All past events

Co-hosted by ComMark, the South Africa  Office of the Presidency and the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA). The workshop will facilitate new thinking on issues of rural development, land reform and agrarian change.

ComMark Tourism Sector Specialist, Wouter Schalken, will present the paper, 'Making cultural tourism resources work for the poor.'

The Umzimvubu livestock farming community, WBHO Construction and the ComMark Trust invites you to the official opening of the Umzimvubu Red Meat Project’s Custom Feeding Programme.

The official opening will be followed by the award of prizes to the owners of best performing animals in the feedlot and a celebratory lunch. A detailed programme will be forwarded shortly.

The event briefing document can be downloaded below.

Fields assessment to design a programme for community participation in tourism development around Inhambane.

ComMark is a regional pro-poor development organisation established in 2003 and supported by the UK's Department for International Development (DFID). ComMark works to reduce poverty in Southern Africa by: 

ComMark staff will meet with Hon. Minister of Tourism and INATUR to present the ComMark Study on Tourism Investment Procedures in Mozambique.

Co-hosted by the Eastern Cape Department of Agriculture, Fort Cox College and ComMark.

Co-hosted by ComMark, Naledi, Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) and the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA).Process is framed around public employment, trade and industrial policy, fiscal and monetary policy, rural development and education, skills development and labour regulation.

ComMark initiative with the Eastern Cape Dept of Agriculture, Veterinary Public Health to promote and (re-) establish rural abattoirs in the province.

ComMark initiative with Department of Agriculture and local farmers re: nature and potential value of pre-slaughter sale agreements with retail chains; to gauge support to inform negotiations with retailers.

ComMark initiative with Department of Agriculture and local farmers re: nature and potential value of pre-slaughter sale agreements with retail chains; to gauge support to inform negotiations with retailers.

Date to be confirmed

Over the past 20 years, an increasing trend towards the concentration and globalisation of the

food retail sector has become apparent. The occurrence of several highly publicised food scares and the requirement that producers take responsibility for the safety of their products have created an incentive for the development of private standards, resulting in an increase in the number and type of these standards. The result is that all exporters to these markets are currently required to comply with a plethora of official import requirements as well as private standards.

After a number of years of strong economic growth and relative macroeconomic stability, the South African economy now seems to be facing an especially uncertain outlook. The catalyst for the uncertain outlook may have been international developments, but domestic policy failures appear to have played no small part in guiding the South African economy to the brink of a substantial slowdown, with a significant risk of stagflation in the future.

Date to be Confirmed

The Apparel Lesotho Alliance to Fight Aids (ALAFA) was researched and implemented by ComMark with seed funding from DFID. Within two years of implementation, the programme covers 75% of the 46,000 textile and apparel workforce in Lesotho with its education and prevention programme and 50% of workers currently have access to medical monitoring and treatment with ARVs.

The Forum brings together the US and African public and private sectors to become more knowledgeable about the African agribusiness marketplace. Highlights of the Forum will include industry-specific sessions and panels to address cross-cutting issues, such as finance product innovation, pharmaceutical and biofuel industry growth, carbon trading, production technology and certification. Industry experts will share best practices and the latest trends in the field.

Africa is a major production area of organic ingredients for apparel, food, home and beauty products as well as the location of many high quality manufacturers of textile, apparel, home, food, and beauty products. Brands and retailers including Aveda, Coop Switzerland, Marks & Spencer, Nordstrom and Woolworth's South Africa are offering their customers a growing variety of certified organic and fair trade products from Africa.

The African Continent is on the way to become the bright light in emerging market investing. Economic growth in Africa has averaged 5% over the last 7 years, with agriculture and agro-industry being the key sectors for the continent's development in terms of GDP, employment, food security and trade. The AgriBusiness Forum 2008 takes advantage of the favourable business environment to check how to turn it into growth and wealth.