S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 9    

The sixth TAP Partners Assembly took place from 11 April to 2 May 2019.The Assembly was attended virtually by 28 partners who reiterated theircommitment to the TAP Action Plan 2018 – 2021 and to mobilizingresources to support up-take of the TAP Common Framework. Partnersalso expressed their willingness to foster regional collaboration oncapacity development among Agricultural Innovation System (AIS) actors,including the private sector, through regional and sub-regional innovationplatforms. For more information about TAP see: http://www.fao.org/in-action/tropical-agriculture-platform/en/.

European Union to support TAP for the next five years

G L O B A L U P D A T E S

The European Union and FAO have signed an agreement for theimplementation of a five-year project: “Developing capacities inagricultural innovation systems: scaling up the Tropical AgriculturePlatform (TAP) Framework”, with a budget of EUR 5 million. The signingceremony took place on 21 June 2019 during the Third African Union –European Union (AU - EU) Agriculture Ministerial Conference held at FAOHeadquarters in Rome. The project is a component of the EU initiative “Development SmartInnovation through Research in Agriculture” (DeSIRA). It will support theimplementation of the TAP action plan, through the delivery of fouroutputs: Drawing on lessons learned from the CDAIS project, the new FAO/TAP-DeSIRA project will improve, update, and expand the use of the TAPCommon Framework. A strong communications component centered onTAPipedia will promote TAP tools and approaches at national,regional/sub-regional and global levels.

U P C O M I N G E V E N T S

46th Session of the Committee on

World Food Security (CFS)

14-18 October 2019

Rome, Italy

TAP will participate in a side event

on “Strengthening Agricultural

Innovation Systems for Family

Farming: Multi-stakeholder processes

to develop capacities to innovate for

food and nutrition security"

GCHERA Conference 2019,

General Assembly meeting, and

World Agriculture Prize ceremony

28-29 October 2019

Nanjing Agricultural University,

China,

Workshop on

“Assessment metrics for Agricultural

Innovation Systems (AIS) and

Extension and Advisory

Services (EAS)”

18-20 November 2019

FAO, Rome, Italy

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Sixth TAP Partners’ Virtual Assembly held

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TAP Newsletter

Caroline Glynn (Agrinatura-EEIG), Florence MayegaNakayiwa (RUFORUM) and Judith Francis (TAP) at

the Third African Union – European UnionAgricultural Ministerial Conference, at FAO, Rome

(Italy), in June 2019.

TAP governance is strengthened and support is given to the TAP Secretariat.Countries’ agricultural innovation systems (AIS) are assessed,capacity development needs are identified and AIS is strengthened.TAP tools and approaches are integrated into African “CAADP ex-Pillar IV” organizations, as well as in regional research and extensionorganizations in Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean.Awareness and knowledge are increased on using the TAP CommonFramework on Capacity Development for Agricultural InnovationSystems, through information and communication platforms.

TAPipedia (www.tapipedia.org) is the information sharingsystem designed within the context of TAP to enhanceknowledge exchange in support of Capacity Development(CD) for Agricultural Innovation Systems (AIS).TAPipedia has migrated to a new web server in responseto IT-related challenges, which previously affected itsperformance. The new arrangement also means that theTAP Secretariat can edit the website more effectively.The website is going through technical improvements toensure better usability and more effective knowledge andresource sharing. Meanwhile, TAP network members continue to uploadresources on TAPipedia and as of September 2019 thesystem holds nearly 2000 resources.

TAP Steering Committee (SC) met three times in 2019

The TAP Steering Committee (SC) continues to meet on a regular basis. Sofar in 2019, three meetings were held in January, May and July. A face-to-face meeting was held on 12 May 2019, ahead of the CDAIS InternationalForum in Gembloux, Belgium, which many TAP members attended. Key agenda items included the reactivation of the TAP CD Expert Group,sharing progress of the CDAIS project, the project’s final evaluation, resourcemobilization, AIS assessment, key events involving TAP Partners, andnomination of TAP 2019-2021 SC members. In the July meeting, the TAP Chair welcomed a new member of TAP SC:Dongxin Feng, Head, Capacity Development and Academia PartnershipsUnit, Partnerships Division, FAO, representing FAO (ad interim).

