ASARECA Operational Plan 2014 2018asareca/sites/default... · The 11 member countries cover an area of 8.5 million km2 and host a population of more than 350 million people, most

ASARECA Operational Plan 2014—2018

Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa

Operational Plan 22014–2018

Supporting the reduction of poverty and the improvement of food security and nutrition in Eastern and Central Africa

1 December 2013


© 2013 Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa

Correct citationASARECA [Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa]. 2013. ASARECA Operational Plan 2, 2014–2018: Supporting the reduction of poverty and the improvement of food security and nutrition in Eastern and Central Africa. ASARECA, Entebbe.

Fair use policyThis publication may be reproduced with the intention of increasing its availability to those who need it. ASARECA encourages fair use of reproduced material. Proper citation is requested.

Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa(ASARECA)Plot 5, Mpigi RoadPO Box 765Entebbe, Ugandatel: +256 414 320212/320556/321885fax: +256 414 321126/322593email: [email protected]: www.asareca.org

Editor: Anne Marie Nyamu, Editorial and Publishing Consultant, Nairobi, KenyaDesigner: Timothy Maleche, ImageMate, Nairobi, Kenya

ForewordThe Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA) is a sub-regional not-for-profit organization whose mission is: To enhance regional collective action in agricultural research for Development (AR4D), extension, training and education to provide economic growth, fight poverty, eradicate hunger and enhance sustainable use of resources in Eastern and Central Africa (ECA).

ASARECA was established in 1994 and currently comprises 11 ECA member countries, namely: Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. The 11 member countries cover an area of 8.5 million km2 and host a population of more than 350 million people, most of whom are rural dwellers pursuing agricultural livelihoods. The sub-region devotes about 300 million hectares of land to agricultural activities and agriculture accounts for about 43% of the regional gross domestic product. Agriculture is therefore an important sector in the social and economic development of ECA.

ASARECA sees improved delivery and impact of scientific knowledge, policy options and technologies as a powerful instrument to drive the ECA sub-region towards meeting the goals of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), the agricultural agenda of the African Union/New Partnership for Africa’s Development (AU/NEPAD) and of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). ASARECA has been operating on a 10-year Strategic Plan which runs between 2008 and 2017. The strategy is being implemented under two operational plans. The first Operational Plan (OP1; 2008–2013) provided guidance on the implementation of the first five years of the ASARECA Strategy. During that period, the 11 ASARECA member countries have continued to invest in agricultural research, extension, education and training; while ASARECA has continued to mobilise operational finances to support partner national agricultural research and extension systems (NARES). Support provided to ASARECA by its development partners has significantly added value to the investment initiatives on agricultural research for development (AR4D) in the ECA region. ASARECA has in the past five years contributed to the promotion of regional agricultural research and strengthening of relations between NARES in ECA and between NARES and the CGIAR centres. During OP1, ASARECA greatly expanded its mandate to link agricultural research to the political dialogue through the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the East African Community (EAC), the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) and AU/NEPAD. ASARECA also continued to monitor political and institutional change in the global research environment and provide representation in appropriate fora to its member countries.

As the OP1 period comes to an end, ASARECA has developed a second Operational Plan (OP2) which is meant to build on the successes of OP1 taking into account the changed environment in which it operates and lessons learnt. The OP2 document has been developed through a highly consultative process and the document presented herein has been approved by the ASARECA Board of Directors. The document leverages on the ASARECA priority of transforming agriculture in the ECA sub-region into a viable market-oriented sector.

I wish to assure all stakeholders that ASARECA is committed to the full implementation of the OP2 document.

Dr. Fina Opio

Executive Director, ASARECA

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AcknowledgementsI thank the various stakeholders of ASARECA who were involved in one way or another in the development of the OP2 document. Your inputs helped to enrich this document and make it more focused to your needs as stakeholders. I thank ASARECA’s development partners including the World Bank for their continued support and for walking through the entire OP2 development process with ASARECA and making very valuable contributions to the process and document. I also acknowledge with thanks the great input of ASARECA Secretariat staff and the able leadership and patience provided by the lead consultant, Dr John Sutherland.

I thank the ASARECA Board of Direrctors for providing oversight and making valuable contributions, besides granting their approval to the document.

Dr Fina Opio

Executive Director, ASARECA

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ContentsForeword................................................................................................................................. iii

Acknowledgements................................................................................................................. iv

Acronyms and abbreviations................................................................................................... viii

ASARECA profile...................................................................................................................... x

Executive summary................................................................................................................. xiv

1. Background and introduction.............................................................................................. 11.1 History and Background...................................................................................................... 11.2 Wider policy environment................................................................................................... 21.3 Lessons learned at programme-level during OP1.............................................................. 31.4 Strategic Framework for OP2.............................................................................................. 61.5 Justification for the new Operational Plan......................................................................... 6

2. Planning process................................................................................................................. 112.1 Operational Plan in the context of the Strategic Plan......................................................... 112.2 The Operational Plan—Revised logframe.......................................................................... 11

3. Thematic approach to implementation............................................................................... 173.1 Overview of thematic approach........................................................................................ 173.2 Crosscutting issues.............................................................................................................. 193.3 Organisation of themes...................................................................................................... 203.4 Programmes and units....................................................................................................... 293.5 CGS management and implementation.............................................................................. 333.6 Resource sharing and optimisation.................................................................................... 343.7 Quality of science............................................................................................................... 353.8 Monitoring, evaluation and learning (ME&L)..................................................................... 36

4. Support to ASARECA core functions.................................................................................... 454.1 Core functions overview.................................................................................................... 454.2 Coordination and partnerships........................................................................................... 464.3 Capacity strengthening...................................................................................................... 474.4 Knowledge management................................................................................................... 514.5 Integration of upscaling..................................................................................................... 534.6 Advocacy............................................................................................................................. 554.7 Gender mainstreaming....................................................................................................... 564.8 Environmental and Social Safeguards (ESS)........................................................................ 58

5. Organisation and governance............................................................................................. 595.1 Changes to support the paradigm shift.............................................................................. 595.2 Issues of change and change management....................................................................... 605.3 The Board of Directors........................................................................................................ 615.4 The Secretariat.................................................................................................................... 645.5 Financial management....................................................................................................... 67

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6. Implementation schedule................................................................................................... 696.1 Overview and introduction................................................................................................. 696.2 Inception–Transition Phase................................................................................................ 706.3 Main implementation of OP2............................................................................................. 70

7. Financial plan for the Operational Plan (2014–2018).......................................................... 717.1 The model of the financing plan........................................................................................ 717.2 Budgeting methodology..................................................................................................... 717.3 The financial reporting structure....................................................................................... 737.4 Resource Mobilisation Strategy.......................................................................................... 73

8. Conclusions........................................................................................................................ 75

9. Bibliography....................................................................................................................... 77

10. Definitions for the terms and indicators in the OP2 logical framework (Table 2)................. 79

11. Annexes............................................................................................................................ 83Annex 1 Recommendations adopted by ASARECA’s 1st General Assembly........................ 83 Annex 2 Proposed ASARECA Knowledge and Information Hub........................................... 88Annex 3 Preconditions for implementation of OP2............................................................. 92Annex 4 Programme and unit achievements and priorities................................................ 94Annex 5 Issues and options for engagement with private sector........................................ 114Annex 6 The substance and process of change................................................................... 116Annex 7 Indicative draft logframe for change management............................................... 119Annex 8 Indicative change management timetable............................................................ 123Annex 9 Possible terms of reference of Technical Advisory Committee............................. 125Annex 10 Human resources requirements for OP2............................................................... 127Annex 11 ASARECA OP2 core functions profiles................................................................... 130Annex 12 SWOT analysis of ASARECA operations................................................................. 135Annex 13 Three funding scenarios for OP2........................................................................... 142

FiguresFigure 1 ASARECA member states................................................................................................ xFigure 2 Programme-Thematic approach and logframe links....................................................... 19Figure 3 ASARECA impact pathway............................................................................................... 38Figure 4 ASARECA results chain.................................................................................................... 44Figure 5 Balance of functions required by the Principle of Subsidiarity....................................... 49Figure 6 ASARECA organisational structure under OP1................................................................ 59Figure 7 The 4-Step Change Management Framework................................................................ 60Figure 8 Revised organisational structure for OP2....................................................................... 66Figure 9 Summary of key change management events................................................................ 69

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BoxesBox 1. Selected acheievements under OP1................................................................................... xiiiBox 2 Preconditions for success of OP2....................................................................................... 15Box 3 CGS related issues to be resolved............ .......................................................................... 34Box 4 Mechanisms for improved engagement with private sector.............................................. 47Box 5 Principle of subsidiarity...................................................................................................... 49Box 6 Substance of change for OP2............................................................................................. 61

TablesTable 1 Summary of logframe narrative statements...................................................................... 11Table 2 ASARECA OP2 logical framework....................................................................................... 39Table 3 Proposed ASARECA OP2 targets under different funding scenarios.................................. 42Table 4 Overview of projected costs at three funding scenarios................................................... 71Table 5 Summary of budget costs for the three funding levels...................................................... 72

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Acronyms and abbreviationsAFAAS African Forum for Agricultural Advisory ServicesAIS Agricultural Innovation SystemANAFE African Network for Agriculture, Agroforestry and Natural Resources EducationAnGR Animal genetic resourcesARD Agricultural research for developmentASARECA Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central AfricaAU African UnionBoD Board of Directors (of ASARECA)CAADP Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development ProgrammeCGIAR Consultative Group for International Agricultural ResearchCGS Competitive Grant SchemeCMT Change Management TeamCOMESA Common Market for Eastern and Southern AfricaCORAF/WECARD Conseil Ouest et Centre Africain pour la Recherche et le Développement Agricoles/

West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research and DevelopmentCRP CGIAR Research ProgrammeCSA Climate Smart AgricultureDED Deputy Executive DirectorDONATA Dissemination of New Agricultural Technologies in AfricaEAAPP East African Agricultural Productivity ProgrammeEAC East African CommunityEAFF East African Farmers’ FederationED Executive DirectorESS Environmental and Social SafeguardsFAAP Framework for African Agricultural ProductivityFARA Forum for Agricultural Research in AfricaGDP Gross domestic productGM Gender mainstreamingGMO Genetically modified organismHR Human ResourcesIAR4D Integrated agricultural research for developmentICT Information and communication technologyICU Information and Communication UnitIFPRI International Food and Policy Research InstituteIPR Intellectual Property RightsIT Information technologyKMUS Knowledge Management and Upscaling ProgrammeM&E Monitoring and evaluationM4P Making Market Systems Work Better for the PoorMDTF Multi Donor Trust FundMIS Management Information SystemNARES National agricultural research and extension systemNARI National agricultural research instituteNARS National agricultural research systemNEPAD New Partnership for Africa’s DevelopmentNGO Non-governmental organisationNPP Networks, Programmes and Projects

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OP1 Operational Plan 2008–2013OP2 Operational Plan 2014–2018PAAP Policy Analysis and Advocacy ProgrammePCD Partnership and Capacity Development (Unit)R4D Research for developmentREC Regional economic communityRUFORUM Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in AgricultureSADC Southern Africa Development CommunitySWOT Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threatsTIMPs Technologies, innovations and management practicesUniBRAIN Universities for Business and Research in Agricultural Innovation

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ASARECA profileThe Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA) is a not-for-profit sub-regional association of the national agricultural research and extension systems of 11 countries. The member countries are: Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda (Figure 1).

ASARECA brings together scientists and other stakeholders to generate, share and promote knowledge and innovations to solve the common challenges facing agriculture in the 11 member countries. Collectively, ASARECA and its partners work to assist smallholder farmers in Eastern and Central Africa (ECA) to practice productive and profitable agriculture.

Figure 1: ASARECA member states

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The 11 ASARECA countries cover an area of 8.5 million km2 with a total population of more than 350 million people, most of whom are rural dwellers pursuing agriculture based livelihoods. Roughly one-third of the total land area (about 300 million hectares) in the ECA sub-region is devoted to agricultural use. Agriculture is the most common occupation in the sub-region, featuring heavily in the national economies and accounting for about 43% of the sub-regional gross domestic product (GDP).

In the Maputo Declaration of 2003 African countries committed themselves to increase spending in agriculture to at least 10% of their national budgets by 2015. However, by 2012 only Ethiopia in the ECA sub-region had exceeded the 10% mark; Madagascar, Sudan and Tanzania were operating at between 5% and 10% with the rest of the countries investing well below 5% level. Low investment in agriculture and agribusiness has therefore continued to result in low levels of productivity growth in the sector. With the sector being an important feature of most national economies, sluggish growth in agricultural productivity has translated into deepening poverty, sluggish overall economic growth and generally low per capita income levels. Average annual GDP per capita for 2003–2010 stood at US$659 for the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) region, a marginal increase from a modest US$520 in 1990–1995. High levels of agricultural imports, particularly of staples, appear to be only partially filling the consumption needs of a population lacking purchasing power, resulting in high levels of adult and child malnutrition and unacceptable child mortality rates.

Since the ASARECA member countries share common agro-ecological zones, they largely face similar challenges and opportunities in their agriculture sectors. Transboundary challenges are numerous and include epidemics such as the maize lethal necrosis disease (MLND), wheat stem rust Ug99, etc. The incidence of such epidemics is likely to be compounded by climate change. Agriculture in the ECA region is also constrained by divergent policy regulations that hinder innovation, technology transfer and cross-border trade. In addition, the limited capacities for research and development in ECA could be efficiently shared regionally. In spite of these challenges, opportunities exist that would generate economies of scale and enhance synergy if they were to be harnessed jointly by the region. The ASARECA member countries can draw from the strong impetus and commitment to regional economic integration; emergence of continental policy frameworks; and the potential to be the world’s next food basket. To effectively harness these opportunities and address the key constraints to agriculture, concerted efforts would be required through sub-regional collective action and investment.

To draw the requisite collective action, ASARECA was established in 1994 by the then 10 pioneering member countries to:

• Promote common welfare through collective action by jointly addressing challenges and opportunities to improve agriculture in the sub-region.

• Coordinate the generation of cost effective technologies, knowledge and innovations that would be shared, as public goods, among member countries.

• Complement the activities of national institutions in delivering the products and services of agricultural research, extension and training needed by people in the sub-region.

• Provide a forum for regional dialogue on agricultural policy bottlenecks.

The Vision for ASARECA is to be a:

“Regional leader in agricultural research and development for improved livelihoods in Eastern and Central Africa”.

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Its Mission is to:Enhance regional collective action in agricultural research for development, extension and agricultural training and education to promote economic growth, fight poverty, eradicate hunger and enhance sustainable use of resources in Eastern and Central Africa.

Under the first ASARECA Operational Plan (OP1), the ASARECA goal was to contribute to:“Enhanced sustainable productivity, value added and competitiveness of the sub-regional agricultural system”.

The ASARECA purpose was to contribute to:“Enhanced utilisation of agricultural research and development innovations in eastern and central Africa”.

Central to the ASARECA vision and mission is the value of regional collaboration among member countries to improve the livelihoods of their people. Through collective action, member countries are able to improve food security and increase incomes of their people while fostering broad-based, sustainable economic growth.

ASARECA sees improved delivery and impact of scientific knowledge, policy options and technologies as a powerful instrument to drive the sub-region towards meeting the targets of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), the agriculture agenda of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) of the African Union (AU). In line with the CAADP agenda, ASARECA develops policies and programmes aimed at deepening cooperation in agricultural research and development and policy among its member countries, for the mutual benefit of all the stakeholders in the agriculture sector. ASARECA implements its strategy for agricultural research for development through partners in member country national agricultural research and extension systems (NARES) along the continuum of agricultural research, training, extension and education. Stakeholders of ASARECA hence include:

• Farmer associations

• National and sub-regional associations that coordinate agricultural research, extension, training and education

• Associations of processors of agricultural products

• Associations of agricultural service providers

• Associations of agricultural businesses and related marketing agents

• Consumer associations

• Organised women groups and youth groups working in agriculture

• Non-governmental associations working in agricultural research and development

• International agricultural research centres

• Universities and advanced research institutes

• Investors and donors/development partners.

During OP1 ASARECA made significant achievements, as highlighted in Box 1.

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Box 1: Selected achievements of ASARECA under OP1

In the implementation of the first Operational Plan (2008–2013), ASARECA made significant strides in attaining its goal and project development objectives of enhancing agricultural productivity. Among the key achievements realised are:

A total of 228,349 rural households have benefited directly from ASARECA-related support initiatives, and over 1.37 million individuals have directly benefited from an assortment of ASARECA support initiatives. Furthermore, 56,228 farmers and other stakeholders have used new technologies, innovations, and management practices (TIMPs) generated and availed for uptake from project-related interventions. A total of 364 different technologies, innovations and management practices (TIMPs) were either generated or improved to suit farmers’ demands. A total of 435 demand-driven gender-responsive TIMPs were availed for uptake by targeted stakeholders. For example, through the adoption of drudgery-saving equipment such as ox-planters, ox-weeders, ox-rippers and threshers, farmers have reported reductions in drudgery by up to 75% per acre. The project benefits have accrued in many ways, including additional income to farmers, processors, small-scale traders, and increased productivity of selected commodities. Selected smallholder farmers in sampled projects have generated over US$500,000 from using these TIMPs.

Over 1,000 ha of land have been dedicated to improved TIMPs, especially for the production and multiplication of quality pre-basic, basic and certified seeds. Over 800 metric tons of quality seed of selected crops have been produced and either sold or distributed to farmers for further multiplication. Similarly, over 5,000 ha of highly degraded lands and watersheds have been reclaimed, thereby enabling the targeted households have steady water supply for domestic and farm use.

ASARECA contributed to enabling policy environments through review of existing policies, laws, regulations and management practices. A total of 89 policies, laws, regulations and procedures were analysed, 39 presented for legislation and dialogue, while 37 were approved by various legislative bodies, the East African Community and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) parliaments.

As part of enhancing capacity strengthening of national agricultural research systems (NARS), over 400 assorted infrastructures were provided to targeted partner institutions. At the same time, over 280 different partnerships were formed. Over 60,000 persons (34,009 male and 30,887 female) were trained in: integrated water management, value addition, integrated soil fertility management, value chain development, project management, monitoring and evaluation, environment and social safeguards, basic agronomic and management practices, among others. In addition, over 50 students (14 PhD, 35 MSc, and 5 BSc) benefited from ASARECA long-term training.

ASARECA facilitated the production of over 700 different information packages that include peer-reviewed journal articles, books, and chapters in books, electronic newsletters, conference proceedings and manuals. These products were made available to partners through over 250 different delivery pathways such as websites, flyers, TV, radio, SMS, dissemination events, media events, farm trials, multimedia (You Tube) among others, thereby benefiting over 1 million targeted stakeholders.

Full details of economic benefits are anticipated in the ongoing OP1 evaluation.

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Executive summaryBackground and introductionThe first ASARECA Operational Plan (OP1) provided guidance on the implementation of the first five years of the ASARECA Strategy 2008–2013. To address the changing environment and make the best use of the lessons learned, ASARECA is now launching its second Operational Plan (OP2), which builds on experiences gained, to align its approach to meet the new challenges facing agriculture in Eastern and Central Africa (ECA).

ASARECA is guided by several key policy documents, the principle ones being the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) and the Framework for African Agricultural Productivity (FAAP). The sub-regional integration of regional economic blocs (the East African Community [EAC], the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa [COMESA] and the Southern African Development Community [SADC]) also provides a set of opportunities.

Though there remains high interest in agriculture at the global, continental and sub-regional levels, the ECA sub-region has continued to face many technical as well as policy-based and related challenges which have evolved and developed since OP1 started. Among the key challenges are ensuring food security and adequate nutrition for the ever-increasing population; and overcoming the adverse effects of climate change and climate variability. To proactively address climate change related issues, ASARECA proposes to adopt and promote the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) recommendations on Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA). The CSA approach has the potential to positively contribute to the three Sustainable Development Goals (SDG): economic, social and environmental development. The ASARECA initiatives described in this document as well as the anticipated outcomes are therefore well aligned to the three pillars of CSA: (1) sustainably increasing agricultural productivity and incomes; (2) adapting and building resilience to climate change; and (3) reducing and/or removing greenhouse gas emissions, where possible. Expected outcome indicators of CSA will include enhanced food security, better mitigated climate change, and sustainable conservation of natural capital and flow of vital ecosystems services.

