AFRICA RISING EAST AND SOUTHERN AFRICA

EXTERNAL REVIEWTANZANIA AND MALAWI

Briefing 16th March 2015

Jim Ellis-Jones, Colletah Chitsike & Jean Ndikumana

Brief content

• Review process and purpose

• Africa RISING and ESA implementation strategy

• Four research outputs – Babati, Kongwa & Kiteto, Dedza & Ncheu

• Communication, data collection and use

• Partnerships and management

• Human resource capacity

• Contribution to humid tropics CRPs

• Brief conclusions and next steps

Review process and purpose

Process

• Literature review

• Email/skype/telephone discussions

• Field visits

Purpose of this brief

• Overview of initial assessment

• Especially challenges, way forward and opportunities

• Still to come– Recommendations

– Prioritisation

Achievements

• An impressive range of partnerships

• Platforms initiated

• Output 2: Integrated Systems Improvement

– Impressive bio-physical activities

– Some good science with some scaling out (R&D)

– Mother-baby-grandaughters/spillovers

– Participatory methods

Implementation strategy - framework

Challenges

• No initial framework– Jump starts

– Process project

• Programme framework emerged

• ESA project – Three variations

– Each with its own strengths

Way forward

• Update ESA framework

• Clearer definition of Outputs and activities

• Revisit indicators– Identify / confirm baselines

– Targets

– Milestones

• Theory of change approach

• Think through conditions

Implementation strategy -IPs

Challenges

• R4D-IPs intended to facilitate community engagement (inc. gender), joint planning, implementation and learning

• R4D-IPs are not just dissemination mechanisms but contribute to demand led research (demand-led)

Way forward

• Provide facilitation of R4D-Ips– Monitor &learn

• Strengthen linkages from District (strategic) to Village/community levels (operational)

• Agendas/plans need to reflect and build on learning cycles

• Value chain analysis to inform interventions, plans & action research

Implementation strategy- scaling pathways

Challenges

• Recognise role of existing farmer groups and community networks

• Where is the social science

• Recognition of the importance of gender to improving livelihoods – both men & women & youth

Way forward

• Institutional analysis to identify and support CBOs

• Facilitate farmer-to farmer extension

• Map, monitor and assess babies and granddaughters-spill overs– Who, what, how, why, when,

achievements, challenges & lessons

RO1: Situation analysis and programme wide synthesis

Challenges

• Base-lines

• Farmer characterisation

• Inventory of technologies

• Ex-ante economic analysis

• Establish R4D IPs

• Work with community priorities

• Where is gender?

Way forward -platforms

• Clarify R4D purposes, partner roles, and agendas– Learning cycle

• Develop links from District to community

• Ensure farmer representation

• Need for facilitation, monitoring and learning

RO2: Systems improvement –cereal-legumes(genetic intensification, management incl Alfasafe)

Challenges

• Timely arrival of inputs/ compensation

• Soil erosion• Socio-economic evaluation

including gender (not just modelling)

• Input availability/affordability – Seed, fertiliser, inoculant

• Marketing constraints• Silo effect & overlap with

other research

Way forward

• Step wise recommendations– Low, medium and high

• Map and learn from adoption pathways

• Value chain analysis to inform future

• Utilisation of dambos

• Link with national platforms

• Other crops ?– potatoes, sunflowers, cotton, tobacco

RO 2- Crops, vegetables only Babati

Challenges

• Seed availability

• Processing

Way forward

• CB seed production

• QDS for local sales

• Link with TOSCI

RO2: Livestock –fodder establishment

Challenges

• Use of FEAST

• Trees and fodder legumes unsuitable for high altitudes

• Napier disease in bulking nurseries

• Farmer selection – wants to remove napier

• What happened to forage choppers and balers

Way forward• Need for feeding trials

– Build on existing groups

• Ensure other management aspects addressed– Housing– Health

• Integrate with other SI research activities

• Value chain analysis (dairy in Malawi)

• Need to address mechanisation issues

RO2: NR management

Challenges

• Long term nature of landscape research

• Research/demos for awareness raising

• Conflicts between crop farmers and pastoralists

• Intense rainfall events can destroy all SWC structures

• Free grazing during dry season

Way forward

• Need for short term recommendations

– Fertliser and agronomy packages

– Contour intervals/length

– Maintenance needs

• Rain water harvesting demos

• Policy briefs for stakeholders at all levels

– Decision maker support for bye-laws

RO2: Post harvest

Challenges

• Mechanisation affordability/availability / ownership /maintenance issues

• Scaling up triple bags– Partial budget analysis

– Availability

• Warehouse & business management by farmer groups/individuals

Way forward

• Awareness raising on aflotoxins– Incorporation in crop

management practices

• Alfasafe for Malawi

RO2: Food nutrition and processing

Challenges

• Need for coordination & lesson learning across countries

• High illiteracy rates amongst young mothers – Communication tools

Way forward

• Establish baselines for monitoring and assessing change

• Develop a comparative research programme between Tanzania and Malawi– Focus on children >2, pregnant

women and different household categories

• Link SUA, LUANAR, IITA, AVRDC, with NAFACA-Tuboreshe Chakula and INVC

Cross cutting issues

• Commodity value chain studies– to identify potential interventions

– Agree at platform level how to address

• Ensure gender and youth issues around technologies especially labour and utilization are addressed during participatory evaluation occasions.