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TAPipedia migrated to a new web server

Reactivation of the TAP Capacity Development Expert Group

The TAP Capacity Development Expert Group was created in 2014 to support the development of the TAPCommon Framework and the design of TAPipedia. Rich experiences have been gained from using the CommonFramework in eight countries, through the CDAIS project. In order to capture lessons from the CDAIS project anduse them to improve TAP tools and approaches, TAP re-activated the Expert Group. Its first meeting was held on15 May 2019, in Gembloux, Belgium. It gathered approximately 20 experts from TAP partner organisations. Theexperts discussed Common Framework concepts; operations and resources; and brainstormed on what needed tobe changed. Participants also “zoomed out” to other experiences in order to develop a new learning agenda forTAP. The need to simplify the TAP Common Framework language emerged as an important point as well as thedevelopment of a clear communication plan for different target audiences. The group agreed on a series of actions:

The project will be coordinated by FAO’s Research and Extension Unit (AGDR) and will beimplemented in nine countries: Burkina Faso, Eritrea, Malawi, Rwanda and Senegal in Africa;Cambodia, Laos and Pakistan in Asia; and Colombia in Latin America.

Dongxin Feng, new member of TAPSC, during an event at FAO HQ

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TAP Newsletter / September 2019

• Review the TAP Common Framework to identify the issues that are misunderstood and which require further clarification.• Use the lessons from CDAIS country pilot projects, the CDAIS Gembloux Forum and TAP partners as a starting point.

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Karin Nichterlein, TAP Executive Secretary, retires & Selvaraju Ramasamy, Head, FAO’s Research and Extension Unit, takes over

Karin Nichterlein, Agricultural Research Officer, retired from FAO in August2019 after long service for the organization. She has led the TAPSecretariat since its formation in 2012 and has coordinated the FAOcomponent of the CDAIS Project. In both capacities she has played a keyrole in promoting capacity development for agricultural innovation systemsglobally, and in designing and implementing projects that help build suchcapacity, including the recently signed FAO/TAP-DeSIRA project. At the TAP SC meeting on 23 July 2019, Judith Francis, TAP Chair, and SCmembers shared messages of appreciation to Karin Nichterlein for herleadership of the TAP Secretariat over many years. She was presented witha floral arrangement for her dedication and hard work. Selvaraju Ramasamy, Head of the FAO’s Research and Extension Unit tookover as new TAP Executive Secretary, replacing Karin Nichterlein. SelvarajuRamasamy has over 25 years of experience in applied agricultural researchand development. He has been working with FAO since 2007 and involvedin many inter-agency mechanisms including as the Chair of the PartnerAdvisory Committee (PAC) of the Global Framework for Climate Servicesled by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

• Consider mainstreaming key cross-cutting issues such as climate change, youth, women and indigenous people rights in the TAP Common Framework, and point out their contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals.• Map and assess experiences of integrating the TAP Common Framework inagricultural curricula and develop approaches to promote the application of theFramework in higher education institutions. • CDAIS’s monitoring, evaluation and learning data after the end-of-project need to be analyzed, and theresults discussed with the CD Expert Group. Experts from Agrinatura member organizations plan toconduct a transversal analysis.• In the last quarter of 2019, the TAP Secretariat will engage the experts in an e-discussion to plan the workahead.

Karin Nichterlein

Selvaraju Ramasamy

/ September 2019TAP Newsletter

The Fourth International Agriculture Innovation Conference (IAIC 2019) was held from 7 to 9 August 2019 inOulu, Finland. The event, organized by APAARI with the International Association for Agricultural Sustainability(IAAS) and the University of Oulu, provided around 60 participants from around the world with rich andinteresting content on agricultural innovations and systems. The Asia-Pacific region was represented byparticipants from individual countries, and APAARI, on behalf of all its members’ institutions from the region.APAARI’s presentation emphasized the need to work with an AIS perspective. APAARI highlighted its workunder TAP and ongoing efforts to develop functional capacities to enable innovation of agri-food systems,particularly among national agricultural research system organizations and higher education institutions in Asia-Pacific.