ASARECA also proposes to take a more proactive leadership role in catalysing cooperation among sub-regional stakeholders as part of its strategy for enhancing collective action during the OP2 implementation period. ASARECA sees itself evolving into a sub-regional learning centre on how to transform agriculture, a think tank, and a knowledge and information hub supporting all aspects of sub-regional agriculture.

In developing this second Operational Plan, many stakeholder consultations and numerous sources of information were used, both internal and external to the organisation. The OP2 document recognised the need to build on the positive and negative lessons learned in the implementation of OP1 and integrates the views and demands of stakeholders along the agricultural products value chains. Further, it recognised the need to take into account the prevailing challenges and opportunities in the agriculture sub-sector.

The top priority for ASARECA remains transforming agriculture into a viable market-oriented venture by focusing on access to markets for smallholder farmers, most of whom are women, and providing them with appropriate information on marketing forces and requirements such as quality, quantity and price. This, ASARECA anticipates, shall succeed in drawing more youth to agriculture.

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Planning processThe ASARECA Strategic Plan covers a 10-year period and outlines where the organisation wishes to be by 2018. This second Operational Plan (OP2) is a statement linked to lessons learned, changing external and internal conditions and fresh priorities of how ASARECA intends to carry out its business from 2014 to 2018. It is based on a new results framework developed through a consultative process with stakeholders. The OP2 Impact and Outcome statements are aligned and coherent with the Goal and Purpose statements in OP1 respectively. The five new Outputs define what ASARECA will be accountable for delivering in the next five years. The narrative statements for the OP2 logframe are:

Impact“Competitiveness of appropriate agricultural systems improved”.

Outcome“Equitable access and utilisation of agricultural research and development innovations enhanced”.

Outputs

1. Appropriate technologies, innovations and management practices (TIMPs) generated.

2. Appropriate TIMPs disseminated and upscaled.

3. Appropriate policy analysis and advocacy enhanced.

4. Stakeholder capacity for innovation strengthened.

5. Communication, information and knowledge management improved.

Output 1 remains one of the ASARECA core areas of comparative advantage; although a more equitable distribution of resources and effort between this and the other outputs will be a feature of OP2. Output 2 has been deliberately separated to emphasise the importance that ASARECA places on scaling out and scaling-up agricultural TIMPs to ensure spill-in through opening up to more farmers in different districts within the same country as well as ensuring spillover through upscaling the technologies in similar ecological zones across ASARECA member countries. Output 3 is an important part of ensuring free access to input and output markets, and guaranteeing the competitiveness of raw and processed farm produce. Output 4 is a key element of the core business of ASARECA. Finally, Output 5 will support the ASARECA advocacy role and deliver a higher profile organisation that communicates freely with a wide range of primary and secondary stakeholders and partners with additional internal benefits for ASARECA, leading to a new strategic role for ASARECA as an information and knowledge hub.

Some critical Secretariat and ASARECA-wide institutional strengthening issues are not covered directly by the Outputs. These are establishment of a knowledge and information hub; mainstreaming of environmental and social safeguards (ESS) in all activities; gender mainstreaming; monitoring and evaluation (M&E); and change management. However, these issues are recognised as preconditions to success and underpin the whole Operational Plan.

Implementation approachA programme-based approach was successfully institutionalised under OP1. However, this approach continues to evolve in an external environment which is constantly changing and placing fresh demands on implementation.

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The programme structure has encouraged a commodity approach, with emphasis on technology rather than the users of the technology. Key crosscutting areas are separate programmes and units, with their own projects; no formal system has been in place to ensure that they add value to the commodity programmes. This and related issues will be addressed through a combined Programme-Thematic Approach and a changed institutional culture, supported through deliberate change management to institutionalise a multi-disciplinary approach.

ASARECA will develop multi-disciplinary projects which capture crosscutting issues and are based on priorities clustered under Themes. A theme is defined as a major opportunity or challenge facing agricultural transformation in the sub-region. For each thematic area, calls for proposals for projects will be developed jointly by the programmes and units, which will remain cost centres. Using this approach programmes and units will develop joint calls for proposals. This means the calls will no longer be made in isolation or outside of the thematic areas.

Theme coordinators will be assigned by the Executive Director in consultation with the Deputy Executive Director (DED), and will be drawn from the pool of Programme Managers; they will report to the DED. The role of the theme coordinators will be to convene meetings of programme managers and unit heads to develop multi-disciplinary calls for projects which address the priorities of the theme. In consultation with the programme managers and unit heads, the theme coordinators will be responsible for developing detailed annual work-plans, cost estimates, and expected outcomes under each theme with linkages with the rest of the themes.

The themes shall not be part of the ASARECA Secretariat structure, but shall exist as operational virtual means for institutionalising collaboration between programmes and units. The approach will include the strengthening of management and leadership skills within the Secretariat and supporting a shift in attitude to encourage a multi-disciplinary, multi-sectoral approach to implementation of all programme/project activities that must be oriented to theme outcomes.

The nomenclature and approach in OP2 is deliberately designed to move away from the concept of commodity-based programmes driving the agenda. Moreover, it is an evolution and development of the programme approach designed to capture the lessons learned and major achievements of OP1.

Some of the key factors driving the Programme-Thematic Approach include the importance of crosscutting disciplines, and the need to adopt an integrated approach to resolving challenges facing agriculture and as a mechanism for harnessing opportunities that would contribute to stimulating agricultural transformation. This approach will be a key requirement in achieving sustainable development goals as well as the outcome indicators for CSA. Developed projects will remain sub-regional rather than multi-country, i.e., they will deal with transboundary issues affecting several countries as opposed to having similar things repeated in different countries.

OP1 emphasised the role of ASARECA in supporting farmer empowerment. OP2 will continue this by specifically targeting poverty in project design and implementation by identifying discreet target populations.

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The challenges of ensuring food security and nutrition while developing livelihoods resilience mechanisms to counter the effects of climate change and climate variability will be addressed through three themes:

• Natural Resource Management and Ecosystems Services (NRMES)

• Markets, Market Linkages and Trade (MMLT)

• Sustainable Agriculture, Food Security and Nutrition (SAFSN)

Calls for project proposals will be formulated under each theme to address prioritised, sub-regional challenges and opportunities. The priorities identified for these themes are based on in-depth analyses of existing programmes, strategies and priorities as well as consultations with stakeholders. The priorities were reviewed and validated by stakeholders as part of the OP2 inception phase.

The three themes provide a clear poverty, food and nutrition security focus. The focus will aim to increase the resilience of households and systems to respond to threats posed by a wide range of biological, social, environmental and political challenges.

Currently, ASARECA has eight programmes and five crosscutting units. These will remain the cost centres under the new paradigm. However, the roles and responsibilities will be reviewed to ensure they provide the necessary conditions for successful implementation.

The programme-thematic approach will focus on multi-disciplinary initiatives that consider the value chain and the numerous parameters involved in creating interest in new technologies across a range of stakeholders. Up- and out-scaling will be integrated into activities throughout the life of projects and be governed by a communications strategy which is defined, agreed and budgeted for. The influences of research products on the whole system will be considered before upscaling, and indicators of success will target transformational outcomes.

Market-oriented approaches will be used with strategic partnerships and increased engagement with the private sector. New and innovative partnerships will be developed with a range of stakeholders who have the expertise and skills outside of those engaged directly in agricultural research.Since the ECA sub-region has limited high-tech facilities, partnerships with universities and advanced research institutes will be developed and maintained as part of the wider ASARECA networking process.

Selection and implementation of research project activities will still remain based on a Competitive Grant System (CGS). Current funding mechanisms will be reviewed, refined and adapted to address issues and to broaden the scale and scope of stakeholder involvement.

To ensure the quality of ASARECA science, sets of harmonised standards or procedures, by which technologies of different categories are validated at the sub-regional level, will be institutionalised and promoted. This will ensure that validation and peer review systems are developed and implemented.

Linked to the quality of science is the issue of value for money. ASARECA is determined to ensure that the investment in projects and other initiatives reflects measures of economy, efficiency, effectiveness and cost effectiveness in terms of delivering the organisation’s outputs.

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Crosscutting issuesThe core functions of ASARECA reflect its role as a sub-regional organisation. These functions are the foundation which underpins ASARECA value addition to agricultural development. Knowledge and Information Hub—As a sub-regional organisation, ASARECA recognises the need to leverage her capacity to serve as a repository for knowledge and information as well as a think tank on agriculture. To enhance her capacity in this regard, ASARECA proposes to establish a Knowledge and Information Hub (KI-hub) in the ECA sub-region. The KI-Hub will be a focal point for generating and exchanging knowledge, developing new ideas and networking. Among others, the hub will mainstream new scientific concepts in TIMPs and policies in the region. It will serve to facilitate learning and increase the capabilities of ASARECA stakeholders. The hub will also serve as a sub-regional focal point for data and information generated by ASARECA and other agricultural research for development (AR4D) organisations both in ECA and beyond.

The ASARECA KI-hub will achieve the following four mutually reinforcing outputs:

1. Learning and innovation centre for agricultural research and development (AR4D) established and operationalised.

2. AR4D think tank established and operationalised.

3. Platforms for information exchange established and institutionalised.

4. Technology and information clearing house established and operationalised.

Monitoring and evaluation—ASARECA has institutionalised a functional M&E system. A focus of M&E will be identifying and building on the lessons learned from the process. The M&E unit will be renamed as the M&E and Learning Unit with specific responsibility and terms of reference to ensure that ASARECA continues developing as a learning institution. To ensure efficient M&E systems and reliable results, M&E processes will be standardised through closer collaboration with the other sub-regional organisations (SROs) and FARA to ensure consistency with the CAADP FAAP principles and indicators.

Gender mainstreaming—ASARECA recognises the importance of gender mainstreaming and that it enhances the understanding of socio-economic issues, putting a human face on activities. Gender is no longer viewed as a women’s issue or an issue for development partners, but as something vital to understanding the needs of women and men as the people for whom ASARECA exists. This includes the needs of youth and disadvantaged groups.

Development of an independent and better resourced Gender Mainstreaming Unit which is more effective and efficient in supporting gender mainstreaming in ASARECA and partners will continue. It will prioritise and focus on fewer, more strategic interventions that will strengthen capacity to address gender mainstreaming across socio-economic differentiation at all levels of its institutional and thematic work.

Partnerships and coordination—ASARECA is sub-regionally owned by the national agricultural research and extension systems (NARES) of member states. This provides the opportunity to create enabling sub-regional platforms addressing issues of a sub-regional nature. This will continue and the number of partnerships will be increased. The importance of partnerships with the private sector, and the need to improve these is recognised. The key issues and potential strategies for addressing these partnerships have been identified.

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ASARECA also has a convening role with the ability to bring various stakeholders together to address sub-regional priorities. The importance of this with a particular focus on the new themes will be emphasised.Capacity strengthening—Within the ASARECA Secretariat, a training needs analysis will be carried out and appropriate funding will be identified to support an itemised plan for human resource development. This will include building the capacity of Secretariat staff to improve skills necessary to implement this Plan.

For NARES and stakeholders, general capacity strengthening will support a targeted capacity assessment of member country NARES to identify gaps and potential areas for synergy and partnership development. This will then be used to provide training through a range of approaches.Capacity development functions will be explicitly built into all new projects, and guidance notes on capacity development will be prepared to support this. Capacity development will also be built into partnership arrangements and become a key part of new projects. Emphasis will be on learning by doing.

Infrastructure development will be determined in a participatory manner, considering the resources available. Participating institutions will be expected to make their own contribution including in-kind contribution and will be expected to sustain the infrastructure beyond the ASARECA funding.

Knowledge management—Support will be increased for uptake and upscaling by addressing issues identified during OP1. Project design will deliberately incorporate mechanisms to document and share spillover between countries and encourage the dissemination of research findings beyond participating project countries. Advantage will be taken of lessons from the use of innovation platforms and alternative uptake pathways with innovative partnerships being explored.

The potential that ASARECA has to become a sub-regional hub of knowledge and information will be realised. The hub will ensure mechanisms for sharing the sub-regional benefits of ASARECA work are effective. It will include the use of innovative approaches such as platforms for multi-stakeholder engagements and learning events such as joint field visits.

A new Communication and Public Relations Unit will address information and communication issues at corporate, thematic, programme and project levels through more clearly defined roles on information management. The unit will package information about ASARECA for a range of media and different audiences to raise the organisation’s profile and increase the visibility of its achievements.

Advocacy—ASARECA representation at high-level, regional, agriculture-related fora at COMESA ministerial meetings and AU/NEPAD will be treated as a high priority to increase its ability to engage and influence high-level policy processes in the sub-region. An advocacy strategy and implementation plan to support the development of high-level advocacy skills and a stronger, focussed advocacy thrust will be developed.

Organisation and governanceThe existing structure and governance proved useful and effective during implementation of OP1 but is constantly evolving to meet fresh demands and needs. Several further changes, driven by the shift to a Programme-Thematic Approach, are proposed to increase accountability, transparency and efficiency.

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ASARECA has successfully gone through substantial changes since 2006. However, no formal change management programme was in place to oversee these, and significant areas were neglected. A formal and structured management of change process was started in January 2013. The process will be facilitated and mentored by the recruitment of a Change Management Specialist(s) to guide support and mentor the process in collaboration with a Change Management Team comprising ASARECA staff members.

Change management will be integrated into everything that ASARECA does.

Board of Directors—The roles, composition, committees, and performance as well as skills sets of Board members will be reviewed and aligned with the demands of this Plan.

Technical Advisory Committee—A Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) will be established to act as the technical advisory arm to the Executive Director. This will have clear terms of reference and a clear operational plan of its own.

The Secretariat—The new Programme-Thematic approach will be coordinated and managed by the DED. Senior technical staff will remain as they were under OP1, as programme managers and unit heads. Each Theme will have a Programme Manager assigned as a Theme Coordinator responsible for convening meetings and drawing annual work-plans and cost estimates. An Environmental and Social Safeguards Specialist will ensure that proposed work integrates appropriate environmental and social safeguards criteria. Projects will be largely managed as they are under OP1. Given that projects will be based under themes, the Executive Director in consultation with the DED will appoint a focal point manager to oversee the implementation of specific project(s) and ensure delivery of expected results. For each project, a team will be constituted with clear responsibilities.

A special Crosscutting Committee under the chairmanship of the Executive Director will be created to advise, support and develop ASARECA-wide policy and initiatives. The scope and scale of the Committee will go beyond that covered by the themes, projects and activities. The Information Communication Unit of OP1 will be split into a Communications and Public Relations Unit and an Information Technology Unit.

Job titles and descriptions will be reviewed to reflect the responsibilities attached to them. The staff representation outlined in the Operational Manual will be operationalised. ASARECA operations will be guided by the principles and policies in the Operations Manual which will be periodically reviewed to cater for oversights.

Implementation scheduleSeveral practical issues need to be taken into consideration for implementation. The principal one is the projects for which funds are already committed and which are operating under the programme approach. These need to be completed and, where appropriate, absorbed into the new paradigm.

The preparation for implementation of OP2 will start as soon as the document has been approved by the Board of Directors. ASARECA anticipates that an Inception–Transition Phase of 12–18 months will address several key issues. An indicative timetable has been developed for this.

Once the Inception–Transition Phase is completed, full implementation will include not only the research and other activities of ASARECA, but also the institutionalisation of the changes (substance

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and process) identified in the Operational Plan. The anticipated changes will be aided and guided by a change management specialist and a team of change champions.

Financial plan for the Operational Plan 2014–2018There are no major differences between OP1 and OP2, in terms of budget centres. The current automated financial system and guidelines are flexible and will be able to accommodate the new programme-thematic approach with minimal modifications.

The themes will be budget centres for core project investments. All other financial systems and mechanisms remain the same, but may evolve over time.

A summary of the indicative costs for implementing the five-year Plan are given below, based on three possible scenarios or activity levels:

• A high case level estimated at US$181 million, which reflects the maximum absorptive capacity of the organisation and the level likely to trigger the anticipated scale transformation.

• A medium case portfolio, which would be appropriate in the face of limited funding of US$147million.

• A low case portfolio of US$90 million, which would be appropriate under highly constrained/limited funding.

In OP2, ASARECA will continue to conduct ex ante and ex post analyses of financial and economic benefits accruing from the proposed investments in research. ASARECA will document benefits accruing from: (1) the generation, dissemination and adoption of improved production and processing technologies; and (2) enhanced technology spillover among ECA countries from cross-border transfer and sharing of technologies, and networking of researchers. Given the three possible funding levels of US$181 million, US$147 million or US$90 million, ASARECA anticipates the following results: (1) at least 6% (5.5%; 5%) increase in agricultural production; (2) at least 3.5 million (2.5 million; 1.8 million) households with increased farm-level incomes; (3) at least 10.5 million (9 million; 5.5 million) children under 5 years benefiting from improved nutrition; (4) over 600,000 ha (450,000 ha; 300,000 ha) of land under improved TIMPs; (5) at least 21 million (18 million; 11 million) households with improved nutrition levels; and (6) at least US$900 million (US$800 million; US$720 million) generated by targeted stakeholders through ASARECA support.

Resource mobilisation planTo raise adequate resources to support the implementation of OP2, ASARECA has developed a Resource Mobilisation Strategy. The purpose of this strategy is to guide and facilitate the mobilisation of adequate resources to: (1) support the ASARECA key result areas and related activities; (2) support operations at the ASARECA Secretariat; (3) fund activities that support the vision and goal of ASARECA; and (4) facilitate the establishment of the ASARECA Knowledge and Information Hub. This strategy is founded on the ASARECA organisational setup as a sub-regional agency with the mandate to guide and support agricultural transformation in the ECA sub-region. Mobilised resources will help ASARECA position itself as a sub-regional think tank, knowledge and information hub, and a learning centre on how to truly transform the agriculture sector.

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1

Background and introduction

1.1 History and backgroundThe Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA) started to develop its first Operational Plan1 (OP1) in 2005; the Plan was approved in 2008/2009. OP1 provided guidance on the implementation of the first five years of the ASARECA Strategy.2 During OP1, ASARECA established and operationalised performance-driven gender-sensitive governance and management structures and systems. These were based on five-year priorities set by regional stakeholders that identified strategic thematic areas that guided development of interventions for each programme and unit. Technologies, innovations, policies, standards, procedures/frameworks and management systems were developed and others introduced and adapted for key commodities (crops, livestock, fisheries and forestry).

Countries in the Eastern and Central Africa (ECA) sub-region share many trade and production related issues that cut across borders. For example, pests and diseases, vagaries of climate change etc. do not respect borders. In addition, cumbersome procedures and regulations hamper cross-border access to improved technologies and trade. Challenges constraining the growth of agriculture in ECA require regional solutions. Regional collective action to produce public goods that serve as solutions to common challenges that cannot be addressed adequately by one country alone forms the core of ASARECA functions. Focus on regional problems and opportunities augers well for the regional integration strategies espoused by the regional economic blocs such as The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the East African Community (EAC). Regional action has the potential to promote food security in ECA by easing access to technologies, sharing best practices and facilities, and easing trade in food products through reduced transaction costs. ASARECA prioritises regionally strategic interventions that complement rather than compete with initiatives that would best be handled at the national levels.

In addition, capacity strengthening for agricultural research and development, targeting both human and infrastructure needs as well as partnerships, were effectively pursued in OP1. Information products and pathways have been developed and used to promote technologies and innovations in the sub-region.

During the OP1 period, conditions and priorities have changed although the overall goal has remained: reducing poverty and food insecurity; ensuring adequate nutrition; and developing mechanisms for increased household resilience to effects of climate change and climate variability

1 Operational Plan [2008–2012] Towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals and NEPAD’s agenda CAADP through the improved deliv-ery and impact of sub-regional research. Revised Version. [draft]

2 ASARECA’s Strategic Plan 2007–2016, Agricultural Research-for-Development in Eastern and Central Africa. ASARECA, Plot 5, Mpigi Road, Entebbe, Uganda.

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by harnessing agricultural development as a driver of change and wider economic growth. The need for rapid agricultural transformation has become more apparent and urgent.

To address the changing environment and make best use of the lessons from the last five years, ASARECA is now launching its second Operational Plan 2014–2018 (OP2) which builds on the experiences gained to shift its approach to meet these new challenges.

1.2 Wider policy environmentASARECA does not operate in a vacuum and is guided by several key policy documents, the principle ones being the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme3 (CAADP) and the Framework for African Agricultural Productivity4 (FAAP). The sub-regional integration of regional economic communities (RECs) (EAC, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and COMESA) also provides a set of opportunities. This sub-section provides an overview of these and other policy issues.