• Ensure data is collected that allows participatory cost-benefit analysis (including gender) options of the trials.

RO3: Research on scaling approaches

• “Networking Mapping” of babies and granddaughters/spillovers to establish who, why, what and modifications found

• Support & learn from scaling approaches funded by bilateral USAID development partners (NAFACA and INVC)

• Address farmer requests for “hand outs” through provision of knowledge and facilitation by R4D platform facilitation

RO4: Monitoring and Evaluation

• Studies on how technology is incorporated – into existing household livelihoods, – comparative case studies of household food

allocations, household labour allocations, including possible hired labour following the uptake of SI.

– Assembling socially & gender disaggregated data on household participants

• Questioning issues of gender interpreted as women’s issues and initiating gender research around technology that does not limit gender to specific technologies and/or approaches

Communication & Knowledge management

• Communication largely targeted at higher level stakeholders (good PR)

• Need to target other stakeholders, R4D platform partners (District and Village) and farmers (establish best methods)

• Improved feedback on research progress / results and best practice guidelines to extension & farmers

Data collection and use

• Many scientists unaware of AR tools - PMMT and wiki

• Protocols and capacity building required

– ongoing

• How does CG, NARS and University generated data be incorporated (or not) into AR’s data base

Partnerships

• Absence of base-line institutional analysis at project start has meant that many past experiences may have been missed

• Need to identify partners working in same areas– Farm Africa in Babati– INADES in K & K – TLC in Malawi– Other research projects in Malawi (SIMLESA, ICRAF,

CIMMYT, CIAT, McK etc).

• Private sector partner representation remains weak

Management

• Address contracting arrangements between partners to reduce funding delays

• Improving coordination and networking mechanisms at research sites

• Avoiding “silo” approaches between research and development partners, regular meetings

• Improving links / communication with ARIs in Tanzania esp HQ, and DARS in Malawi.

• Greater use of local / regional consultants where capacity is limited

In conclusion

• Well done especially - Output 2– Lots to build on

– Challenges to be addressed & priorities to be determined

• Main challenges relate to Outputs 1, 3 & 4

• Review team next steps– Completion of draft report – end March/ early April

– IITA consideration – mid April

– Final report to IITA – end April

Asante Sana & Zikomo

An innovation systems approach

24

Knowledge generation

Demand - pullFarmers

Putting knowledge into use

Information market

StakeholdersNGOsExtensionTradersProcessorsFinanciersCommunicationOthers

Supply - push

Local

participants

R&D

Organisations

Bringing partners together

Phase 1: Engaging with

stakeholders

Phase 2: Planning,

learning and assessing

Phase 3: Ensuring

sustainability

Interest

Collaboration

Ownership

Leadership

Leadership

Facilitation

Backstopping

Private

Sector

Interest

Collaboration

Commercial

opportunity

and farmer

support

Tim

e

Innovation Platform

Consideroptions

Exchange visits

Participatory Research and Extension Approach

Enteringcommunity build trust

Identifyinglocal organ-

isations

Raisingawareness

Identifying needs &

problems

FeedbackTo

community

Training

Technicalbackstopping

Training

mid-Season

evaluation

Training

Planningfor nextlearning

cycle

PREALearning Cycle

PREA Training

MIRACLE

Prioritisingneeds andproblems

Actionplanning

Searchingfor

solutions

Mandatinglocal

institutions

Tryingout new

ideas

End of season review

and processmonitoring

Researcher

Input

supplier/trader

Extension Officer

Farmers’ group

(CBO)

Lead farmer

Other farmers

Seed farmer

Secondary farmers

CV

Years

Y2Y1 Y3 Y4 Y5

PREA process

Africa

RISING

STRUCTURES OF THE DAESS

District Agric.

Committeecommittees committee CommitteeDEC

AEC

DAECCDistrict Stakeholder

PanelADC

VDC

Community/village

Entry point for planning

& implementation for interventions eg.

Eg ; Model Village, clusters +Farmer business school

Lead farmer

DISTRICT ASSEMBLY

Area StakeholderPanel

Agricultural show

Woreda

Strategic

Innovation

Platform

(A4D)

KebeleOperational

IP

FG 1Innovation

clusters

FG 3

FG

2

FG5

FG 4

KebeleOperational

IP

Kebele 1Kebele 2

FG

FG

Farmer

Groups

FG

Commodity value chain IP

Technical Goup