A webinar on “How to make agricultural lectures more interactive for agricultural students” was organized byAPAARI in collaboration with FAO and Tamil Nadu Agricultural University on 4 June 2019, targeting over 220participants from agricultural universities and association in Asia.

A one-day interactive workshop on ‘Innovation Strategies for Sustainable Agricultural Development’ was held on14 June 2019 in Bangkok, Thailand, organized by APAARI in collaboration with FAO and with the support ofAgrinatura and the European Union (EU). A total of 35 participations, including the heads of APAARI’s memberand partner organizations, actively engaged in discussions and contributed to the workshop’s outputs. At theworkshop, APAARI promoted the TAP Common Framework for learning and knowledge sharing in the region. A draft policy brief has been developed and will be shared on the APAARI website shortly.

The Asia-Pacific Association of Agricultural Research Institutions (APAARI) promotes TAP tools and approaches in the Asia-Pacific region

A training workshop on “Knowledge Management and Capacity Development for More Effective AgriculturalInnovation Systems (AIS)” was organized by APAARI, in partnership with FAO and the Global Confederation ofHigher Education Associations for Agricultural and Life Sciences (GCHERA) from 23 to 25 January 2019 at TamilNadu Agricultural University (TNAU) in Coimbatore, India.

H I G H L I G H T S O F T H E P A R T N E R S ' A C T I V I T I E S

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Group picture from the workshop "Knowledge Management and Capacity Development for More EffectiveAgricultural Innovation Systems (AIS)” held in January 2019 at the Tamil Nadu Agricultural university (TNAU)

in Coimbatore, India.

© APAARI

/ September 2019TAP Newsletter

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The Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) issues a call for expression of interest for support to innovation platforms

In May 2019, FARA launched a call for expression of interest for support to agricultural innovation platforms, aswell as agribusinesses and multi-stakeholder platforms operating in Africa. The call was also extended to those wishing to register as facilitators of agricultural innovation platforms on the‘Innovation Platform Agribusiness Portal’ hosted by FARA. This exercise aimed to identify commodity-basedinnovation platforms that could be supported to scale proven agricultural technologies, such as through theongoing platform ‘Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT)’, funded by the AfricanDevelopment Bank. FARA is managing the Capacity Development and Technology Outreach component ofthese platforms, working in collaboration with the African Forum for Agricultural Advisory Services (AFAAS),Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA), West andCentral Africa Council for Agricultural Research and Development (CORAF), Centre for Coordination ofAgricultural Research and Development for Southern Africa (CCARDESA), and National Agricultural ResearchSystems (NARS).

FAO drafted guidelines for assessing agriculture innovation system

Assessing agricultural innovation systems (AIS) is a precondition for designing and setting priorities forinterventions to strengthen them. To discuss the issue, FAO organized a side event “Agricultural innovationsystem (AIS) assessment guidelines: fit for purpose” during the CDAIS International Forum in Gembloux,Belgium on 13 May 2019. Draft guidelines for AIS assessment were recently developed by FAO in collaborationwith several international experts, including TAP Partners. An overview of these guidelines was presented at theForum, where inputs and comments were received to refine and improve it. A revised version was shared inAugust 2019 and is being tested in Thailand in close collaboration with APAARI. The guidelines will also betested in Tanzania.

The Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences (CATAS) develops a new management training programme

CATAS has developed a management training programme to strengthening the capacity of developing countries in topics related to agricultural policy, agricultural enterprise management, rural innovation and entrepreneurship, poverty alleviation and reduction. Over 3000 participantsfrom more than 100 developing countries in Asia, Africa, South Pacific Islands and Latin Americahave benefited from this program.