Role in the sub-region CAADP and FAAPCAADP provides the guiding principles for agricultural research and development initiatives. A Pillar IV Implementation Support Strategy for CAADP has been jointly developed by FARA, sub-regional organisations (SROs) and other partners, and provides guidance on the roles, responsibilities, and potential contributions by ASARECA. Although this represents progress in defining the role of ASARECA in the CAADP process, further clarification is needed.

For the ASARECA region to reach the annual agricultural growth rate of 6%, estimated by CAADP as the required growth rate to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, the total factor productivity (TFP) will have to grow by 4.4% per annum. TFP is the ratio of total commodity outputs to total inputs used in production (land, labour, capital and materials). Over the last 15 years, TFP in sub-Saharan Africa has been growing by an average of 1.43%. Accelerating the trend to reach a TFP growth of 4.4% requires major improvement in African capacity for agricultural research, technology development, dissemination and adoption together with enabling policies, improved markets and infrastructure. ASARECA priorities for OP2 under each of the three themes are positioning the institution as a major actor in the collective effort to achieve TFP growth rate to the required 4.4% in ECA. Among many of the proposed initiatives in OP2, research aimed at promoting soil fertility and conservation; enhancing water productivity at the farm and watershed levels will for example contribute directly to improving land capital productivity. Labour productivity and social capital will be harnessed through the strong capacity building agenda of OP2 and through the innovation system approach which will proceed by establishing platforms for action research, learning and communication between major actors along the value chains. Priorities under the Markets, Market Linkages and Trade Theme including enhancing regional competitiveness, value addition, processing, value chains and commercialisation of crop, livestock and fish products and improving market access are expected to result in increased income from the various actors along the value chains. This in turn will translate into strengthened financial capital that will support investments in agricultural transformation.

ASARECA will work with COMESA and FARA to craft clear guidelines and coordination mechanisms to implement country CAADP compacts and investment plans. These will define country entry points, inter-pillar linkages and cooperation mechanisms. 3 NEPAD: Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme. Midrand, South Africa. August 2002.4 Framework for African Agricultural Productivity. June 2006. Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa, Secretariat, Accra, Ghana.

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ASARECA engages with the wider community of science and technology institutions operating in the region and will be more proactive with a larger role in the CAADP implementation processes. This has several dimensions, including significant contributions to the technical review of CAADP plans as they relate to Pillar IV;5 design and implementation of the regional compacts of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development6 (IGAD) and COMESA; better capacity to provide relevant knowledge and information to support implementation of agriculture sector investment plans; advocacy to ensure regionally harmonised standards at country level; and overcome bottlenecks in intellectual property rights, including patents and plant breeders’ rights.

Non-CAADP/FAAP and Climate Smart Agriculture issuesThe sub-region has many current, policy-based and related challenges which have evolved and developed since OP1 was started, and which provide a backdrop for the development and implementation of this Plan. These include HIV/AIDS which affects labour availability and productivity; high food prices that are projected to remain high in the medium term; different levels of governance and policy stability in different countries; different land-use policies; and varying and changing climatic conditions.

There remains high interest in agriculture at the global (G8, World Bank, donors), continental (African Union [AU]/CAADP) and sub-regional (East African Agricultural Productivity Programme [EAAPP]) levels. The ASARECA member states must harness this interest and goodwill and be ready to guide investments to maximise benefits.

There has been a lack of clarity around the sub-regional division of labour between the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) centres and other science and technology partners operating at this level, but the situation is improving. Under the recently reorganised CGIAR, ASARECA and its stakeholders have opportunities to redefine their role and promote coordination with the centres in sub-regional priority setting and action planning, especially in the CAADP context. ASARECA will take a more proactive leadership role in catalysing cooperation among these actors as part of its strategy to add value to the sub-region and focus more on realising the Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) goals and objectives.

1.3 Lessons learned at programme level during OP1This sub-section highlights some of the major lessons learned through practical experience and provides the link between OP1 and OP2.

Many sources7 of information and consultations were used to develop these lessons. The sources include external and internal reviews, participatory workshops, broad-ranging analyses by the ASARECA Secretariat sub-committees and the recommendations adopted by the ASARECA 1st General Assembly (Annex 1).

The lessons, elaborated below, underpin some of the changes and developments described in OP2, building on strengths, using opportunities and addressing weaknesses.

5 Pillar IV of CAADP—Improving agriculture research, technology dissemination and adoption—the Pillar structure of CAADP is currently under review.

6 The member states are: Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda.7 Sources of information are listed in Section 9.

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CommunicationIt is important to communicate and demonstrate the benefits of technologies and innovations. Where technologies and innovation resulted in increased productivity and income, and this was demonstrated and communicated, stakeholders were enthusiastic to learn more.

Communication is important to ensure quality and understanding. Researchers must discuss issues with implementation partners during monitoring visits so as to sort out inconsistencies and improve efficiency.

Communication strategies and mechanisms are essential for success. The sub-regional aspect of the ASARECA mandate and work has not been adequately understood by partners which results in lack of commitment and synergy. Linked to this is a low level of integration of projects across programmes and countries. More strategic effort is required to foster closer collaboration in ASARECA. This needs to be well managed and promoted. Generally, there has been a tendency for sub-grantees to work in isolation.

Duration of projectsTo achieve widespread change and benefits, short-duration projects are not a good mechanism. What did not work well were short projects which ended before beneficiaries could realise the real benefits from implementation. For projects to be of benefit to stakeholders, they should be designed to last at least 4–5 years rather than 1–2 years which is too short. Short projects are unlikely to produce significant changes or impact.

Flexibility and duration are key elements of funding which can have a significant influence on success of projects/interventions. Due to the uncertainty in timing of approval/implementation of policy reforms, projects/interventions should be flexible enough to deal with unanticipated changes and opportunities that may arise.

Partnerships and platformsHolistic approaches produce greater engagement and benefit. Projects that are designed to address the value chain, involving a wide range of stakeholders, are more likely to be adopted.

Multi-stakeholder and productive partnerships enhance success. Partnerships between different stakeholders are key to successful implementation of any project. Product diversification and value addition are more likely to benefit the stakeholders if business incubation is incorporated in the process at different levels. This has been done by forming innovation platforms and communities of practice which facilitate exchange of information, knowledge and experiences. This could be further enhanced through targeted funding mechanisms such as enterprise or innovation funds.

Socio-economic and cultural issues must be integrated into project design. The sub-region has diverse socio-economic and cultural conditions. Projects must therefore be designed carefully and sensitively to take account of this. CGS selection criteria for projects also need to reflect this.

Diversity of members contributes to the success of the platform approach. Using the innovation platform approach with diverse partners and a broad base of stakeholders greatly enhanced interactions and performance. This includes serious engagement with youth, disadvantaged groups

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and the private sector. The nature of technologies developed through this process reflected the needs of the respective stakeholders, including households, an essential component of successful uptake.

A holistic approach enhances project success. Interventions that focused on challenges and opportunities identified along commodity value chains with participatory action research and joint regional lesson sharing and learning, plus engagement with appropriate stakeholders, including the private sector were more successful.

Successful scaling-up requires multi-stakeholder participation. Success and sustainability were supported by involving extension organisations (public and private) and, depending on the commodity, private sector engagement or marketing technologies.

Participatory identification of priorities generates ownership and increases appropriateness. Priority identification through consultative, sub-regional processes allowed identification and ownership of outputs that were relevant to addressing the competitiveness of the agriculture sector.

Technical support and capacityTechnical support greatly enhances project performance and strong technical support is both helpful and necessary for success. For action-research oriented projects aimed at generating lessons learned on methodology, leadership by organisations with resource pools of diverse skills sets such as international bodies yielded better results. Projects which included an international agricultural research centre as a partner were therefore more successful. Leadership provided by appropriate CGIAR centres and international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) provided backstopping and technical capacity development as well as solid management, and excellent coordination and facilitation of the sub-regional partnering and lesson learning.

Appropriate skills for project staff are critical to success. Staff need a minimum skills set to successfully engage with projects. However, these were often insufficient. Capacity building will be needed and, where possible, more critical criteria on human resource aspects of project selection under the CGS system will be factored into the initiatives.

Appropriate infrastructure and equipment are needed for successful project implementation. Some advanced research demands levels of facilities and infrastructure that are often unavailable. Greater care needs to be built into selecting sub-grantees or additional provisions should be made to strengthen infrastructure.

Basic levels of English are required amongst participants in collaborative projects to permit effective participation in project concept writing and implementation. Francophone and Arabic speaking partners have had problems communicating in English and additional support needs to be built into project design processes. Adoption of French as a second official language of ASARECA will enhance communication with stakeholders in the Francophone region of ECA.

Good skills and understanding of financial management systems are required to utilise funds through the Multi Donor Trust Fund (MDTF). Project-based capacity building at sub-grantee level is an option to address the issue of financial management capacity. Often, skills were sub-optimal and did not support compliance with financial accountability rules.

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Approach, design and paradigmMarket orientation is a key element in addressing rural poverty through an agricultural innovation systems approach. A market-based, value chain approach must be used because while the challenges facing farmers may be commodity-based, they are linked to entire household needs.

Many crosscutting issues outside of discipline specific technical focus exist and must be considered in design and implementation. Crosscutting issues (notably environmental and social safeguards, gender mainstreaming and capacity building) need to be deliberately and explicitly built into all projects or activities to make significant impact.

Appropriate prioritisation and monitoring of changes is important. Priorities set in the Strategic Plan remain relevant; what needs to change is further screening of the priorities so as to focus on a few projects and follow them through to implementation.

The importance of these lessons is recognised and the M&E Unit will be renamed to the M&E and Learning Unit with specific responsibility and terms of reference to ensure that ASARECA continues developing as a learning institution. The change management process will address the institutionalisation of a learning institution ethos which provides leadership to the NARES of member states.

1.4 Strategic framework for OP2OP2 is fully coherent with the current Strategic Plan, which addresses CAADP priorities and aims. However, the broad base of ASARECA stakeholders recognises that the Association must review and, as required, adjust its strategic role and the strategic direction in which it is heading. This is necessary because of the continued pressure on resources; the need to address the challenge of food and nutrition security; and the ever increasing uncertainties and risks associated with climate variability and change.

The OP2 document recognises that any change in direction will have to be identified with stakeholders through a participatory approach. Furthermore, ASARECA will switch its focus from a body which purely awards grants, to one which is a sub-regional learning centre on how to transform agriculture; a think tank and a knowledge and information hub supporting all aspects of sub-regional agriculture (see Annex 2).

Such a potential change is addressed in the articulation of the new outputs, especially Output 5.8 It is fully compatible with the approach and concepts behind OP2.

1.5 Justification for Operational Plan 2

Problem analysisAgriculture is the most common occupation in the ASARECA sub-region and accounts for 43% of the regional gross domestic product. Approximately 300 million hectares (roughly one-third) of the total land area in ECA is devoted to agricultural uses. About 80% of the population of over 350 million in the sub-region depend on agriculture. With the population growing at an average rate of 2.8% per

8 Communication, information and knowledge management improved.

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annum, agricultural production must grow by at least 3% per annum to keep pace with the increasing food demands. Projections indicate that at the current rate of increase, the population of ECA will reach 692 million by 2050, an increase of 121%, which will inevitably have serious implications for food and nutrition security in the region.

Generally, agricultural productivity in ECA continues to remain low with average yields for major crops falling below those obtained elsewhere in Africa and in other continents. These trends in productivity growth have translated into poor overall agricultural growth rates in individual ECA countries, and for the region as a whole. With agriculture being the backbone of most national economies in the region, sluggish growth in the sector has translated into sluggish overall economic growth and generally low per capita income levels. This bleak picture has major implications for the aggregate relationships of agricultural production, consumption, and trade in the region. Subsequently, most countries in ECA have remained net importers of major agricultural commodities. Given that the bulk of the region’s population resides in rural areas and depends on agriculture for income and sustenance, and given the low levels of productivity growth in the sector, hunger and malnutrition have continued to deepen. The picture that emerges for ECA therefore is one of a region comprising countries progressively less able to meet the needs of their burgeoning populations.

The above challenges are exacerbated by the low input subsistence farming that is typical of agriculture in ECA. This is characterised by unsustainable management practices and low level of inputs, low mechanisation, low adoption of agricultural innovations and uncompetitive practices in rapidly globalising markets. ECA is also one of the most vulnerable regions to climate change and climate variability due to its predominantly semi-arid to arid climate and ecology, degraded soils, extreme poverty levels and lack of infrastructure. The arid and semi-arid areas of the region constitute more than 70% of the landmass and they face extreme climatic shocks such as increasing droughts and floods.

Despite these challenges, ASARECA recognises that agriculture shall, in the foreseeable future, remain the most important sector in the economies of almost all ECA countries.

Regional interventionsFood and nutrition insecurity in the region and the threat of increased vulnerability to effects of climate change must be addressed through innovative regional initiatives that will result in the transformation of agriculture.

Significant differences exist between regional and national priorities. The NARES in the ECA region have, for example, identified elements that are under national responsibility. Even where such national priorities have been identified, interventions have often been characterised by low levels of financial support, inadequacy of human resources, weak communications, poor coordination and internal linkages among actors, structural impediments to collaboration and coordination problems. The potential benefits for regional coordination of agricultural research for development (AR4D) initiatives have been quantified and are substantial. Under OP2, ASARECA will continue to add value to the work of NARES in the sub-region through: (1) identifying shared goals and promoting economies of scale and scope through collaboration, specialisation and sharing results; (2) identifying sub-regional public goods that would be under-produced in the absence of shared goals and a regional mechanism; and (3) sharing knowledge and experiences with institutional innovation for more effective agricultural training and education. Through its sub-regional initiatives, ASARECA will improve the delivery and impact of scientific knowledge, policy options and technologies, which will

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serve as powerful instruments to drive the ECA region towards meeting the CAADP goal. ASARECA is appropriately positioned to contribute towards achieving the vision of AU/New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) by using strong partnerships at all levels.

The expressed opportunities indicate that many conditions favourable to positive reform are in place. These include the will for change; domestic, political and policy support; and development partner support. ASARECA has chosen to position itself strategically as both the advocate of the ECA region and a conceptual player in designing the international and sub-regional agricultural research-for-development system. ASARECA has taken a proactive role in promoting this link that research organisations have lacked with the policy-making and high-level development partner environment. ASARECA also takes an active role in the CAADP Support Group at the regional level to ensure that agricultural R4D is appropriately represented in debates on technical, institutional and policy issues. During this second Operational Plan, ASARECA will continue to provide a link between agricultural research with political dialogue through the RECs such as EAC and COMESA, as well as FARA and AU/NEPAD. Further, ASARECA will continue working with CAADP country teams to identify key areas of intervention to accelerate the country round table processes and priority investment areas. A key area of interest and focus for ASARECA in OP2 will be transforming agriculture into a viable market-oriented venture by focusing on access to markets for smallholder farmers, most of whom are women. In addition, these beneficiaries will be provided with appropriate information on marketing forces and requirements such as quality, quantity, price and enabling policy environments. As a viable business venture, agriculture will be able to attract more youth. If this is implemented under the CSA framework, then additional results expected include enhanced food security and nutrition; improved systems resilience and productivity; and sustained flow of ecosystems services that are necessary support and strong pillars in agricultural development.

The goal of transformation will be to move as many farmers from subsistence and semi-commercial clusters to commercial levels. This will be done by building on the synergies achieved by alignment with the CAADP processes at national and sub-regional levels, within the macroeconomic environment.

Achieving this will require, inter alia, sharing information and knowledge including the use of innovative channels of dissemination, partnership models for dissemination, commercialisation, dissemination packages for different locations and tracking dissemination pathways for assessing adoption. Productivity will be increased by enhancing learning by providing increased access to services for enhancing skills and knowledge. These roles define the proposed knowledge hub function in OP2.

Value chains will be empowered9 through the capacity strengthening of human and physical infrastructure at national and sub-regional levels. To do this, training needs assessment will be conducted and its outputs implemented to support prioritised and targeted capacity building. A growing middle class in the sub-region will increase the demand for agricultural products and will be included as key players in the value chains during analysis and the development of projects and interventions.

9 ASARECA adopts the FAAP definition of empowerment, as something attained when stakeholders, through their groups, networks of groups and associations, acquire the ability to determine their own needs and production targets, and assume the authority, resources and capabilities to hold accountable and influence the content of public and private agricultural services such as extension, research, training, information, investment and marketing [FAAP document, page 15].

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Product development is a key part of transforming agriculture in the sub-region, and there are several options available to do this which ASARECA will address.

The currently low levels of commercialisation and farm income in the sub-region will be quantified and used to target issues through R&D approaches by, for example, promoting the Making Market Systems Work Better for the Poor10 (M4P) approach. Other options include promoting mechanisation and supporting diversification of agriculture through mechanisms such as enterprise choice and market orientation.

ASARECA will play an increased advocacy role in land reform for improved commercialisation, which will in turn create a demand for mechanisation and facilitate larger-scale technology transfer.

Though the high potential, low access, low population density (HLL) agricultural development domain emerges as the clear priority for efficient, equitable, and sustainable agriculture-led growth and poverty reduction in ECA and offers great scope for the benefits from regionally conceived initiatives, ASARECA will deploy its varied interventions across different domains for impact on livelihoods.

ASARECA will increasingly support and seek the alignment of national strategic focus with the underlying strategic approach of this OP. The Association will achieve this through the participation of NARES and CGIAR representatives in the review of its Strategic Plan, themes and programme strategies.

Threats to implementationConflicts occurring within and between the countries of the sub-region may affect implementation of projects. However, ASARECA can do little about this except to be aware of the issues and work around them.

The current global recession and accompanying economic challenges may result in declining funding from donors and be exacerbated by sub-regional economic inflation and slow growth. Prioritisation of activities and a tightly focussed approach will go some way to mitigating this issue. ASARECA will also lobby strongly and build on existing partnerships, and at the same time attempt to expand its resource support base by raising its profile and publicising its achievements.

There are new emerging economic activities (mining, oil, gas) in ECA which may divert the attention of countries away from agriculture, resulting in its neglect. Again, advocacy and lobbying will be necessary to demonstrate how agriculture is making a difference, and show its potential to contribute to national GDP.

10 M4P aims to accelerate pro-poor growth by improving market outcomes that matter to the poor in their roles as entrepreneurs, employees or consumers. M4P focuses on changing the structure and characteristics of markets to increase participation by the poor on terms that benefit them. It addresses the behaviour of the private sector and therefore reinforces the strengths of market systems, rather than undermining them.

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11 A list of the key documents, consultations and reports on which the OP2 is based is given in Section 9.

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2

Planning process

2.1 Operational Plan in the context of the Strategic PlanThe Strategic Plan covers a 10-year period and sets out where ASARECA wishes to be by 2018, addressing its mandate and role in sub-regional agricultural development. The operational plans give an overview of how it intends to do this in terms of the activities and deliverables. Operational Plan 1 (2008–2013) charted the first five years, and OP2 (2014–2018) charts the next five.

Operational Plan 2 2014–2018 is a statement of intent, backed by a rationale linked to lessons learned, changing external and internal conditions and fresh priorities.11 The changed conditions necessitate a fresh approach which in turn requires a different framework around which to build the Plan. This is based on a new logframe developed through a consultative process with stakeholders. The key elements of the logframe are highlighted in Section 2.2 with a narrative to explain the intention behind the statements.

2.2 The Operational Plan—Revised logframe

Overview and rationaleThe narrative statements for the ASARECA OP2 logframe are summarised in Table 1. Details on activities, indicators, assumptions and preconditions are presented in the detailed logical framework (Table2).

Table 1: Summary of logframe narrative statements Impact Competitiveness of appropriate agricultural systems improved

OutcomeEquitable access and utilisation of agricultural research and development innovations enhanced

Outputs

1. Appropriate technologies, innovations and management practices (TIMPs) adapted or generated2. Appropriate TIMPs disseminated and upscaled3. Appropriate policy analysis and advocacy enhanced4. Stakeholder capacity for innovation strengthened

5. Communication, information and knowledge management improved


Impact and outcome

Both the impact and outcome statements are coherent with and similar to those of OP1 and the Results Framework of the MDTF managed by the World Bank.

