life of the project, beginning with the preliminary project assessment, followed by the due diligence phase and continuing through the negotiation, agreement, operation and close-out phases.