The call has received over 200 applicationsfrom 21 countries. Although the currentopportunity from TAAT covers ten countries inAfrica, the list of applicants provides FARA withan interesting array of organizations involved inAIS, to consider in future projects. FARA iscurrently evaluating the applications. Chosenplatforms will be included in an upcomingcapacity audit of innovation platforms in tencountries covered under the TAAT programme.

/ September 2019TAP Newsletter

RELASER is a regional network based in Chile, which became a TAP Partner in May 2019, after approval by theTAP Partners Assembly. RELASER, through an IFAD grant, is starting the implementation of the programme“Delivering Extension Services to the Last-Mile: Improving smallholders' access to innovation and pluralistic,demand-driven extension services”. Its overall objective is to enhance the capacity of rural advisory service (RAS)providers in the Latin America and the Caribbean region to effectively facilitate AIS knowledge and technologyflows to foster equitable, resilient and sustainable market-oriented smallholder agriculture. The programmefocuses on strengthening country institutional and organizational RAS capacities as well as supporting improvedservice delivery to farmers. The programme operates through the Global Forum for Rural Advisory Services(GFRAS), comprising of networks from country to global level. The RELASER Secretariat is also translating CDAIS manuals and TAP factsheets into Spanish, to be publishedsoon. These resources will contribute to the sharing of knowledge and methodologies on AIS among partners andstakeholders in Latin America and the Caribbean.

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The Global Confederation of Higher Education Associations for Agricultural and Life Sciences (GCHERA) strengthens and scale-ups the transformation of higher education

The Japan International Award for Young Agricultural Researchers (Japan Award) (which began in 2007), ispresented by Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) and supported by JIRCAS. Itspurpose is to increase motivation among young researchers to conduct research and development in agriculture,forestry, fisheries, and related sectors in developing countries. This year, the Annual Japan Award Ceremony will take place on 26 November at Tsukuba International CongressCenter, Ibaraki, Japan. Up to three young researchers with outstanding performance and achievements inresearch and development will be invited to Japan to attend the ceremony and accept their awards and a price ofUSD 5,000 per awardee.

Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS) is committed to research and development in agriculture

1. Workshop on Experiences and Advances on University Transformation at the AUB, Beirut, 5-7 September2019. This event aims at sharing the commitment and advances to higher educational change among theproject’s partners, as well as to strengthen and scale-up the transformation of higher education efforts globallyin response to the challenges of the 21st century. 2. GCHERA Conference, 28-29 October 2019 at the Nanjing Agricultural University, China. This conferenceincludes a workshop on the Transforming University Education Project, seeking to expand the project acrossGCHERA's global network of universities. The 2019 GCHERA World Agriculture Prize will also be awardedduring the Nanjing meeting and the GCHERA General Assembly will be held.

RELASER , the new TAP partner from Latin America and Caribbean

/ September 2019

GCHERA is partnering with the American University of Beirut (AUB) to promote experiential learning andcommunity engagement among institutions of higher learning, through the Kellogg Foundation funded project onTransforming University Education. Recent and future events include:

TAP Newsletter

TAP Partners and the CDAIS project had a strong presence atthe “International Symposium on Agricultural Innovation forFamily Farmers: Unlocking the potential of agricultureinnovation to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals”,which took place from 21 to 23 November 2018 at FAOHeadquarters in Rome, Italy. More than 540 participantsattended, including 292 delegates from 95 member countriesand the European Union. About 45 representatives fromCDAIS and TAP partners were present and contributed aspanel members, through interventions in the sessions, and inthe Innovation Fair at the Symposium. Pre and post-Symposium CDAIS events were also organized. TheSymposium made clear that TAP and the CDAIS project arewell-aligned with the global dialogue on agricultural innovation.The Symposium’s recommendations highlight the importantrole of innovation facilitators and developing functionalcapacities in support of agricultural innovation for familyfarmers. More details are available in the Symposium's proceedings:http://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/ca4781en