The impact statement is the high-level reason for the existence of ASARECA. The Association and other institutions will contribute towards this. The level and extent of the contribution is defined through the Objectively Verifiable Indicators of the impacts. For OP2, ASARECA will contribute to: Competitiveness of appropriate agricultural systems improved.

ASARECA is determined, through the implementation of this Plan, to achieve its outcome and appropriately contribute to improving the competiveness of appropriate agricultural systems. The outcome statement is the change or impact that ASARECA wishes to make as a consequence of delivering its outputs. It is the reason for the OP and for ASARECA’s existence. For OP2, the outcome which ASARECA aims to achieve is: Equitable access and utilisation of agricultural research and development innovations enhanced.

This statement focuses on the transformation of agriculture and is based on an in-house analysis of the factors influencing transformation, and discussions at two consultative stakeholder workshops.12 The degree of improvement is defined using indicators which measure the changes that occur due to enhanced access and use of agricultural research and development innovations.

The elements in the statement have specific definitions, which need to be understood to fully capture its implications and intentions. These definitions also apply, where they are found, in other logframe statements and are explained below:

• Competitiveness is shorthand for increased productivity and increased/better access to input and output markets which are, in turn, supported by enabling policies.

• Appropriate covers all aspects of the agricultural systems, meaning they should be:

o Prioritised and strategic

o Equitable

o Gender responsive

o Environment and social safeguards sensitive

o Demand-driven

o Environmentally sensitive

o Climate smart

o Sub-regionally significant

• Agricultural systems include all key aspects of research and extension systems including innovations, value chains and stakeholder platforms.

12 See Stakeholder Working Group Consultation Workshop for Operational Plan Development. Workshop Report. ASARECA Secretariat 11 and 12 June 2012; and Stakeholder Working Group Consultation Workshop for Operational Plan Development. Workshop Report. ASARECA Secretariat 18–21 September 2012, Nairobi, Kenya.

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Outputs, delivery and outcomesThe outputs of the OP and logframe are what ASARECA is directly responsible for delivering. They are the terms of reference for ASARECA between 2014 and 2018.

OP2 has five outputs which reflect the issues and constraints identified in the various analyses and reviews of OP1. The successful delivery of these outputs will result in a series of changes which will lead to the outcome of this OP measured through the indicators. The five outputs satisfy the criteria for achieving enhanced equitable access and utilisation of agricultural research and development innovations. They also signal a shift in emphasis away from a focus on technology generation to a broader and more equitable distribution of effort on technology generation; upscaling and dissemination; market; and value chain-based approaches supported by policy analysis/research and knowledge management.

The outputs are:

1. Appropriate technologies, innovation and management practices (TIMPs) adapted or generated

2. Appropriate TIMPs disseminated and upscaled

3. Appropriate policy analysis and advocacy enhanced

4. Stakeholder capacity for innovation strengthened

5. Communication, information and knowledge management improved

Further elaboration of the outputs follows. They should also be viewed in the context of the overall OP. OP2 has been crafted to address the issues implicitly and explicitly expressed by these outputs and the rest of the logframe.

Output 1: Appropriate technologies, innovation and management practices (TIMPs) adapted or generated

This has been and will remain one of the ASARECA core areas of comparative advantage, although there will be a more equitable distribution of resources and effort between this and the other outputs.

The deliverable here is not only generating new technologies and innovation, but also adapting existing national, sub-regional, regional and international material.

The appropriate nature of these technologies ensures they satisfy a range of criteria13 and are suitable for dissemination and upscaling. One such overarching criterion is being climate smart.

Output 2: Appropriate TIMPs disseminated and upscaled

This output has been deliberately separated from Output 1 to emphasise the importance that ASARECA places on this aspect of its work. It involves, amongst other things, the commercialisation of technologies and the uptake by the private sector through partnerships which develop successful business models.

13 The criteria are: prioritised and strategic; gender responsive; demand driven; environmentally sensitive; climate smart; equitable; and sub-regionally significant.

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Planning process


A criticism levelled at OP1 was the failure to spread successful technologies outside immediate project areas, and share them with a wider range of stakeholders. This was due to several factors which ASARECA now recognises. These include: insufficient partnerships with organisations and specialists with the appropriate skills and authority to support these activities; inadequate planning to include these activities as part of project implementation; a low public profile of ASARECA and its outputs; and short project duration which did not allow sufficient time to complete adequate dissemination and upscaling.

All these issues, and others yet to be identified, will be targeted to ensure output delivery. These are discussed elsewhere in this Plan.

Output 3: Appropriate policy analysis and advocacy enhanced

This output addresses a range of issues that have been well addressed in OP1, and which will continue to be a priority. There is additional emphasis on advocacy and the need to raise the ASARECA profile at a range of sub-regional, regional and international fora. In this way, standards, policy options and research can be made available to decision makers at appropriate levels to ensure adoption, enactment and enforcement.

This output is an important part of ensuring free access to input and output markets, and guaranteeing the competitiveness of raw and processed farm produce.

Output 4: Stakeholder capacity for innovation strengthened

The key elements of focus for this output involve strengthening capacity to implement agricultural research for development in the ECA sub-region. Capacity for innovation will be strengthened in four ways: (1) capacity in gender responsive agricultural innovation systems; (2) training stakeholders in identified capacity building needs; (3) infrastructure development; and (4) partnerships formation. A range of approaches and options will be used to ensure that ASARECA members have the necessary skills to operate in a collaborative and holistic manner through prioritisation of sub-regional challenges or opportunities. As with the other outputs, this will receive support from projects under all three of the themes. Capacity building and development will be inbuilt within the projects/themes. Long-term training of actors in the value chains will be factored in during the design of projects.

Output 5: Communication, information and knowledge management improved

This output has several aspects to it. ASARECA has the potential to become a major knowledge and information hub for sub-regional stakeholders and a contact point for those from outside the sub-region who wish to invest, share or use such information or knowledge. This will be a major thrust and represents a new strategic role for ASARECA.

In support of an advocacy role, this output aims to deliver a higher profile organisation that communicates freely with a wide range of primary and secondary stakeholders and partners.

Internally, the output will deliver improved communication mechanisms, storage systems and strategies that will ensure the widest possible scale of information and knowledge sharing.

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Preconditions and ASARECA organisational strengthThe outputs do not directly cover critical Secretariat and ASARECA-wide institutional strengthening issues including environmental and social safeguards, gender mainstreaming, monitoring and evaluation and change management. These are basic components of the fundamental institutional capacity of ASARECA and are preconditions (in logframe terms) for the successful completion of the activities. They underpin all that ASARECA and its governance structures do, and need to be monitored in the same way as the main activities, outputs, assumptions and outcomes. They will be an integral part of output delivery (Annex 3).

As the name suggests, without the preconditions the activities cannot be satisfactorily completed. They appear in a box below the activity level in the logframe and are summarised in Box 2. They underpin the whole OP.

Box 2: Pre-conditions for success of OP2

Strengthened and gender responsive structure and organisation

1. Change management activities1.1 Development and implementation of change management strategy including:1.1.1 Sensitisation of stakeholders1.1.2 Support to new structures1.1.3 Development of consensus

2. Gender mainstreaming activities2.1 Implementation of strategy2.2 Strengthening of Secretariat gender capacity2.2.1 Engender all ASARECA formats, guidelines, frame works, and harmonise with gender strategy/policy2.2.2 Support engendering of the research project cycle in ASARECA2.2.3 Establish a gender disaggregated data base in programmes/units2.2.4 Establish an internal forum to facilitate equal opportunity and well-being in the organisation2.3 Communication and advocacy2.3.1 Establish a regional consultative gender mainstreaming platform for networking and fostering learning and innovation2.3.2 Establish a comprehensive web site for knowledge sharing2.4 Support to M&E systems to ensure gender responsive planning, reporting and learning2.5 Implement the training of trainers programme including finalising the training manuals and use of other options such as mentoring, research based training

3. Monitoring and evaluation3.1 Strengthening of NARES capacity3.2 Establishing appropriate systems and structures

4. Environmental and social safeguards4.1 Policy review and strengthening4.2 Strengthening ASARECA capacity for ESS4.3 Communication and networking with partners on ESS4.4 Effective and efficient assessments4.5 Monitoring effectiveness and auditing impact

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Planning process


14 The existing programmes are: Staple Crops; High-value Non-staple Crops; Livestock and Fisheries; Agro-Biodiversity and Biotechnology; Natural Resources Management and Biodiversity; Policy Analysis and Advocacy; Knowledge Management and Upscaling; and Eastern Africa Agricultural Productivity Programme [EAAPP]. The units comprise Finance, Gender Mainstreaming; Communication and Public Relations; Information Technology; Partnerships and Capacity Development; Monitoring and Evaluation and Learning; and Environmental and Social Safeguards, Internal Audit.

3Thematic approach to

implementation

3.1 Overview of thematic approach

One of the major successes under the ASARECA OP1 has been institutionalisation of a programme-based approach. This approach continues to evolve in an external environment which is constantly changing and placing fresh demands on implementation mechanisms and structures.

ASARECA has improved the efficiency of service delivery by establishing the eight programmes. However, internal programme linkages have not always been fully implemented and some of the ASARECA structures, and especially processes, have become compartmentalised; informal linkages exist but need strengthening.

The programme approach has encouraged a commodity rather than a people-centred approach, with emphasis on technology rather than on the users of the technology. Key crosscutting areas such as biotechnology, agricultural policy, knowledge management and uptake, capacity development and partnerships are separate programmes and units, with their own projects. No formal system has been in place to ensure that they add value to the commodity programmes. In part, this was exacerbated by the Networks, Programmes and Projects (NPPs) on which the early OP1 projects were based.

This chapter considers the mechanisms and approach that ASARECA will take to address these issues. It will be done through a combined programme-thematic approach and a changed institutional culture, supported through deliberate change management to institutionalise a multi-disciplinary approach and the skills and capacity development of key actors. Further, details on the change management are discussed in Chapter 6 (and in Annexes 5, 6 and 7).

Programme-thematic approachThe proposed approach will be to use the programmes and units14 at the ASARECA Secretariat to develop calls for sub-regional, multi-disciplinary projects which capture crosscutting issues and are based on priorities clustered under themes.

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A theme is defined as a major opportunity or challenge facing agricultural transformation in the sub-region.

Under this approach, the programmes and units remain as cost centres with operational budgets under the control of the managers and heads of units. The core research and agricultural transformation budgets will be under the themes which will constitute the core theme implementation budget (transformative budget) under the DED.

Theme coordinators will be appointed by the Executive Director in consultation with the Deputy Executive Director (DED), and will be drawn from the pool of programme managers.15 They will report to the DED.

The role of the theme coordinators is to convene meetings of programme managers and unit heads to develop multi-disciplinary calls for projects which address the priorities of the theme. In addition, theme coordinators in consultation with the project lead managers (Internal Principal Investigators—IPI), project team members (drawn from other managers and unit heads) will develop the annual transformative budget for each theme with clear outcomes.

The DED will hold a small budget for Theme Coordination. Projects will still be managed by a lead Programme Manager who will report to the DED as in OP1; see further details in Section 5.4. The lead managers for each project will be expected to work jointly with the respective theme coordinators in the implementation, progress monitoring and reporting. This is to ensure that project implementation contributes directly to theme results (outputs and outcomes).

Under this approach, programmes will not develop calls for proposals in isolation or for proposals outside of the thematic areas. Functional crosscutting team formation around each of the supported projects will greatly contribute to ensuring that there is integration and cross-sectional project design, implementation and monitoring. However, this will only work effectively if each team member has clear responsibilities.

The themes are not part of the ASARECA Secretariat structure but exist as a virtual means to institutionalise collaboration between programmes and units and help to organise integrated projects based on the Agricultural Innovation System (AIS). The approach will also include strengthening management and leadership skills and support to a shift in attitude which encourages a multi-disciplinary, multi-sectoral approach.

The Secretariat will develop a simple matrix to link the themes and programmes as a way to address the development issues. The concept is shown diagrammatically in Figure 2 where the themes are a mechanism for bringing programmes and units together to develop calls for projects which all support the five outputs, the delivery of which assures ASARECA achieves its outcome and contributes to its goal. For every project approved and supported, a team will be constituted comprising the line theme coordinator, focal point lead Programme Manager/Unit Head/Internal Principal Investigator, and members drawn from the ASARECA technical staff who contribute towards effective and efficient implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of the project or set of interventions. Crosscutting areas will be represented and they include Gender, M&E and Learning, Environmental and Social Safeguards, Communication and Knowledge Management.

15 All the necessary steps will be put in place to ensure that conflicts of interest for theme coordinators with their positions as programme managers do not emerge. An accountability and responsibility framework to guide interactions within and themes will be established.

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The nomenclature and approach are deliberately designed to move away from the concept of commodity-based programmes driving the agenda, and are an evolution and development of the programme approach designed to capture the lessons learned and major achievements of OP1.

Figure 2: Programme-thematic approach and logframe links

The Inception-Transition Phase (see Section 6) will include a series of participatory and consultative stakeholder workshops and reviews to sensitise stakeholders to the changes and assess and validate priorities. It will ensure this multi-disciplinary approach is owned and understood by stakeholders. This paradigm shift will be implemented as a key element of a deliberately structured and managed change process.

3.2 Crosscutting issuesOne of the key factors driving the Programme-Thematic Approach is the importance of ensuring that activities and projects address and take advantage of crosscutting disciplines. Projects will remain sub-regional rather than multi-country. The Executive Director, DED and theme coordinators will ensure that the Board and national programmes are aware of this, and proposals will be examined in this context.

All discussions and thematic meetings will include members from technical programmes and crosscutting units,16 and will be chaired by the DED (see Figure 2).

16 Including inter alia capacity development, knowledge management, upscaling, communication and public relations, information technology, M&E and learning, gender mainstreaming, environment and social safeguards

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Thematic approach to implementation


Mechanisms will be identified that allow and encourage longer, more productive projects with a longer period of assured, performance-related funding. This will address some of the issues associated with short-duration projects, such as training and output delivery.

OP1 emphasised the role of ASARECA in supporting farmer empowerment. This will continue under OP2 by specifically targeting, through research, the following: food and nutrition security, poverty alleviation and building livelihoods resilience to effects of climate change. This will ensure outputs are better directed at poverty reduction and food and nutrition security and will be facilitated by the adoption of the Programme-Thematic Approach and the continued use of participatory and consultative processes.

3.3 Organisation of themes

Three themes have been identified in consultation with stakeholders based on current priorities.17

However, the number of themes may in future be varied to address new emerging issues or changing circumstances. Calls for proposals will be formulated under each theme to address prioritised, sub-regional challenges and opportunities.

The themes identified are coherent with CAADP and link directly to the Pillar IV themes.18 They also reflect the research, technology, adaptation and extension elements of the other CAADP pillars,19 confirming the crosscutting nature of Pillar IV. This close coherence serves to support the institutionalisation of the CAADP agenda in the countries and agricultural systems of the sub-region, contributing to the ASARECA role to support and strengthen this process.

Theme priorities and focusThe priorities identified for these themes are based on an analysis of the programmes by their managers and analysis by the Secretariat’s sub-committee on strategies and priorities and consultations with stakeholders. These priorities are given under each of the theme headings in the sections below. They were validated and elaborated through stakeholder consultation. These priorities were identified based on their potential to directly contribute to poverty alleviation, food and nutrition security and building livelihoods resilience to the adverse effects of climate change and climate variability.

The themes provide a clear poverty, food and nutrition security focus which will tackle problems facing ASARECA clients in an integrated manner, responding to their demand for improved technologies, clearer and better links to markets and the opportunity to participate in generating solutions through their own empowerment. The themes also focus on increasing the resilience of households and systems to respond to threats posed by a wide range of biological, social, environmental and political challenges.

17 See: (1) Stakeholder Working Group Consultation Workshop for Operational Plan Development, Workshop Report. Kampala, Uganda. ASARECA Secretariat 11–12 June 2012; (2) ASARECA Board of Directors Visioning Meeting. ASARECA Operational Plan Development, Meeting Report, 29 June 2012, Kigali, Rwanda; (3) Stakeholder Working Group Consultation Workshop for Operational Plan Development, Workshop Report. ASARECA Secretariat 18–21 September 2012. Nairobi, Kenya.

18 Integrated natural resource management; Adaptive management of appropriate germplasm; Development of sustainable market chains; Policies for sustainable agriculture; and Scientific capacity building.

19 Pillar I: Extending the area under sustainable land management and reliable water control systems; Pillar II: Improving infrastructure and trade-related capacities for market access; Pillar III: Increasing food supply and reducing hunger: strengthening national and regional food security.

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Theme 1: Natural Resource Management and Ecosystems Services (NRMES)In the context of the ECA sub-region, natural resources and associated ecosystems services play a key role in supporting sustainable agricultural productivity. The state and dynamics of the ECA natural resource base and capacity to provide the required services deliver both opportunities to foster agricultural productivity and pose challenges in promoting the sector. Some of the key constituents of natural resources include, water, soils, forests, on-farm trees, and biodiversity outside of the farming systems. Key ecosystem or environmental services include, soil stabilisation, carbon sequestration, and water provision among others. Such services arise out of properly functioning ecosystems. This is key given that ecosystems are natural capital assets that supply life-support services of tremendous value. However, the challenge is how to turn such recognition into incentives and institutions that guide sustainable investments in natural capital on a larger scale.

Scientific understanding and state of knowledge of ECA ecosystem production functions is gradually improving, but remains a limiting factor in incorporating natural capital into the planning and decision-making processes through the respective ECA country national accounting and other mechanisms of measuring national or regional natural wealth. In the ECA sub-region advances are required on three key fronts—the science of ecosystem production functions and service mapping, the design of appropriate finance, policy, and governance systems, and the art of implementing these in diverse biophysical and social contexts with reference to having appropriate institutional structures and arrangements.

Several key crosscutting issues influence development outcomes from natural resource management—capacity enhancement, gender, and knowledge and information management. This theme is linked to CAADP Pillar IV (Integrated natural resource management).

Priority sub-themes

1. Improving agricultural water productivity: Inadequate agricultural water is a key constraint to achieving food security, nutrition, and income from agro-enterprises. With increasing demand for more nutritious food and poverty alleviation, the demand for water is likely to increase, as climate change is likely to aggravate the situation. Therefore, to ensure adequate supply of agricultural water under varying and changing climatic conditions and food consumption patterns, the following are key priority investment areas:• Promotion and upscaling of best-fit water harvesting, storage and delivery technologies,

innovations and practices at farm and landscape levels, including the promotion of micro- and supplemental irrigation.

• Upscaling of integrated watershed management in major river basins, including watershed level harvesting of runoff and erection of micro-check dams.

• Upscaling of down-scaled forecasting and agro-advisories.• Water resource governance and mapping.

2. Soil health improvement: The state of soil is a key driver in enhancing agricultural productivity. The soil resources in many parts of ECA are highly mined with little investment in replenishing depleted minerals. Soil health is a foundation of the agriculture and food system. Hence, poor soils continue to undermine the efforts of millions of small-scale farmers across the ECA landscapes leading to food insecurity, malnutrition, poverty, and to some extent conflicts among competing interests and social groups. Soil heath improvement therefore remains key to achieving food

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security, improved nutrition, and increase household income. Strategic areas of investment include:

• Promoting soil conservation physical structures including terracing, ridges, tied-ridging and mulching as a way to check soil loss.

• Promoting and upscaling of precision application of fertilisers, e.g. micro-dosing, urea deep planting (application) for rice and other irrigated crops.

• Promoting conservation agriculture as a climate change mitigation strategy and improving soil organic matter.

• Promoting the application of organic farm manure by enhancing drought resistant soils particularly in dryland areas.

3. Adoption of climate smart forestry, agroforestry and biodiversity conservation: Forests, agroforestry and biodiversity conservation support agriculture by providing alternative sources of income at the household level, social safety nets, micro-climate amelioration, soil stabilisation, and pollination among others. Forest loss and degradation is a common phenomenon across the ECA sub-region. It is primarily driven by agricultural expansion and natural calamities. Tree depletion at farm level also assumes the same trend particularly among communities and households whose source of energy is wood. In addition, biodiversity loss and degradation is reported across ECA landscapes, forest ecosystems, wetlands, savannah grasslands, and drylands.

The conservation of biodiversity will aim at maintaining the diversity of living organisms, their habitats, and the interrelationships between organisms and their environment. Both ecological and genetic conservation will be targeted. The strategies to be used will be in situ and ex situ conservation. In situ conservation will involve techniques such as genetic reserves, and on-farm and home garden conservation measures. Ex situ conservation strategies will involve techniques such as seed storage, in vitro storage, DNA/pollen storage, field gene bank storage, and botanic garden/arboretum.