International Symposium on Agricultural Innovation for Family Farmers

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P A S T E V E N T S O N A G R I C U L T U R A L I N N O V A T I O N A N D R E L A T E D R E S O U R C E S

International Innovation Award for Sustainable Food and Agriculture

The International Innovation Award for sustainable food andagriculture was launched by FAO and the Government ofSwitzerland in October 2018. The winners were announced atthe FAO Awards ceremony held on 26 June 2019.The co-winners of Category A - Award for Digitalization andInnovation for Sustainable Food Systems, were: PracticalAction (Bangladesh) recognized for empowering landless andmarginalized farmers through “sandbar cropping”; and Institutode Manejo e Certificacao Florestal e Agricola (Imaflora, Brazil),commended for successfully creating a digital platform andbrand that links indigenous groups in Amazonia to newmarkets. The winner of Category B, Award for Innovations thatempower youth in agriculture and food systems, was: TheInternational Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) forestablishing an agribusiness incubation program – IITA YouthAgripreneurs.For more information about the winners and the awards see:http://www.fao.org/fao-stories/article/en/c/1199136/

© FAO

Evelyn O. Ohanwusi (IITA) during the InternationalInnovation Award ceremony at FAO (Rome, Italy), In

June 2019.

/ September 2019TAP Newsletter

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U P D A T E S O N C D A I S

CDAIS goes global: International Forum held in Gembloux, Belgium

The CDAIS International Forum was held on 13-14 May 2019 at Agro-Bio Tech of the University of Liege, inGembloux, Belgium. The Forum was a very successful global knowledge exchange about functional capacities.Insights and perspectives were shared by 50 experts and stakeholders from the eight CDAIS country teams andby the global partnership led by Agrinatura and FAO. In total, more than 140 participants representing farmers, researchers, scientists, development practitioners andknowledge intermediaries from more than 40 countries attended. They shared the achievements of the CDAISproject in the eight countries, and activities at global level. This allowed for knowledge exchange on realexperiences from those intimately involved in CDAIS projects as well as other global initiatives, which provided aclear picture of how changes have occurred and how mindsets have shifted. The Forum was also an important learning opportunity for CDAIS country and coordination teams who could listento others actors, who had similar initiatives.

Digital agriculture transformation seminar held at FAO HQ

A two-day seminar on “Digital agriculture transformation: the challenges to be addressed” took place from 12-13 June 2019 at FAO Headquarters in Rome, Italy. The event aimed at identifying challenges that the digital transformation brings to agriculture and rural systems, and at exploring pathways forassessing risk and opportunities in the digital transformation along the value chains and in rural areas. Fostering exchange among stakeholders is a key factor.A status report and a briefing paper on digitaltechnologies in agriculture and rural areas werelaunched at the event and are available at:http://www.fao.org/about/meetings/digital-agriculture-transformation/resources/publications/en/

© FAO

From the left: Christophe Larose (EU), Deborah Romney (CABI) and Michael Hailu (CTA) during their participation in the Digital agriculture transformation seminar at FAO (Rome, Italy), in June 2019 .

TAP Newsletter / September 2019

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The CDAIS policy dialogue, a key activity in the final phase of the CDAIS project, culminated with the organizationof high-level national events in which key policy constraints identified at ‘niche’ level were presented to policymakers. Four national policy dialogues were organized in 2019. These took place in Rwanda and Burkina Faso inJanuary 2019; in Angola in March 2019; and in Ethiopia in May 2019. Previously, four countries held such events in2018. The events brought together teams from the CDAIS innovation partnerships and relevant nationalorganizations and government actors, to discuss issues of mutual interest. This was the first time that manyinnovation partnerships directly interacted with high-level policy makers since members of Parliament attendedsome of these events. The events resulted in action plans and policy briefs with recommendations on how toimprove the enabling environment for AIS.