Erosion and loss of forest ecosystems, genetic resources, and other forms of biodiversity is increasing due to a series of anthropogenic and natural causes. Reversing these trends is therefore not an option for the ECA sub-region but an imperative particularly in the context of changing climatic conditions. Forests and allied resources are excellent candidates for mitigating the effects of climate change particularly water loss and increase in temperatures as they are major determinants in the performance of agricultural crops, fisheries and livestock. The priority areas of investment therefore include:

• Mapping forest and water resources in the ECA sub-region using geo-mapping and other appropriate techniques.

• Promoting and upscaling domestication of tree crops including, fertiliser trees and high value trees for fodder, fruits and nectar.

• Promoting economic instruments and approaches to tree and biodiversity resources conservation including large-scale tree resources-based honey production.

• Mapping biodiversity hot spots in ECA.

• Promoting ex situ and in situ conservation of biodiversity using locally available and affordable practices in accordance with the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) whose objectives are conservation, sustainable utilisation and benefit sharing.

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4. Enhancing resilience of dryland agricultural systems: Dryland ecosystems in ECA are important land systems with unique features, characteristics, and resources. These areas are sensitive and hence vulnerable to destruction if not properly managed through controlled resource exploitation. They are frequently characterised by limited and erratic rainfall; intense pressure in natural resource use; high sensitivity to climate variability and change; highly erodible soils; risks of flash floods; and populations that are vulnerable to food insecurity. Over the years, increasing livestock and human population coupled with diminishing pasture and water resources, have resulted in latent and real conflicts becoming more frequent than ever before. This calls for pragmatic and innovative ways of managing dryland ecosystems. Some of the strategic interventions may include:

• Promoting options for forecasting and managing natural resources, emergency of diseases, and conflicts in dryland ecosystems. Subjects of forecasting would include the availability of water and pasture, on-set of rain seasons, growing period, and rainfall spread. On the basis of resources availability and dynamics, potential conflicts would also be mapped out and mitigation measures put in place.

• Developing and adapting technologies and innovations to increase the resilience and tolerance of the dryland systems to droughts and any adverse climatic variations and changes. Such approaches may include, but are not limited to, evergreen agriculture, precision irrigation, and micro-catchment water harvesting.

• Establishing value chains for target dryland ecosystems commodities and promoting market-oriented sustainable natural resources conservation and management. Such value chains will be limited to natural resource based chains, e.g. essential oils, gums and resins, and tree products.

5. Gender-responsive climate smart policies and governance for sustainable natural resource management: Appropriate policies, institutions, and governance mechanisms are key to addressing sustainable management of natural resources. This is key to placing natural resources in the poverty reduction, food security, and welfare enhancement paradigm. Hardly any regional policies, institutions and governance mechanisms on natural resources exist in the ECA sub-region. The Lake Victoria Basin Commission of EAC is one such institution whose mandate is on the prudent management of natural resources within the Lake Victoria Basin. Further research must be conducted to upscale working approaches and share lessons across borders at the national and community levels. Strategic areas of interest therefore are:

• Conducting gender mapping surveys as a precursor to designing strategic natural resource governance interventions.

• Upscaling sustainable land-care options.

• Upscaling and promoting successful innovations and community empowerment in natural resource governance.

• Stimulating the establishment of cross-border structures to enhance sustainable management of communal and common property resources with a focus on minimising conflicts.

• Promoting the formulation of legislation to support the reduction of rmissions from forest degradation and depletion, ground and above ground carbon sequestration.

• Supporting the region’s negotiating teams during relevant meetings at international level—Conference of Parties (COPs) and other fora on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

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6. Managing ecosystems for quality, equitable and sustainable services: Ecosystems across the ECA sub-region are declining in terms of the species richness and services provided to human beings largely due to ignorance of their exact value and contribution to the national and regional economies. In addition, no adequate social and economic instruments exist to encourage individuals to invest in maintaining them. At the global level, estimates indicate that if the trends in ecosystem degradation and depletion are not halted, then within a few decades, virtually all the world’s ecosystems will have suffered significant negative impacts from human activities.20 The root sources of these trends include:

• Most policy makers and individual resource holders are not informed about the range of benefits that come from ecosystems and potential impacts of their loss.

• Widespread perceptions exist that ecosystems services are endlessly regenerated.

• Many of the components of ecosystems are publicly rather than privately owned and, hence, private markets that may give price signals when resources decline do not emerge to stimulate a corrective response.

• The decline of ecosystems due to other economic activities is not generally factored into costs in those markets.

• The economic systems applied in the ECA countries emphasise values and preferences of individuals (consumer sovereignty) more than the values of community.

• Many changes in ecosystems have long lead times, implying that symptoms of decline are not apparent until years or decades after critical threshold levels are passed.

• Investment in ecosystem services has few mechanisms or incentives. Natural assets such as soil, water, forests, biodiversity etc., provide life support services to people

across the social spectrum. Such services include: clean air and water, maintenance of soil fertility, maintenance of liveable or habitable climates, pollination of crops and other vegetation, control of potential pests, provision of genetic resources, and provision of intellectual experience. These ecosystem services are, however, threatened by climate variability and change. The concept of ecosystem service is therefore picking up momentum as an avenue of creating awareness and attaching an economic value of services associated with ecosystems. There are now more voices on climate change mitigation through forest and tree management, soil conservation, carbon sequestration and temperature regulation. It is in this context that this priority investment area is crafted. Key areas of focus therefore include:

• Proof of concept on the value of ecosystem services in local, national and regional economies.

• Establishment of pilot payment for ecosystem schemes (PES).

• Mapping of critical ecosystems and associated potential and real services both in range and extent/value with a focus on climate change mitigation services (carbon sequestration, water provision, pollination).

• Establishment of institutional instruments to support market-based approaches to ecosystems management.

20 For details, see, Third Australian Stream Management Conference August 27–29, 2001. Rutherford I, Sheldon F, Brierley G and Kenyon C (eds), Cooperative Research Centre for Catchment Hydrology, Brisbane, Australia. pp 157–162.

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Theme 2: Market, Market Linkages and Trade (MMLT)This theme is concerned with enhancing commercialisation of smallholder farming through improved access to input and output markets. This will be done by analysing bottlenecks to input and output marketing; promoting viable approaches that improve access to markets; and advocating for an enabling policy environment. Viable approaches will be supported by technologies to promote value addition to agricultural produce. The theme also focuses on continued engagement with value chains and innovation systems and emphasises the importance of trade in driving market processes. It addresses the CAADP Pillar IV theme: “Development of Sustainable Market Chains” and expands opportunities to tackle new and emerging issues as more countries actively pursue a CAADP-based agenda. This theme also addresses the sub-optimal investment in regional solutions using a targeted advocacy strategy.

The overall objective of the Markets, Market Linkages and Trade Theme is “Enhancing regional commercialisation and competitiveness of strategic crops, livestock and fisheries”. This objective will be realised through the following sub-themes and potential intervention areas:

Priority sub-themes

1. Policies for enabling domestic and regional trade: This sub-theme will have four main thrusts;

• facilitation of enactment of enabling trade policies through analysis and advocacy. Some of the core policy areas under this will include options to minimise tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade and provision of marketing infrastructure.

• facilitating the implementation of enabling trade policies through capacity building, advocacy and awareness creation.

• scaling out the development, adoption and use of harmonised product standards and regulations to enable access to various niche markets.

• developing and promoting use of appropriate models for forecasting inputs and outputs market trends.

2. Develop and promote of institutions for enhanced market access: This will involve strengthening (where they exist) and developing (where they are missing) market institutions in the sub-region. The focus will also be on developing, validating, building capacity and scaling-up promising institutional innovations for business development, management and entrepreneurship. These will include collective action to enhance smallholder access to technologies and service functions. The service functions will include assembly, storage, marketing, financing (including factoring arrangements) and business development services in general.

3. Value chain upgrading: Upgrading value chains of key commodity sectors in the region will include developing and promoting innovative agribusiness advisory services. This will be achieved through systematic and structured research, delivery, management and financing models or approaches of business advisory services. Further work will involve promoting, adapting and using TIMPs along key value chains and building capacity in the sub-region for participating in local and regional value chains. Market innovations around value chains (e.g. market information systems, bulk storage, warehouse receipt systems, etc.) will be developed and promoted. This sub-theme will also focus on promoting models for enhancing access to productive resources (land, seeds, finance, fertilisers, labour, mechanisation and pesticides).

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4. Business incubation of generated TIMPs: Business incubation has become an innovative way to nurture the products of science into viable consumer products. This will involve developing business incubation models and generating lessons, and promoting and strengthening business incubation models to catalyse uptake of promising market innovations by the private sector.

Expected outcomes

The following outcomes are expected from the proposed investments:

• Accelerated adoption of inputs by smallholders as a result of improved access to markets and reduced transactions costs.

• Business enterprise development through institutional innovations such as organising farmers to purchase inputs and sell outputs collectively.

• Increased private sector investments in agriculture and agro-industries.

• Establishment of viable and practical market linkages between producers/farmers/pastoralists and institutional buyers.

• Establishment of business chains and trade facilitation institutions, support organisations and business associations for improved access to domestic and regional markets.

• Enhanced capacity of farmers to engage in domestic, regional and international markets.

• Increased information, knowledge and networks to support the development and implementation of policies that favour increased agricultural productivity.

• Enhanced farm level productivity through the pull effect of output markets.

• Improved utilisation of innovations to enhance smallholder access and participation in markets.

Theme 3: Sustainable Agriculture, Food Security and Nutrition (SAFSN)Agricultural productivity and per capita income in the ECA region have either decreased or stagnated due to low use of inputs and mechanisation, poor adoption and utilisation of innovations, and inadequate policies to drive agricultural development. The population growth rate is higher than the agricultural production growth rate resulting in declining food and nutrition security. The ECA region is also extremely vulnerable to effects of climate change and climate variability and there is a compelling need to develop and implement strategies for adaptation of agricultural production systems to the current climatic trends.

This broad theme not only addresses challenges created by climate change, and pests and diseases of livestock and crops but also provides the opportunity to build on possibilities provided by the sub-region’s biodiversity and the techniques and options provided by biotechnology. It addresses both technical and enabling policies and institutions to transform the current subsistence oriented agriculture into vibrant market oriented agriculture. The theme will develop technologies and innovations for sustainable agricultural intensification to increase the overall system productivity.The theme addresses issues of nutrition and food security with links to human health and its effects on agriculture/livelihoods. It also addresses issues of mechanisation; harvest processes; and post-harvest handling, storage and processing. It is directly connected to Pillar IV of CAADP through the theme of Adaptive Management of Appropriate Germplasm and Policy for Sustainable Agriculture.

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Priority sub-themes

1. Development and promotion of breeds, varieties and management practices for adaptation to climate change and variability: This is an area of concern given the current fluctuations in climate. There is need to develop and promote innovations to address and mitigate the effect of climate change. This will include: developing and upscaling TIMPs to cope with climate change (e.g. shorter maturing varieties, drought tolerant varieties, conservation agriculture, etc.); building farmers’ capacity for adaptation and mitigation of their production systems to the changing environment including exploiting indigenous knowledge and building regional capacity for climate forecasting interpretation and use.

2. Management of diseases and pests of strategic crops, livestock and fisheries: This will include: Developing TIMPs to cope with pests and diseases of crops, livestock and fisheries; enhancing regional capacity for surveillance and control of pests and diseases; developing diagnostic tools and control packages for major diseases including the use of biotechnology and traditional tools; and building public–private partnership for pests and diseases control.

3. Promotion of enabling gender responsive policies and institutions for sustainable agriculture, food and nutrition: Harmonising appropriate policies supporting sustainable agriculture is necessary for agricultural transformation to take root. This theme will cover policy frameworks for mitigating and adapting to climate change, policies on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and biosafety, intellectual property rights, seeds, standards, and genetic resources. The theme will also address the establishment of policy frameworks to halt transboundary spread of pests and diseases of crops, livestock and fisheries and policies to support sustainable agricultural intensification and value addition.

4. Post-harvest handling and processing of crop, livestock and fisheries resources: Only about 28% of the agricultural produce in the ECA region is processed. The main constraints include: limited technical skills base to run agro-processing facilities; poor maintenance of agro-processing facilities and equipment; and seasonality of production which is also unreliable due to climate variability resulting in surplus commodities at harvest times and collapse of prices and massive post-harvest losses followed by shortages (increasing food costs for consumers). Furthermore, limited utilisation of all sources of food (crops, livestock, fishery, aquatic, and marine resources, and forest products) leads to staple diets based on a very narrow selection of food sources. Other constraints include the long distances between centres of food production and the centres of consumption and the short stable shelf-life of most sources of food other than grains. Agro-processing and value addition would provide tremendous backward and forward linkages and multiplier effects, with respect to: increased access to markets that are distant in space and time; extension of the reach of food, also in space and time; creation of non-farm employment and income generation opportunities; reduction of post-harvest losses; and improvement of food quality and safety.

To mitigate and/or reduce the negative impacts of these factors, increased investment is required in value addition, processing and preservation to extend the shelf-life of the most perishable commodities. This has to be done without degrading the nutritional value, taste, and presentational characteristics of these commodities. Critical areas of intervention include: investment in agro-processing facilities for priority value chains; warehousing—because of the role it plays in bulking commodities and thus reducing transaction costs; establishment and/or expansion of centres of excellence dealing with agro-industries and agri-enterprises; establishment of extension services dealing with agro-industries and agri-enterprises; expansion and prioritisation of skills development in agro-industries and agribusiness; enhancement of

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regionally-shared support industries such as those dealing with manufacture of processing equipment; encouragement of strong synergies between agro-industries development and other programmes in agriculture and industries in general; and linkage of small and medium size agricultural producers to markets. The proposed investments require the development and scaling-up of TIMPs for value addition of strategic crops, livestock and fisheries; building of viable and effective public–private partnerships (PPP) for post-harvest handling and value addition; mainstreaming of nutrition into value addition and processing; crops, livestock and fisheries research and development processes; and building the regional capacity for value addition and processing of crops, livestock and fisheries resources.

5. Sustainable intensification of crop, livestock and fisheries systems: Sustainable agricultural intensification is defined as the production of more outputs with more efficient use of all inputs on a durable basis, while reducing environmental damage and building resilience, natural capital and the flow of environmental services. Sustainable intensification is implemented through three main approaches: ecological intensification, genetic intensification, and socio-economic intensification. Ecological intensification involves farming practices such as intercropping, integrated pest management, conservation farming and organic farming. Genetic intensification uses both conventional and modern biotechnological applications to avail improved crop varieties and animal breeds for higher yields, improved nutrition, tolerance to pests and diseases, resilience to climate change and efficient resource use. Socio-economic intensification involves creating enabling environments, building social and human capital and creating sustainable livelihoods. The ASARECA interventions will include: development of TIMPs to improve the productivity of crops, livestock and aquaculture, inland and marine fisheries systems; identification of national and regional opportunities to prioritise production; crop, livestock and fish integration to improve overall system productivity; building capacity for adoption of productivity enhancing technologies; enhancement of viable and sustainable seed systems; and enhancement of access and utilisation of nutritious and safe crops, livestock and fisheries products.

6. Conservation and utilisation of plant, animal and fish genetic resources: Climatic shocks and human activities are exacting immense pressure on biodiversity in ECA with negatives consequences on food security. This has resulted in unprecedented levels of species extinction and erosion of natural diversity (plant, animal and fisheries). This is likely to have a negative impact on human wealth, health and security. In 2008 the World Conservation Union21 estimated that 59% of the known plant species are currently threatened with extinction and likely to be subject to loss of genetic diversity. If left unchecked this may have a serious negative impact on humans and the environment. Through this sub-theme, projects that will promote conservation and use of the plant, animal and fisheries genetic resources will be developed and implemented.

7. Food and nutrition security for improved health: The ECA region has the highest proportion of undernourished people in the world (42.2%), almost double the average for sub Saharan Africa (26.8%). Although some countries are challenged with the double burden of malnutrition, undernourishment poses the greatest challenge in the region. Undernourishment directly and indirectly contributes up to 60% of child mortality in most countries in ECA. Micronutrient deficiencies (hidden hunger) affect most of the population in the region. It causes increased morbidity and mortality, impairs cognitive development and productivity due to frequent illness and disability, and therefore contributes to poverty. Overcoming food and nutrition insecurity is thus a precondition for ensuring a healthy population and sustainable development in ECA. Although increased food production is an underlying tenet to ensuring food security, there is a

21 Now called the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.

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disparity between food production, food and nutritional security and health, especially amongst smallholder farmers who produce more than 80% of the food. Promoting food and nutrition security involves increasing production, access, and availability of quality nutritious foods to the consumers. This sub-theme will address increased availability and access to quality and safe nutritious foods for improved health.

3.4 Programmes and unitsThis section summarises the Secretariat programmes and units. Details of achievements and priorities are provided in Annex 4.

Overview of Staple Crop Programme (SCP)Staple crops contribute to the socio-economic well-being of households by providing food, raw materials for local industries (agro-processing), poverty alleviation, improved nutrition, natural resource management and employment. Currently, the priority crops are banana, cassava, maize, wheat, sorghum, millets, rice, potato and sweet potato.

Since 2008 the Staple Crops Programme (SCP) has implemented 17 projects focused on developing packages for integrated crop management and options for integrated pest and disease management, integrated management of maize and sorghum to mitigate the effects of drought and product diversification, value addition and development of agro-enterprises for strategic staple crops. At the end of OP1 the Programme was implementing seven projects.

The current projects will end in December 2013. However, the upscaling projects will need to continue into the new Plan if they are to result in the desired outcomes. Validation projects will be completed and redesigned as upscaling projects.

Overview of High Value, Non-staple Crop (HVNSC) ProgrammeThe HVNSC Programme was established against a background of limited relevant research on its crops like pulses, tea, coffee, oil crops, fruits and vegetables, which play a significant role in human nutrition and health in the sub-region. Many are also important cash crops for local and export markets, contributing significantly to the economic empowerment of the community and socio-economic development. Among the pulses, snow peas and snap beans fetch premium prices in local high-end markets and in Europe. Processed and packaged oil crops increase in economic value several times over.

The HVNSC Programme has implemented three projects under OP1. Projects for validation under the current funding phase will be completed and redesigned as upscaling projects.

Overview of Livestock and Fisheries Programme (LFP)Livestock and fisheries products contribute a large share of the sub-regional agricultural GDP; milk is ranked as a number one commodity in the ASARECA strategy.

Since 2009, the LFP Programme has generated and promoted several technologies and innovations to increase overall productivity in integrated crop–livestock systems. These include feeding packaging and feed conservation innovations; establishment of a regional feed database and feed tables;

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characterisation of selected indigenous cattle and small ruminant breeds; prevention and control of tick and tick-borne diseases; strengthening the regional capacity for forage seed supply; developing mechanisms for crisis management in pastoral systems and refining innovations to exploit market opportunities for value added meat and milk products.

During OP1 the Programme implemented 12 projects in the livestock sector and 1 in fisheries; 10 of these ended on 31 December 2011. Current project areas include improving the productivity and competitiveness of aquaculture systems, integrated productivity enhancing technologies to increase the productivity of smallholder dairy farms and upscaling technologies and innovations for crop–livestock integration and system’s adaptation to climate change.

Overview of Agro-biodiversity and Biotechnology (AGROBIO) Programme The Agro-biodiversity and Biotechnology (AGROBIO) Programme was created to access sub-regional agro-biodiversity and genetic resources and to facilitate characterisation and evaluation of the same genetic resources whose potential for use in pharmaceuticals, industrial uses and other bio-resources is largely unknown; the preferred tool for this was biotechnology. Through a consultative process, the Programme identified five priority areas.

The programme is implementing six projects under OP1: community-based tissue culture systems; drought tolerant and Striga resistant sorghum; Taenia diagnostic kits; Taenia vaccine and genetic engineering of maize for drought tolerance; and using genomic tools to improve goat productivity. All these have produced several documented outputs through research efforts with sub-regional partners comprising the national agricultural research institutes (NARIs), CGIAR centres, the private sector, universities, NGOs and farmers.

Overview of Natural Resource Management and Biodiversity (NRMB) Programme

The sub-region has experienced declining per capita agricultural productivity over the last 20 years with weak management of natural resources making farming systems vulnerable to shocks associated with changing climatic conditions. The greatest challenge faced by the sub-region is how to respond to these and increased food insecurity.

The Programme priority areas include: agricultural water productivity, soil management, management of dryland ecosystems, agroforestry and watershed management, policies and institutions, and climate adaptation and mitigation measures.

Over the last three years, a total of eight projects have been successfully completed with a focus on enhancing water productivity; integrated soil fertility management; payment for ecosystem services through locally designed schemes; enhancing adaptive capacities of smallholders to climate variability; and institutional aspects related to sustainable natural resources management.

Through these projects, the Programme has demonstrated that through proper management of agricultural water, farm yields increase by over 50%, and through integrated soil fertility management, farm yields have increased by over 50%. Response farming innovations have proved very useful as adaptive mechanisms for smallholders against varying climatic conditions.

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Overview of Policy Analysis and Advocacy Programme (PAAP)The Policy Analysis and Advocacy Programme (PAAP) has been primarily concerned with analyses of the policy environment, facilitation of policy development and advocating for policy adoption by RECs and national governments. Currently, PAAP is completing support towards approval of regional policies on biosafety, standards for cassava and potato products, development of by-laws for sustainable land management, and harmonisation of standards and procedures for pasture seeds, animal feeds and animal breeding services.

Key achievements include gazetting by EAC of 24 standards for cassava and potato, and their products; seed potato standard; and two by-laws on sustainable land management in Ethiopia and Uganda that were approved by local councils and are being implemented. In May 2012 the regional biosafety policies on handling emergency food aid and on planting and trade in GMOs were recommended for submission to the COMESA Ministers of Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources by 15 out of the 19 COMESA countries. These were approved at the 5th Joint COMESA meeting of Ministers of Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources in September 2013. The same meeting approved harmonized seed regulations for the COMESA/SADC region.

Seed laws in Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania have been revised to reflect harmonised regional agreements. The Plant Variety Protection Bill for Burundi was drafted, while quarantine pest lists for Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, and a regional variety catalogue for Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda were produced.

Overview of Knowledge Management and Upscaling (KMUS) Programme Knowledge management and upscaling (KMUS) is crucial for agricultural transformation that depends on stakeholders’ adoption of productivity and livelihood enhancing technologies and knowledge.

Under OP1 over 35,000 stakeholders (see DONATA reports) have accessed orange fleshed sweet potato and quality protein maize technologies in six countries. Furthermore, lessons on application of innovation platforms and models for farm level seed enterprises for vegetatively propagated and self-pollinating crops have been generated.

Currently, the Programme has six value chain scaling-up projects and one on capacity development. The scaling-up projects are promoting selected technologies into uptake pathways and generating best practices and lessons for dissemination. Three will be completed by 2013, and three started in 2012 and will continue for one more year to deliver results. The capacity development project will be completed in 2013. The Programme is also collating and disseminating information on technologies from projects ending in 2013.

Overview of Communication and Public Relations (CPR) Unit The OP1 Information and Communication Unit (ICU) has been split into a Communication and Public Relations (CPR) Unit and an Information Technology Unit.

The CPR Unit will handle information and communication issues at corporate, thematic, programme and project level through more clearly defined roles on information management. The Unit will package information about ASARECA and its activities and products for a range of media to raise the organisation’s profile and increase the visibility of its achievements.

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Activities include the set up and management of online communication platforms to promote, share and disseminate information products from the Secretariat and projects; publishing and disseminating a range of print and audio-visual information products from the Secretariat and projects; and supporting information discovery needs of staff and partners. Public relations entails raising awareness of interest in and ASARECA standing with the public, agriculture sector actors and development circles as follows: building and marketing the corporate identity; developing a series of publicity corporate and newsworthy information materials; and establishing strategic relations with reputable media houses in ECA.

Expectations and demand for information and communication services is increasing and the existing skill mix and staffing level will be strengthened and developed, based on the formulation and implementation of the staffing action plan.

Overview of Information Technology (IT) Unit

The Information Technology (IT) Unit is responsible, inter alia, for the ASARECA IT infrastructure—hardware and software for a dynamic and responsive knowledge hub. It will also develop and administer a new IT policy and strategy for ASARECA.

The IT Unit will liaise with the Communications and Public Relations Unit, but report to the Executive Director to ensure information and knowledge flows are appropriate and up to date.

Overview of Partnerships and Capacity Development (PCD) Unit The Partnership and Capacity Development (PCD) Unit is responsible for establishing and managing functional partnerships, collaboration and joint activities with relevant organisations such as COMESA, EAC, FARA, IGAD, the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM), universities, the African Network for Agriculture, Agroforestry and Natural Resources Education (ANAFE), CGIAR, the African Forum for Agricultural Advisory Services (AFAAS) and the private sector. The PCD strategy emphasises the ASARECA role in coordinating and facilitating capacity strengthening and partnerships, which includes identifying expertise available in the region and using it to further the IAR4D/AIS agenda. It encourages and facilitates the exchange of expertise at the sub-regional level, something happening through EAAPP under OP1 and which will continue.The ASARECA partnering strategy will be revisited given recent changes in the operating landscape including the recently launched Science Agenda for Africa (post-Dublin process). The revised strategy will include other partnerships with China and India. It will seek to clarify and formalise the ASARECA role in the CAADP process by continuing to work closely with FARA and COMESA to support CAADP Pillar 4 in the region and to develop useful national and sub-regional partnerships.

Capacity strengthening of people and organisations ensures the sustainability of ASARECA. Capacity building activities for NARES will be increased by scaling-up and out the Strengthening Capacity for Agricultural Research and Development in Africa (SCARDA) approach from OP1, working in collaboration with RUFORUM and other organisations involved in capacity building for agricultural development.

ASARECA will continue to support implementation of CAADP and other similar initiatives by working with FARA and RECs (COMESA and ECA). The aim will be to ensure that the design and implementation of country and sub-regional CAADP investment programmes and other similar initiatives are relevant, effective and fully address the needs of the countries and the sub-region.

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The development of partnerships and capacity are core functions of ASARECA and covered fully in Section 4.

Overview of Gender Mainstreaming (GM) UnitThe focus and activities of the Gender Mainstreaming Unit have a far-reaching influence on all aspects of ASARECA activities. Gender mainstreaming assures efficient delivery of research and the key functions of capacity building, development of guidelines, and review of the research process for gender responsiveness at programme and project level, although the mode of delivery may evolve overtime.

Gender mainstreaming is a core function of ASARECA and further information and analysis is given in Section 4.

Overview of Environmental and Social Safeguards (ESS)To ensure compliance with MDTF environmental and social criteria, an Environmental and Social Safeguard Specialist (ESSS) was appointed. The specialist reports directly to the DED.The Environmental and Social Safeguards Office (ESSO) provides operational support to ASARECA programme managers, unit heads and principal investigators to enable them to fulfil compliance requirements. The office will ensure environmental and social concerns are effectively integrated into ASARECA MDTF project development and implementation. The office also ensures implementation of mitigation measures identified in ESS instruments and provides the required training.

3.5 Competitive Grant System (CGS) management and implementation

Selection and implementation of research project activity is based on a Competitive Grant System (CGS). This has guidelines and a well-defined process and set of procedures (see Chapter 7), established under OP1. This will be further developed and improved upon to address issues that have arisen. Some of the main issues are given in Box 3.

The Secretariat will develop a detailed proposal format for the CGS. This will involve explaining what each section means to support the incorporation of FAAP principles into project design. Some units are already developing guidelines for their specific areas: CPR guidelines on project communication planning; the M&E unit is developing a document to guide teams; an ESS screening form has recently been revised and updated, but will continue to be reviewed for its effectiveness during the transition period between OP1 and OP2; and the Gender Unit is developing a checklist on how to incorporate gender analysis into project design. To further support the process of proposal development, relevant unit and programme staff will attend proposal preparation workshops with stakeholders.

Under OP2, proposals submitted in French will also be accepted.

As part of the approval process, all projects now include consideration of gender issues. The performance against gender sensitive indicators will be followed up during implementation, ensuring there are indicators at all levels to reflect this.

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Box 3: CGS related issues to be resolved

1. Principal Investigator performance is variable. The Principal Investigator appointment processes will be reviewed and revised guidelines will be issued.

2. Inadequate levels of infrastructure capacity sometimes exist in sub-grantee organisations; careful assessment of potential sub-grantees against specific infrastructure criteria is needed.

3. Currently, most new project proposals are received from known applicants, with very few innovative multi-stakeholder partnerships. To enable broader partner involvement, non-traditional research actors will be proactively engaged. These will include consultation with end users and other stakeholders, in project development. Alternative dissemination channels for calls for proposals and extension of the time available from call to concept note submission will be extended to 6 weeks.

4. Some ASARECA countries are under-represented in grant allocation and development of project teams; often these are the less well-resourced members. Affirmative action may be needed in selection of countries, research staff, and mentors.

5. To prioritise areas for intervention with limited resources, a needs study is required. From this, a capacity building plan focused on less well-resourced NARIs will be developed in consultation with focal institutions in the member countries and other appropriate organisations.

6. ASARECA will develop and adopt a policy that systematically catalyses the mentoring of scientists across the region. The policy will include MSc and PhD dissertation research in all future projects. This will increase university participation in sub-regional projects and increase the benefits to countries weaker in any particular thematic area, without loss of overall quality.

7. Time for reflection and learning is insufficient in the current grant management cycle, with programme managers using a large proportion of their time commissioning and monitoring individual projects. ASARECA will build reflection and learning into the project management cycle, to inform cluster activities outside the CGS projects.

8. In some cases, backstopping of technical project elements by institutes/organisations with the ability to do so has not been satisfactory in OP1. Mechanisms will be put in place to monitor and improve technical backstopping of projects by partner institutes, documented in project agreements, including possible sanctions for non-compliance.

Additional options, beyond the CGS, will be explored to support the ASARECA role as a coordinator and facilitator that adds value to sub-regional agriculture for development and to support its role as an information and knowledge hub. This may include an enterprise and innovation fund and a new strategic role.

3.6 Resource sharing and optimisationThe sub-region has limited high-tech facilities. Partnerships with universities and advanced research institutes will be developed and maintained as part of the wider ASARECA networking process.

Support to projects by their own research systems to disseminate research findings, socio-economic and gender analysis and M&E can sometimes be less than adequate. Additional sources of good quality backstopping in these circumstances will be identified and clear, practical guidance notes to project staff on these topics will be provided.

Programme managers and PIs will work with country NARIs to maximise the use of their in-country capability. New projects will seek partners, collaborators or service providers/consultants who can cover skills not covered by the core partners and identify. The projects will also work with organisations in the region that have experience with research uptake in line with the ASARECA role of harnessing regional capacity.

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PAAP and KMUS programmes with unit managers and staff, will work closely with other disciplines to generate guidance on how best-bet research outputs can be selected and appropriately scaled out for discreet target audiences through engagement with research into use initiatives such as the Universities Business and Research in Agricultural Innovation (UniBRAIN).

3.7 Quality of science

Measuring qualityAmong the functions of ASARECA are to generate and disseminate technology. Providing a clear validation and quality assurance process for all stages of research activity is critical. A wide range of standards and quality check mechanisms are used in member countries before a new technology or innovation is considered acceptable for registration and wider dissemination. Clarity regarding validation of a new technology enhances rapid and well-targeted action in catalysing scaling-up and sub-regional spillover.

ASARECA will aim to institutionalise and promote appropriate sets of harmonised standards or procedures by which technologies of different categories are validated at sub-regional level. Validation of outputs, publishing of information and resources utilisation will be improved by establishing standard procedures for critical processes to reflect corporate quality. ASARECA will establish these standards where they do not exist through a transparent and consultative process organised by the ME&L Unit.

ASARECA will ensure that validation and peer review systems are fully implemented. The mechanism for this may involve appointing a Technical Advisory Committee, reporting to the Executive Director, to ensure third party validation of the research programmes selection, planning, implementation, dissemination and upscaling of research (see Figure 8).

Priorities and qualityASARECA programmes have well-structured strategies and priorities because of the well-researched and developed technical elements of the Associations Strategic Plan. ASARECA deals with basic livelihood commodities as a result of the prioritisation done in 2005/2006, during the preparation of the Strategic Plan.

The prioritisation was based on an IFPRI study. This will now be reviewed to assess the validity of this priority exercise carried out six years ago and consider priorities in the context of the new thematic areas.

Themes will use consultative approaches to apply strategies and priorities identified by the programmes, through FAAP principles and the AIS approach. Furthermore, the themes will continue to increase their focus on uptake and upscaling. The approach will be shared with the wider cohort of ASARECA, partners and stakeholders.

Value for moneyLinked to the quality of science is the issue of value for money. ASARECA is determined to ensure that the investment in projects and other initiatives reflects measures of economy, efficiency, effectiveness and cost effectiveness in terms of delivering the Organisation’s outputs.

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The ME&L unit will craft indicators to deliberately measure and track performance against criteria linked to value for money.

3.8 Monitoring, evaluation and learningASARECA has institutionalised a functional monitoring, evaluation and learning (ME&L) system. High quality ME&L staff members at the Secretariat have been recruited and are supported by a specific budget. ASARECA-wide, the ME&L Unit also provides capacity building services to organisations in partner NARES.

One focus of ME&L will be to identify and build on the lessons learned from the process. The ASARECA ME&L Unit will continue to support NARES in ASARECA member countries in building their capacity to develop and utilise user-friendly tools and instruments to ensure effective ME&L is streamlined in the region. Among the key tools and instruments targeted to be reviewed or developed and institutionalised include the performance monitoring plans; the baseline study guidelines and the performance measurement framework.To ensure consistency under CAADP Pillar IV, the ME&L Unit will ensure closer collaboration and harmonisation of M&E tools with other SROs and FARA. Particularly important will be harmonising the CAADP FAAP principles and indicators.

ME&L will constitute a learning area for partners at national and regional levels. Learning will be achieved through timely and periodic collection and analysis of data, and sharing these data with project implementers for effective decision making. Operationalisation of ME&L within NARES will be ensured by providing targeted capacity strengthening in M&E.

OP2 will be guided by an elaborate Impact Pathway (see Figure 3). At impact, outcome and outputs levels, smart indicators to be periodically tracked to assess progress towards the outputs, outcomes and impacts have been clearly identified in the OP2 logical framework (Table 2). The indicators will be used in the participatory M&E activities for reflection, learning and planning within the platforms for innovations.

This ME&L Unit will be strengthened with increased budget support to enable routine field monitoring, outcome and impact evaluations. The ME&L system is still developing and evolving and will address several key activities including:

• Operationalising the M&E database and the ASARECA Management information system (MIS).

• Recovering missing data for the past 10 years, including from external networks.

• Strengthening M&E support to new projects.

• Improving data quality management.

• Applying the logframe systematically across the organisation.

• Strengthening the M&E capacity of less well-resourced NARES.

Impact assessment to evaluate the effects of technology adoption on the socio-economic life of targeted populations will be a major component of evaluating programmes and projects. Impact will be measured against pre-set targets (Table 3) and will be quantified in terms of income, well-being, resilience, vulnerability, food security and sustainability of use of the natural resource base. The scale of analysis will be at household and community level.

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Impact will be measured using outcome-based indicators which will be developed to measure the transformational changes taking place as a result of ASARECA activities. These qualitative indicators track the outcomes of output delivery and the achievement of purpose, including perceptions/level of satisfaction of ASARECA stakeholders with innovations. The impact pathway will guide the operationalisation of the ME&L system.

As part of ensuring process monitoring, annual mini-surveys will be conducted with target households. These surveys will be more limited in outreach than the larger surveys conducted at the baseline, mid-term and completion stages. The mini-surveys will be based on a structured questionnaire with a limited number of close-ended questions, tailored to assess the expected outcomes of the projects. The surveys will be used for a random or purposive sample of the targeted stakeholders to collect data on various issues including:

• Changes in production and productivity of selected commodities.

• Adoption of the technologies and of on- and off-farm income generating activities promoted by the project.

• Access to markets and price conditions faced.

• Access to financial and other services provided by the project.

• Extent to which the stakeholders have become food secure.

• Changes in household incomes.

To ensure continual information flow on project progress, annual progress reports will be prepared. The reports will be based on the results of the annual data collection process for outcome monitoring. Annual workshops will be planned to involve all project stakeholders to draw out major lessons from the annual reporting exercise, allow participatory evaluation of results, and formulate recommendations for improvement. In addition, after mid-term evaluation, the ME&L Unit will convene a post-Mid Term Review (MTR) workshop to provide the programme/project management team with an opportunity to critically reflect on results achieved and self-evaluate project performance, based on the M&E findings.

To ensure the above action, the ME&L Unit has finalised a new reporting framework and performance management framework, trained users and disseminated it to programmes. Support to all programmes will ensure they adopt the new framework, and ensure reports received from implementing partners are harmonised. This will be backed up by providing training and guidance. The sub-regional focus of ASARECA will be maintained throughout and be clearly articulated in the context of the emerging role of ASARECA in the CAADP process. For example, ASARECA plays an important role in supporting the development of harmonised ME&L systems for EAAPP.

The collection of baseline data for new indicators will be treated as a priority. In addition, monitoring and reporting of sub-regional spillover will be improved.

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and F

ARA

repo

rts •

Selec

ted C

GIAR

repo

rts an

d imp

act

asse

ssme

nt •

UN C

OM-T

RADE

• UN

EP an

d IFP

RI •

Wor

ld Ba

nk

• So

cial a

nd po

litica

l sup

port

and

stabil

ity is

appr

opria

te to

supp

ort

bene

fits ac

hieve

d •

Appr

opria

te lev

els of

exte

rnal

techn

ical a

nd in

stitut

ional

supp

ort

are m

aintai

ned

• Be

nefic

iary’s

acce

ss to

cred

it is

adeq

uate

• Inf

rastr

uctur

e is m

aintai

ned a

nd

avail

able

at ap

prop

riate

levels

• Eq

ual o

ppor

tunity

polic

y sup

port

is im

pleme

nted

• Co

nduc

ive bu

sines

s env

ironm

ent

exist

s to s

uppo

rt be

nefits

• En

ablin

g poli

cy, r

egula

tory a

nd le

gal

frame

work

exist

s

Purp

ose

Equit

able

acce

ss an

d uti

lisati

on of

agric

ultur

al re

sear

ch an

d dev

elopm

ent

innov

ation

s enh

ance

d

1. Pe

rcenta

ge ch

ange

in ag

ricult

ural

prod

uctio

n and

prod

uctiv

ity9

2. Am

ount

of inc

ome g

ener

ated b

y stak

ehold

ers f

rom

ASAR

ECA

inter

venti

ons

3. Nu

mber

of ho

useh

olds w

ith im

prov

ed nu

trition

al lev

els4.

Numb

er of

hecta

res u

nder

impr

oved

TIM

Ps5.

Leve

l of e

ffecti

vene

ss of

mar

ket li

nkag

es cr

eated

to en

hanc

e tra

de6.

Numb

er of

polic

y refo

rms,

regu

lation

s and

proc

edur

es im

pleme

nted10

7.

Leve

l of r

espo

nsive

ness

to cl

imate

chan

ge: p

er ce

nt ch

ange

in

7.1 R

esilie

nce t

o clim

atic v

ariab

ility11

7.2 W

ater u

se ef

ficien

cy by

men

and w

omen

7.3 H

uman

capa

city t

o man

age c

limate

risks

and r

educ

e wea

ther-r

elated

loss

es7.4

Nutr

itiona

l leve

ls of

stake

holde

rs8.

Numb

er of

stak

ehold

ers w

ho ha

ve ap

plied

new

TIMP

s9.

Leve

l of e

ffecti

vene

ss an

d effic

iency

of kn

owled

ge ac

cess

ibility

and t

rans

fers

10.

Bene

ficiar

y sati

sfacti

on w

ith qu

ality

of AS

AREC

A KI

-hub

, pro

ducts

and s

ervic

es12

Inter

media

te PD

O-lev

el Ind

icator

sGe

nder

-resp

onsiv

e go

vern

ance

and

mana

geme

nt str

ength

ened

1. Ra

te of

imple

menta

tion o

f the n

ew A

SARE

CA C

onsti

tution

13

2. Pe

rcenta

ge gr

owth

in re

sear

ch fu

nding

14

3. Pe

rcenta

ge ch

ange

in le

vel o

f com

plian

ce w

ith ge

nder

polic

y and

princ

iples

15

4. Le

vel o

f com

plian

ce w

ith en

viron

menta

l and

socia

l safe

guar

ds16

5.