Policy dialogues identify actions to address constraints to innovation

In March and April 2019 all eight CDAIS countries organized a national forum to share the progress made instrengthening national innovation partnerships and organizations. The national forums benefitted greatly from theanalytical results of studies conducted by the project country team in particular using tools of Monitoring, Evaluationand Learning system (‘T3 workshops’, in CDAIS terminology), as well as proposed exit strategies. The nationalforums were culmination events where the achievements at the innovation niche level, organizational level andpolicy level were shown. In particular, they showed the integration and linkages of these various levels, providedspaces for all stakeholders involved and engaged to consolidate the lessons learnt for cohesive action plans afterthe project.

CDAIS experiences shared at national forums in pilot countries

Exhibition booths from each country allowed participants to share lessons and innovations and stimulated dialoguethroughout the event. During the exhibition, a series of six manuals and guidelines, and two books of personaltestimonies were launched to inspire similar initiatives in the future. Read more about this event at:https://cdais.net/2019/05/21/sharing-and-shaping-a-better-future/

Final Evaluation of the CDAIS project

An independent final evaluation of the CDAIS project was conducted by the FAO Office of Evaluation to assess therelevance of the CDAIS project and its underlying approaches; its contributions under each result area throughoutits implementation period (January 2015 to August 2019); and to identify the lessons learned as well as the causesof successes and failures. Over 100 project stakeholders at global, country and niche level were interviewed. An on-line survey was also sent to TAP Partners and TAP SC members were interviewed. The evaluation team visitedfour of the eight countries: Ethiopia, Guatemala, Angola and Bangladesh. The final evaluation report has beenshared with the Project Oversight Committee (POC) and will made available online soon.

The CDAIS International Forum in Gembloux, Belgium, in May 2019.

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TAP Newsletter / September 2019

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The TAP Action Plan was supported by the EU-funded project “CapacityDevelopment for Agricultural Innovation Systems” (CDAIS) from January2015 until August 2019, jointly implemented by FAO and Agrinatura.Since August 2019 the EU supports TAP Action Plan through the project" Developing capacities in agricultural innovation systems: scaling up theTAP Framework" (DeSIRA), implemented by FAO.

R E C E N T

C D A I S P U B L I C A T I O N S

Visit TAPipedia to explore more

(www.tapipedia.org)

Organizing a policy dialogue -

A practical guide

1.

3. Capacity needs assessment -

A trainers’ manual (2nd Edition)

4. Monitoring, evaluation and

learning - Concepts, principles and

tools

5. Niche Partnerships -

A Guide to the Coaching Process

6. Organisational strengthening -

A Guide to the coaching process

7. Stories of change: Building

competence and confidence in

agricultural innovation

8. Conversations of change –

Catalysing innovation in agriculture

2. Organising a marketplace -

A practical guide

Workshop for National Innovation Facilitators (NIF) conducted in El Salvador

FAO El Salvador has implemented a CDAIS project since August 2018,funded by the Italian Agency for Cooperation and Development (AICS). A training workshop for NIF was organized in September 2019 focusingon capacity needs assessments in four selected value chains (coffee,tomato, plantain and bean) and in national organizations. Over 45participants attended the workshop, including representatives of localgovernment, extension, universities, banks and producers organizationsFrom this group, a team of facilitators will accompany the projectthroughout its duration. FAO AGDR and the International Center forDevelopment-Oriented Research in Agriculture (ICRA) facilitated theworkshop.

Working groups during the workshop for National Innovation Facilitators in El Salvador, September 2019.

©Ingrid Saravia Villacorta

/ September 2019

Contact the TAP Secretariat

TAP is a G-20 initiative launched in 2012 to promoteagricultural innovation in the tropics. TAP has formeda coalition of more than 40 partners. Its main goal is to strengthen agricultural innovation systems (AIS) in developing countries through coordinated multi-stakeholder interventions.

TAP Secretariat,Research and Extension (AGDR),Food and Agriculture Organization of the United NationsViale delle Terme di Caracalla, 0153, Rome, ItalyE-mail: Website:

www.fao.org/in-action/tropical-agriculture-platform

Tropagplatform@fao.org

TAP Newsletter