Leve

l of e

ffecti

vene

ss of

the A

SARE

CA K

nowl

edge

Hub

17

6. Le

vel o

f effe

ctive

ness

of A

SARE

CA C

hang

e Man

agem

ent p

racti

ces18

7.

Leve

l of e

ffecti

vene

ss of

the t

hema

tic ap

proa

ch to

proje

ct im

pleme

ntatio

n19

39



Nar

rativ

eSu

mm

ary

Obj

ectiv

ely

Verifi

able

Indi

cato

rsM

eans

of V

erifi

catio

nA

ssum

ptio

ns

Out

puts

1. A

ppro

priat

e tec

hnolo

gies,

innov

ation

s and

ma

nage

ment

prac

tices

(T

IMPs

) ada

pted o

r ge

nera

ted

1.1.

Numb

er of

dema

nd-d

riven

gend

er-re

spon

sive T

IMPs

gene

rated

20

1.2.

Perce

ntage

of st

akeh

older

s who

have

adop

ted se

lected

TIM

Ps21

1.3

. Nu

mber

of ce

ntres

(par

tner o

rgan

isatio

ns)fa

cilita

ted to

incu

bate

TIMP

s and

agri-

busin

esse

s22

• An

nual

Repo

rts of

deve

lopme

nt pa

rtner

s, NA

RIs a

nd S

ROs

• AS

AREC

A:

ASAR

ECA A

nnua

l Rep

orts

Cons

titutio

n and

Gov

erna

nce

Manu

al

Inf

orma

tion a

nd C

ommu

nicati

on

strate

gy

Op

erati

onal

Manu

al

Pr

iority

Sett

ing D

ocum

ents

Spec

ial S

tudies

Rep

orts

• Cl

ient S

atisfa

ction

Sur

vey R

epor

ts •

Copie

s of p

olicie

s, law

s, sta

ndar

ds,

regu

lation

s, pr

oced

ures

and b

y-law

s •

Datab

ase o

n poli

cies p

rese

nted f

or

adop

tion b

y rele

vant

institu

tions

• Fo

rum

proc

eedin

gs •

Gaze

tte no

tice

• Mi

nutes

of ap

prov

al, ga

zette

notic

e •

Minu

tes of

Dial

ogue

Ses

sions

• Na

tiona

l Stat

istica

l data

• Re

gistry

of po

licies

•

SRO

Annu

al Re

ports

• Th

e IAR

4D/A

IS pa

radig

m is

an

effec

tive a

ppro

ach

• Ad

equa

te inf

rastr

uctur

e is m

aintai

ned

• Cr

edit s

uppo

rt se

rvice

s are

avail

able

• En

ablin

g poli

cies a

nd co

nduc

ive

envir

onme

nt ex

ist an

d are

susta

ined

• Ex

tensio

n ser

vices

are e

ffecti

ve •

Effec

tive p

latfor

ms fo

r con

sulta

tion

exist

• Pa

rtner

s esp

ecial

ly pr

oduc

er

orga

nisati

ons a

re ad

equa

tely

reso

urce

d to o

pera

te effi

cientl

y •

Politi

cal/e

cono

mic e

nviro

nmen

t doe

s no

t neg

ate ga

ins •

Equa

l opp

ortun

ity po

licy s

uppo

rt is

avail

able

and/o

r imple

mente

d •

Cred

it sup

port

servi

ces a

re re

adily

av

ailab

le •

Cost

shar

ing m

echa

nism

in pla

ce •

Well

estab

lishe

d stak

ehold

er

orga

nisati

on ar

e main

taine

d and

re

main

enga

ged

2. Ap

prop

riate

TIMP

s dis

semi

nated

and

upsc

aled

2.1.

Numb

er of

targ

et be

nefic

iaries

acce

ssing

the T

IMPS

23

2.1.1.

Num

ber o

f dem

and d

riven

, gen

der r

espo

nsive

and

cost-

effec

tive T

IMPs

av

ailab

le for

uptak

e2.1

.2. N

umbe

r of b

usine

sses

that

hatch

from

incu

batio

n cen

tres24

2.2

. Nu

mber

of st

akeh

older

s acc

essin

g new

mar

kets

2.3.

Numb

er of

male

- and

fema

le-he

aded

hous

ehold

s tha

t hav

e gain

ed di

rect

hous

ehold

bene

fits fr

om m

ore c

limate

-resil

ient a

gricu

lture

TIM

Ps an

d infr

astru

cture

3. Ap

prop

riate

polic

y an

alysis

and a

dvoc

acy

enha

nced

3.1.

Numb

er of

gend

er re

spon

sive p

olicy

optio

ns ge

nera

ted3.2

. Nu

mber

of po

licy o

ption

s pre

sente

d for

adop

tion25

3.3

. Nu

mber

of po

licy o

ption

s ado

pted26

3.4.

Numb

er of

gend

er un

its es

tablis

hed i

n ASA

RECA

mem

ber c

ountr

ies4.

Stak

ehold

er ca

pacit

y for

inn

ovati

on st

reng

thene

d4.1

. Nu

mber

of st

akeh

older

s who

se ca

pacit

y buil

ding n

eeds

have

been

addr

esse

d27

4.2.

Numb

er of

rese

arch

infra

struc

ture a

nd eq

uipme

nt pr

ovide

d28

4.3.

Numb

er of

inno

vatio

ns in

cuba

tion c

entre

s esta

blish

ed an

d/or s

treng

thene

d4.4

. Nu

mber

of pa

rtner

ships

form

ed an

d/or s

treng

thene

d4.5

. Nu

mber

of m

arke

t link

ages

estab

lishe

d4.6

. Le

vel o

f effe

ctive

ness

of ca

pacit

y buil

ding i

nitiat

ives

5. Co

mmun

icatio

n, inf

orma

tion a

nd

know

ledge

man

agem

ent

impr

oved

5.1.

Numb

er (a

nd ty

pe) o

f info

rmati

on pa

ckag

es pr

oduc

ed5.2

. Nu

mber

of ap

prop

riate

infor

matio

n deli

very

pathw

ays u

sed29

5.3

. Nu

mber

of pe

ople

reac

hed w

ith in

forma

tion p

acka

ges t

hrou

gh di

ffere

nt pa

thway

s5.4

. Nu

mber

of st

akeh

older

s ben

efitin

g fro

m the

activ

ities o

f the K

I Hub

in te

rms o

f acc

ess

to inf

orma

tion a

nd kn

owled

ge, a

s well

as ne

twor

king a

nd le

arnin

g

Nar

rativ

e Su

mm

ary

Res

ourc

e En

velo

pe fo

r Im

plem

enta

tion

Ass

umpt

ions

Act

iviti

es1.1

. Va

lue ch

ain an

alysis

and d

eman

d artic

ulatio

n disa

ggre

gated

by se

x/gen

der

1.2.

Deve

lopme

nt of

TIMP

s Inte

rventi

ons b

ased

on ne

eds a

nd pr

ioritie

s of w

omen

, men

and t

he yo

uth

• Bu

dget

and I

nputs

(Act

ivity

to O

utpu

t) •

Para

digm

shift

in ap

proa

ch

inter

nalis

ed by

all s

takeh

older

s •

Desig

n and

imple

menta

tion o

f ac

tivitie

s suc

cess

fully

follow

s the

ap

proa

ch of

the I

AR4D

/AIS

para

digm

2.1.

Comm

unica

tion

2.2.

Diss

emina

tion

2.3.

Upsc

aling

40

Nar

rativ

eSu

mm

ary

Mea

ns o

f Ver

ifica

tion

Ass

umpt

ions

3.1.

Polic

y and

Gen

der A

nalys

is (Id

entifi

catio

n of c

onstr

aints,

optio

ns, s

takeh

older

cons

ultati

on an

d va

lidati

on, e

tc)

3.2.

Polic

y Adv

ocac

y3.3

. Fo

rmula

tion o

f poli

cy br

iefs

3.4.

Orga

nising

polic

y adv

ocac

y plat

forms

• Go

od/ef

fectiv

e exte

nsion

servi

ces a

re

functi

onal

in the

sub-

regio

n •

Staffi

ng an

d res

ource

leve

ls ar

e main

taine

d •

Good

relat

ionsh

ips w

ith po

litica

l stak

ehold

ers

exist

• Po

licy r

esea

rch at

the s

ub-re

giona

l leve

l ap

prop

riate

at the

natio

nal le

vel

• Fin

ancia

l and

phys

ical re

sour

ce co

mmitm

ents

of sta

keho

lders,

inclu

ding p

ublic

and p

rivate

se

ctors,

NGO

and p

rodu

cer o

rgan

isatio

ns ar

e ma

intain

ed •

Impr

oved

infra

struc

ture i

s in p

lace a

nd

effec

tive

• Co

ordin

ation

bring

s add

ed va

lue •

Good

pres

s and

othe

r med

ia or

ganis

ation

s ex

ist

4.1.

Deve

lop tr

aining

and c

apac

ity st

reng

thenin

g poli

cy an

d stra

tegies

4.2.

Cond

uct In

stitut

ional

capa

city n

eeds

asse

ssme

nt 4.3

. Pr

ioritis

ation

of ca

pacit

y nee

ds

4.4.

Deve

lopme

nt of

a cap

acity

build

ing pl

an2.

Monit

oring

imple

menta

tion o

f the t

raini

ng pl

an, o

utputs

and o

utcom

es of

the c

apac

ity st

reng

thenin

g eff

orts

5.1.

Asse

ssme

nt of

curre

nt inf

orma

tion a

nd co

mmun

icatio

n sys

tems a

nd id

entifi

catio

n of g

aps

5.2.

Inven

tory a

nd pr

ofilin

g of a

vaila

ble in

forma

tion,

know

ledge

and s

takeh

older

s and

deve

lop

appr

opria

te lin

kage

s5.3

. De

velop

ing/es

tablis

hing/s

treng

thenin

g app

ropr

iate k

nowl

edge

base

s, pla

tform

s, an

d netw

orks

to

shar

e info

rmati

on an

d kno

wled

ge re

gular

ly (In

forma

tion a

nd K

nowl

edge

hub)

inclu

ding C

AADP

, EA

C5.4

. De

velop

right

pack

ages

of in

forma

tion a

nd co

mmun

icatio

n sys

tems (

MIS)

that

meet

differ

ent

stake

holde

rs re

quire

ments

(Us

e of IC

T mo

biles

etc.)

5.5.

Imple

ment

ASAR

ECA

corp

orate

comm

unica

tion s

trateg

y and

bran

ding t

o imp

rove

ASA

RECA

vis

ibility

5.6.

Deve

lop m

echa

nisms

for r

eceiv

ing an

d res

pond

ing to

feed

back

Prec

ondit

ions:

• Ch

ange

is de

liber

ately

mana

ged

• Ge

nder

main

strea

ming

is in

stitut

ionali

sed

• ME

&L is

deve

loped

and u

tilise

d full

y •

Envir

onme

nt an

d soc

ial sa

fegua

rds a

re m

ainstr

eame

d

41



Table 3: Proposed ASARECA OP2 targets under different funding scenarios (current, low, medium and high)

Project outcome indicators Current(US$83.5 million)

Low(US$90 million)

Medium(US$147 million)

High(US$181 million)

GOAL: Competitiveness of appropriate agricultural systems improved1. Per cent change in total factor productivity (p.a.) <3% 4.4% 4.4% 4.4%2. Percentage change in agricultural and livestock value added TBD TBD TBD TBD3. Percentage change in inter-regional market share of

agricultural productsTBD TBD TBD TBD

4. Percentage change in the value of agricultural trade TBD TBD TBD TBD5. Per cent change of food secure households - 4% 4.5% 5%6. Number of targeted stakeholders with increased climate

resilience (ratio: male [6]:female [4])- 5,500,000 9,000,000 10,500,000

7. Per cent change in Coping Strategies Index - TBD TBD TBDPurpose: Equitable access and utilisation of agricultural research and development innovations enhanced1. Per cent change in agricultural production and productivity

(tons of crop produced/ha)<6% 5% 5.5% 6%

Per cent change in livestock production and productivity <5% 4% 4.5% 5%2. Per cent change in income from sale of agricultural

commodities by targeted stakeholders (disaggregated by gender)

- 8% 9% 10%

Number of targeted households with increased income - 1,800,000 2,500,000 3,500,000 Number of targeted population below poverty line - 5,500,000 9,000,000 10,500,000 Per cent change in value of incremental farm gate sales of

targeted commodities- 4% 6% 8%

Amount of income generated by stakeholders from ASARECA interventions (US$)

- 720,000,000 800,000,000 900,000,000

3. Number of households with improved nutritional levels - 11,000,000 18,000,000 21,000,000 Number of children under five reached - 5,500,000 9,000,000 10,500,000 Prevalence of underweight/stunted/wasted children under 5

years of age- 20% 17.5% 15%

Prevalence of underweight pregnant women (15–49 years with BMI < 18.5 kg/m2)

- 20% 15% 12.5%

4. Number of hectares under improved TIMPs (ratio: male [7]:female [3] managed)

- 300,000 450,000 600,000

Per cent change in land under improved TIMPs - 2.5% 4% 5%5. Level of effectiveness of market linkages created to enhance

trade- 60% 75% Over 75%

Number of jobs created (ratio: males [3]:females [2]) - 5,000 7,000 10,0006. Number of policy reforms, regulations and administrative

procedures implemented- 15 25 35

7. Per cent change in productive resilience to climatic variability - 3% 5% 7% Number (type) of agricultural productivity interventions with

greatest impact on resilience of households and individuals to recover from and withstand common shocks

13 20 26

8. Per cent change in water use efficiency by men and women - 15% 25% 30%9. Per cent change in human capacity to manage climate risks

and reduce weather-related losses- 15% 20% 25%

10. Number of stakeholders who have applied new TIMPs (ratio: males(5):females(3))

265,964228,359

1,100,000 1,800,000 2,100,000

42


Low(US$90 million)



11. Per cent change in nutritional levels of targeted stakeholders - 4% 4.5% 5%12. Number of stakeholders benefiting from the activities of the

KI hub in terms of access to information and knowledge, as well as networking and learning

- 30,000,000 37,500,000 40,000,000

13. Level of effectiveness and efficiency of knowledge accessibility and transfers

- 70% 80% Over 85%

14. Level of stakeholder satisfaction with the KI hub, its functionality and service provision

- 80% 85% Over 85%

15. Level of beneficiary satisfaction with quality of ASARECA products and services

55% 75% 80% Over 85%

Output 1: Appropriate technologies, innovations and management practices (TIMPs) adapted or generated1.1. Number of demand-driven gender-responsive technologies/

innovations generated338

(364)125 200 250

1.2. Percentage of stakeholders who have adopted selected TIMPs

- 25% 35% 50%

1.3. Number of centres facilitated to incubate agribusinesses - 7 8 10Output 2: Appropriate TIMPs disseminated and upscaled2.1. Number of farm households (disaggregated by gender)

benefiting from different interventions (e.g. TIMPs)1,595,7841,370,094

1,800,000 2,500,000 3,500,000

Number of demand driven and cost-effective TIMPs resulting in improved diets and nutritional outcomes (at least 75% of generated and upscaled TIMPs)

- 200 300 375

Number of demand driven gender-responsive technologies available for uptake

434(435)

275 410 500

Number of businesses that hatch from incubation centres 10 15 20

2.2 Number of stakeholders accessing new markets - 1,100,000 1,800,000 2,100,0002.3 Number of male- and female-headed households that have

gained direct household benefits from more climate-resilient agriculture TIMPs and infrastructure

- 2,750,000 4,500,000 5,250,000

Output 3: Appropriate policy analysis and advocacy enhanced3.1. Number of gender-responsive policies, laws, regulations

and procedures analysed78

(89)40 70 100

3.2. Number of policies, laws, regulations and procedures presented for legislation or decree

54(39)

45 60 80

3.3. Number of reform of policies, laws, regulations and procedures approved

28(13)

15 20 35

Output 4: Stakeholder capacity for innovation strengthened4.1. Number of stakeholders whose capacity building needs

have been addressed89,375

(64,896)75,000 110,000 140,000

4.2. Infrastructure and equipment provided 355(413)

200 280 350

4.3. Number of business incubation centres established and/or strengthened

- 5 7 11

4.4. Number of partnerships formed to catalyse lasting economic growth

238(288)

120 200 250

4.5. Number of market linkages established - 50 80 100 Increased levels of market linkages (p.a.) - 6% 7.5% 10%4.6. Level of effectiveness of capacity building initiatives - 70% 85% 90%

43




Low(US$90 million)



Output 5: Communication, information and knowledge management improved5.1. Number of different information packages produced 812

(794)800 1,000 1,600

5.2. Number of appropriate information delivery pathways used 267(256)

40 50 60

5.3. Number of people reached with information packages through different pathways

- 30,000,000 37,500,000 40,000,000

TBD = To be determined.

Results chainASARECA will achieve the targeted impacts by implementing prioritised activities which, in turn, will contribute to delivery of the targeted outputs. Put together, the outputs will contribute to the desired outcomes and impacts (see Figure 4).

Figure 4: ASARECA results chain

44

4Support to ASARECA

core functions

4.1 Core functions overview

In its Strategic Plan, ASARECA identifies five ways in which it serves its members and investors:

• Providing intellectual leadership in the design and implementation of research and extension programmes and acting as a resource base for reform, based on the FAAP principles.

• Providing Strategic guidance on research for development priorities in the sub-region.

• Representing and providing institutional memory of the sub-region at international and Africa-wide fora.

• Maintaining multiple mechanisms to facilitate collaboration at sub-regional level.

• Providing facilities for ongoing M&E of sub-regional programmes supported by multiple donors.

ASARECA adds value to the work of NARES and NARIs where sub-regional collective action is required. ASARECA ownership by its members, and its transparency to investors, gives it a unique character that defines its niche. It is in this context that the Strategic Plan identifies six core functions which this OP addresses:

• Development of a shared vision and sub-regional goals—enhanced through the General Assembly, collaborative work, crosscutting support and partnerships.

• Coordination of collective action at sub-regional level—through its prioritised projects and other initiatives.

• Contributing to the improvement of networking in the sub-region—through the development of partnerships, crosscutting issues and capacity strengthening.

• Contributing to the development of appropriate knowledge, methodologies and technologies—through partnerships, projects, crosscutting issues and capacity strengthening.

• Facilitating the transfer of knowledge, information and technologies—through partnerships and projects.

• Mobilising and allocating resources for research—through partnership development, advocacy and various interactive mechanisms.

These core functions of ASARECA reflect its role as a sub-regional association of 11 NARES. The functions are based on FAAP and CAADP principles. They are the foundation which underpins ASARECA value addition to sub-regional agricultural development, and they are crosscutting.

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They are supported by ASARECA units at the Secretariat, which provides structure and leadership through several initiatives and strategies developed and implemented with stakeholders, alongside the technical projects. The key approaches that will be used in 2014–2018 are described in the following sections.

4.2 Coordination and partnerships

ASARECA is sub-regionally owned by NARES and has the opportunity to work directly with a broad base of stakeholders addressing prioritised issues. In doing so, ASARECA builds synergy, adds value, increases ownership and encourages and supports coordination. Operating sub-regionally, creating enabling sub-regional platforms and addressing issues of a sub-regional nature is the specific niche of ASARECA.

The importance of partnerships with the private sector and the need to improve these is recognised in this OP. The key potential strategies to address them are summarised in Box 4; further analysis and information is provided in Annex 5.

ASARECA implements its sub-regional projects and activities by applying the principle of subsidiarity. This devolves operational authority and decision making to its lowest level consistent with the operational competencies required, and the efficient use of funds. The principle of subsidiarity encapsulated in FAAP and explained further in Box 5, is extremely important for successful implementation of sub-regional work.

The number of partnerships will be increased and strengthened whilst at the same time being kept under review to permit reflection on functionality and usefulness. Partnerships will be developed with country and local level programmes within the ASARECA member Countries to ensure synergy and delivery of results, and to integrate research, extension and education.

Improved communication will ensure that all member countries have a clear understanding of the benefits which accrue from being a part of ASARECA by participating in research activities, benefiting from research outputs, or both. ASARECA has good linkages with RECs (COMESA and EAC) which provide a platform to harmonise policy at sub-regional level for trade promotion and material exchange.

ASARECA will also work with the RECs to support implementation of CAADP processes in the member countries. This support will include sensitisation and capacity building initiatives across all 11 member countries; support for the development of CAADP compact documents for countries that are yet to sign their compacts; support for the development and review of national and regional investment plans; and support to implementation of investment plans, including M&E. ASARECA will also work with other partners to support other initiatives for CAADP implementation including the Dublin process and Team Africa.

ASARECA also has a convening role since it has the ability to bring various stakeholders together (NARES, international agricultural research centres, private sector, NGOs, farmer and producer organisations, universities, etc.). This ensures sub-regional priorities are addressed. This enhances the ASARECA image and visibility and extra effort will be made in this area with a particular focus on the new themes. This coordinating/convening mechanism serves as a vehicle to promote sub-regional approaches (priorities, constraints and opportunities) and facilitate efficiency at sub-regional level whilst avoiding duplication.

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Through support to implementation of EAAPP, ASARECA is playing a pivotal role in efforts to scale-up and develop national research programmes into Regional Centres of Excellence (RCoEs). These centres are taking a leading role in technology generation, dissemination, and training at regional level. Initiatives to support RCoEs will be stepped up under OP2.

Box 4: Mechanisms for improved engagement with private sector

1. Align research projects with flagship private sector projects identified in the long-term development objectives of ECA countries.

2. Identify and develop viable commercialisation models for products that are not true public goods. Develop award schemes that recognise innovations and technology use.

3. Identify opportunities of agricultural social responsibility projects supported by regional private sector players, including identification of ways to make urban and peri-urban agriculture safe and compliant with urban/city ordinances.

4. Learn from and adapt marketing models from non-agriculture actors (banks and pharmaceutical sector) working with the private sector. Develop partnerships with partners who are already supporting/working with the private sector (AGRA and East African Business Council).

5. Enhance support to technology incubation centres. Seek a platform to engage with the private sector by either creating the platform or penetrating existing national and regional private sector bodies.

6. Use regional integration as an opportunity to engage the private sector and policy harmonisation. Support and advocate for harmonisation of policies, laws, regulations, standards and certification schemes that support competitiveness of key commodities. Examples of these are the newly approved COMESA biosafety policies that, when approved, will apply in the 20 member states; the 24 EAC standards for cassava and sweet potato products already under implementation in the 5 member states; and the draft harmonised COMESA seeds regulations that, when approved, will apply to EAC, COMESA and SADC countries.

7. Explore implementation of crop and livestock insurance schemes and demonstrate regional benefits of ASARECA products. Work with the private sector to analyse policy constraints. Domestication of the policy frameworks in the region will encourage participation of the private sector.

A new mechanism for developing long-term partnerships and linkages will be established in the form of a network of ASARECA alumni. This will involve the design and establishment of a structure and mechanism to ensure all those involved with ASARECA remain in touch and exchange information and ideas after direct support from ASARECA ends.

4.3 Capacity strengthening

Capacity strengthening has two aspects: the first is within the Secretariat and the second, and wider remit, is for the organisations which constitute the NARES of the member states.

Within ASARECA SecretariatThe human resource development of ASARECA Secretariat staff is documented in the Operational Manual. The ASARECA training plan for its staff will be reviewed and further training needs will be analysed. Priority training needs for implementing OP2 will be identified and addressed through this intervention.

In addition to addressing the identified training needs, the institutional changes needed to implement the Programme-Thematic Approach, and move ASARECA forward will be addressed. This will include the development of Secretariat staff to provide improved internal communication and stronger leadership/management skills. This is expected to result in better planning and a clearer

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Support to ASARECA core functions


and more coherent sense of direction including an improved understanding by managers of their role in broader project cycle management.

The shift in institutional culture will, inter alia, create a stronger feeling of corporate cohesion and will be addressed through the change management process. This process will be supported by the completion of a unified headquarters building that will improve the physical proximity of staff.

For NARES and stakeholders

General capacity strengthening

Successful implementation of the principle of subsidiarity requires intensive capacity building which will be addressed through novel ways of supporting and facilitating the development of NARES member organisations. To focus on capacity strengthening, a targeted capacity assessment of member country NARES, not just NARIs, will be undertaken to identify gaps and potential areas for synergy and partnership development. This will be used to provide training through a range of approaches including mentoring, coaching, formal and informal training, training of trainers and conferences. A menu of options for capacity building will be developed constituting, among other elements, training, staff exchanges, and individual and institutional mentoring.

Special focus in capacity strengthening will be placed on NARES whose participation in ASARECA activities during OP 1 was limited due to low human resource capacities. The NARES that need this special focus are Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Eritrea, Madagascar, Rwanda and South Sudan. The CGS guidelines were revised recently to encourage greater participation of these NARES. This will be enhanced under OP2.

Capacity strengthening in the NARES will be implemented using several mechanisms. However, developing appropriate partnerships remains crucial to achieving a good mix of partners with strengths in different areas.

Training that brings together stakeholders from different ASARECA member countries has the advantage of enabling sub-regional exchange. However, not all partners are able to benefit from this. Researchers and project partners from francophone countries (Burundi, DRC, and Madagascar) and from Sudan (an Arabic speaking country) are often at a disadvantage. Some level of in-country English language training and simultaneous translation at meetings where these countries are involved will be provided as required.

Some ASARECA member countries have extensive human resource capacity in different sectors within the sub-region which can be mobilised to support agricultural development in the less resourced NARES. This capacity will be identified, documented and accessed to facilitate the engagement of specialists to build capacity and thus leverage existing capacity within the region. This approach will continue to be used to support and develop partners who are less well resourced.

Capacity development functions will also be explicitly built into all new projects and partnership arrangements, and guidance notes will be prepared to support this. Learning by doing will be emphasised. This is a process that is generally considered to be a more effective learning approach than traditional formal training.

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Box 5: Principle of subsidiarity

Agricultural research for development in Africa is a critical part of the economic growth process necessary to successfully eliminate poverty on the continent. It is complex and extensive, involving countless individuals and organisations in an enormous variety of tasks, projects and programmes. The ASARECA position and role in this is defined by its sub-regional constituency and is governed by the principle of subsidiarity. It is this principle which guides and justifies the ASARECA role in sub-regional agricultural research for development.

This principle devolves operational authority and decision making to the lowest level consistent with the operational competencies required, and the efficient use of funds. Resources are assigned to each level consistent with the authority delegated to them. At the same time, decision making and responsibility is raised to the highest level at which spillover effects and benefits can be achieved.

The aim is to increase stakeholder ownership and responsibility on the basis of comparative advantage (or collaborative advantage), improving efficiency and reducing costs. This is shown diagrammatically in Figure 5 (after Pfeiffer22).

Checks and balances ensure the actions are implemented at the most appropriate level. The upward and downward flows between the different levels are an important means of ensuring that policies at every level are based on information emerging at the other levels. This is vital to ensuring that policies and decisions at the sub-regional level are consistent and enabling of what is happening at the national levels.

Adherence to this principle allows ASARECA to devolve authority to those best placed to deal with it and ensures a focus on functions that spillover national decision domains so that NARES benefit from decisions and actions at the sub-regional level.

Under its role as a convener and facilitator, ASARECA brings stakeholders together to discuss issues of common interest, creating the same level of awareness about key issues amongst a broad selection of stakeholders. CAADP-related activities fall into this category; this work will be developed further.

Although not excluded under the CGS terms and conditions, ASARECA has no system to target and encourage participation of young scientists. This situation continues because project teams comprise established professionals who are able to put together competitive concept notes/proposals. A deliberate scheme to promote young scientists, either through a fellowship type approach or by supporting secondments and exchange visits will be implemented.

One measure of the effectiveness of capacity strengthening will be the performance of NARES in terms of the use of the AIS approach. The post-training performance of participants receiving formal training will be monitored to establish the outcomes linked to this aspect of capacity strengthening.

22 Pfeiffer H. 2007, TCIS Framework for African Agricultural Productivity (FAAP) principles and application of subsidiarity. (Draft) FAO Investment Centre, Rome, Italy.

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Figure 5: Balance of functions required by the Principle of Subsidiarity

Source: After Pfeiffer (2007).


Specific capacity strengthening initiatives

Specific activities identified through the NARES capacity building needs assessment will be implemented. ASARECA expects that the initiatives will include, but not be limited to, the following areas:

• Institutionalising agricultural innovation and value chain development approaches into the planning and implementation of the NARES—ASARECA recognises the need to exploit the creative capacities of all potential actors in development in order for agricultural research, extension and education to contribute to enhancing agricultural productivity in a sustainable way.

• Leadership and research management—Senior researchers and administrative staff will be targeted. The aim will be to improve research and institutional management by developing leadership and management skills. The initiative seeks to develop the capacities of organisations within the NARES to be more strategic in their agenda-setting and more proactive in their programme implementation. The learning processes will be adaptive, and will include identification of key issues/challenges within the institutions and addressing them using principles acquired during group learning sessions to ensure concepts are understood and the development of practical strategies and skills are developed to address daily challenges. Similar initiatives were undertaken in OP 1 with promising results.23

• Additional skills gaps—This will address topics such as proposal writing for resource mobilisation; technical writing/journal publishing; scientific data analysis and interpretation; formulating and writing policy briefs; performance management and M&E; procurement; and financial management. ASARECA will work with the target NARES to identify the most critical short courses and the staff who will need them most.

• Institutional mentoring—Many of the institutions within the target NARES lack the full complement of staff needed to operate their programmes and deliver their mandates. This invariably reduces the quality of their outputs. To address this, inter-institutional cooperation will be pursued, utilising the strengths of well-resourced NARES to build the capacity of those less well endowed. Under this institutional mentoring initiative, three- to six-month residential placement of senior researchers/scientists will be organised. The process will be demand driven, with clear objectives, and agreed deliverables.

Improving the research human resource base—The human resource base in the less resourced NARES is a significant challenge not only for their participation in the ASARECA CGS, but also for their capacity to deliver quality research nationally. Success stories on the effect of MSc training under the SCARDA project in OP1 have been reported,24,25 ,26 but much more needs to be done. A fund will be set aside for post-graduate training in local universities, in selected disciplines that contribute to the ASARECA mission in the less resourced NARES. The research areas will also be aligned to the ASARECA research programmes/themes to ensure that the research outputs from the training also contributes to the ASARECA outputs. In addition, an award scheme targeting both individuals and institutions from these NARES will be developed under the same fund, as an incentive. Criteria for selecting winners of such awards and the

23 Leonard Oruko, Joseph Methu and Tim Chacellor (2011) http://ruforum.org/a/resources/article/an-analysis-of-the-capacity-strengthening-process-and-short-term-outcomes.

24 ASARECA AgriForum Issue 2 Nov 2011–April 2013 Building Capacity for Research.25 ASARECA AgriForum Issue 7 May 2013–October 2013—Burundi research gets injection of young well trained scientists.26 Malcolm Blackie (2011) http://ruforum.org/a/resources/article/scarda-funded-graduates-case-studies-and-commentary.

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specific details of the awards will be developed by a committee consisting of the ASARECA programme managers and members of the Technical Advisory Committee that will be established under the new structure (Figure 8).

Infrastructure development

The target institutions will identify, justify, prioritise and submit their needs for infrastructure support, namely the equipment that would contribute directly to ASARECA projects in the NARES. The exact nature of support will be determined in a participatory manner, considering the resources available. Participating institutions will be expected to make their own financial and in-kind contributions and to sustain the infrastructure beyond the ASARECA funding.

4.4 Knowledge management

Support to increased uptake and upscaling will be addressed through dealing with identified constraints/issues such as:

• ASARECA operating as a super-NARI, where projects are run to generate technologies, as reflected in the Strategy and the logframe for OP1.

• Project teams not having a sufficiently broad range of disciplines, mostly constituting agricultural scientists focused on commodities.

• Projects designed without appropriate skills for upscaling/value addition.

• Minimal engagement of the private sector and extension.

Greater emphasis will be placed on the quantifiable outcomes of the technologies, innovations and information generated, with less reliance placed on product-based indicators that measure the number of outputs produced or completed.

ASARECA requires that projects be implemented simultaneously in at least three countries. Project design will deliberately incorporate mechanisms to document and share spillover between countries and encourage the dissemination of research findings beyond participating project countries.Innovation platforms and partnerships provide interesting lessons on partnership sustainability, subsidiarity, pluralism and empowerment for other projects. ASARECA will take advantage of this to explore alternative uptake pathways with innovative partnerships including with agribusiness, to incubate and scale-up commercialisation of technologies, supported by the integration of upscaling strategies. This is critical for agricultural transformation.

A review of the current Strategic Plan will be necessary to ensure this new strategic role/thrust is captured in formal documentation.

Knowledge and Information (KI) HubThe potential that ASARECA has to become a sub-regional hub of knowledge and information (KI) will be realised, using the enormous amounts of information already generated. The Knowledge and Information Hub will ensure mechanisms for sharing of sub-regional benefits of ASARECA work are effective. The Hub will be a focal point for generating and exchanging knowledge, developing new ideas and networking. Among other things, it will mainstream new scientific concepts in TIMPs and policies in the region. It will serve to facilitate learning and increase the capabilities of ASARECA

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stakeholders. The Hub will also serve as a sub-regional focal point for data and information generated by ASARECA and other AR4D organisations both in ECA and beyond.

The ASARECA Knowledge and Information Hub will achieve the following four mutually reinforcing outputs (see details in Annex 2).

1. A learning and innovation centre for agricultural research and development (AR4D) will be established and operationalised: The focus will be on sharing information and knowledge on policies and TIMPs that are relevant to commercialisation and agro-enterprise, and on information on marketing forces and requirements such as quality, quantity, price and enabling policy environments. This knowledge and information will come from past and ongoing ASARECA initiatives in research, generation and scaling-up of TIMPs, and its experience with agricultural innovation systems, gender mainstreaming, and agricultural policies and standards among others.

2. The Knowledge and Information Hub will facilitate ASARECA to play its role as a regional AR4D think tank: The AR4D think tank will aim at advising and influencing agricultural related decisions, strategies and policies at national, regional and global levels. Through the ASARECA research projects, the think tank will collect, corroborate, analyse, synthesise, produce and document relevant data and information that supports discourse and advocacy for agriculture and related trade strategies and policy issues. Recommendations from the AR4D think tank will be documented, published and brought to the attention of persons (individuals, organisations and governments) that need to take action.

3. ASARECA will establish robust platforms for information exchange that enable access to its data, information and knowledge: Key elements of the platforms will be targeted communication products; a one-stop web-based portal; an information resource centre; gender responsive feedback and demand articulation mechanisms; and capacity development. The one-stop web-based portal will be the major channel of access to ASARECA communication products. The portal will host several e-platforms including: databases (for example a TIMPs inventory), e-repositories, mobile platforms, geospatial data and collaboration tools. The web-based portal will be supported by a user-friendly, cutting edge information and communication technology (ICT) environment. The information resource centre will be setup to provide access to hard-copy communication products and serve the needs of stakeholders that have poor access to the Internet. It will also physically post materials to other AR4D libraries. The ASARECA Knowledge and Information Hub will institute gender responsive mechanisms for feedback and demand articulation from different categories of stakeholders paying attention to women and youth. These will entail both electronic and face-to-face interaction. Electronic mechanisms will comprise social media (facebook, twitter and YouTube) targeting the youth and face-to-face mechanisms (conferences, meetings, workshops, seminars, agricultural trade shows, and mass media) will ensure equal participation by women. Capacity development will entail training, set-up and maintenance of the infrastructure that supports the platforms for information exchange.

4. The ASARECA Knowledge and Information Hub will serve as the clearinghouse for AR4D technology and information from the ECA sub-region: The hub will be a central place for coordination, collection, maintenance and access to AR4D data and information. ASARECA will collect, collate and avail relevant data and information for AR4D in the ECA region. It will ensure that data and information are sieved through credible quality assurance systems and that appropriate intellectual property rights regimes are adhered to. Apart from the ECA TIMPs, geographic information system (GIS) maps will be availed through the clearing house. These will be useful for mapping ongoing project locations in the ECA region to ensure complementarities

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and eliminate duplication. The clearing house will also link with existing online knowledge bases (NARES, CGIAR centres, SROs and development partners).

Communications and public relationsThe ASARECA activities, outputs and achievements need to be strategically marketed to the external community. The public profile of ASARECA will be developed and strengthened by increasing the budget for marketing and publicising events and activities; a specific marketing strategy and a visibility manual will be developed.

ASARECA will establish a public relations and communication team, to support both the internal and external communication of ASARECA initiatives. The initiatives include generating the publicity necessary to stimulate commercialisation of technology and innovation that ASARECA develops through its thematic, multi-disciplinary projects.

Low cost, widespread access to the Internet in ECA will allow improved knowledge sharing and management at all levels and all categories of stakeholders. This improved accessibility will provide information, knowledge and better communication with partners and linkages with value chain actors. This will facilitate the dissemination of technology packages and evidence-based decision making.

The development and roll-out of key information management tools and systems and development and sharing of well defined communication strategies with targeted audiences for project design will be encouraged. This will ensure that themes and projects are supported in developing appropriate upscaling and communication strategies.

Each thematic area will identify an individual who understands the theme and who can translate this into appropriate material for the public and for development partners.

4.5 Integration of upscaling

Upscaling of technologies and support to agricultural advisory servicesUpscaling will be integrated in the Programme-Thematic Approach, which will focus on multi-disciplinary initiatives that consider the value chain and the numerous parameters involved in creating interest in new technologies across a range of stakeholders. In doing so, it is expected that more diverse partners including the private sector will be involved in the ASARECA research continuum than was the case under OP1. This will facilitate more interaction, foster collective responsibility among key actors and, hence, contribute to resolving the obstacles to upscaling.

Key obstacles to upscaling noted during OP1 include lack of effective market linkages; lack of institutional and organisational capacities that can reduce risks and increase economies of scale for profitable engagement of smallholders in value chains; inadequate involvement of the private sector and weaknesses in technology dissemination and knowledge exchange. In OP2, value chain and innovation system approaches, partnering with private sector and agricultural advisory service provider organisations and using ICTs will be key to achieving knowledge management and upscaling through social learning.

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ASARECA projects will include resources and strategies to support spillover of benefits. Furthermore, the projects will adopt a more integrated approach with thematic and multi-disciplinary project teams created to have the right mix of skills, qualifications and experience. Up- and out-scaling will be integrated into activities throughout the life of projects and be governed by a communications strategy which is defined, agreed and budgeted for. The influences of research products on the whole system will be considered before upscaling, and indicators of success will target transformational outcomes. Promoting the widespread uptake of promising TIMPS identified during OP1 will be emphasised. Some projects and initiatives under OP1 will continue in OP2, but with more focus on upscaling and wider stakeholder engagement.

The integration of upscaling in OP2 initiatives will be guided by the new ASARECA Scaling-up Strategy which defines the role of ASARECA in upscaling and also outlines key interventions and output areas. In line with its mandate, the ASARECA role in upscaling will be supportive and catalytic, assisting other actors in the agricultural value chains to play their roles more effectively. The roles of ASARECA in upscaling will be: (1) facilitating the sharing of knowledge of new technologies and innovations; (2) developing and facilitating the sharing of best practices and scaling-up methodologies; (3) coordinating the sharing/movement of new technologies and innovations across borders; (4) facilitating networking amongst extension service providers in the sub-region; (5) where possible and through strategic partnerships, facilitating the development of agribusiness along commodity value chains; (6) advocating for policy environments that will support upscaling in all member countries; and (7) strengthening institutional and individual capacities for scaling-up.

To play these roles, ASARECA will adopt diverse pathways and seek strategic partnerships with other relevant organisations. Partnerships will be essential to enable ASARECA reach out to many end users, and effectively deliver TIMPs and also farm and business development services through coaching and training. Towards this end, ASARECA under OP2 fully recognises that strategic partnerships between different stakeholders will be key to successful accomplishment of its mission. ASARECA will strive to improve its partnerships with the private sector and other national, regional and international institutions to enhance her capacity to effectively address key agricultural priority and strategic issues. This approach is expected to result in diverse partnership models which will serve as innovative channels for sharing information and knowledge; disseminating TIMPs across a range of stakeholders; and facilitating the development of agribusiness along commodity value chains.National and regional expertise in using existing innovative systems with the private sector as a key partner will be used.

As part of its strategy to facilitate upscaling, ASARECA will also strengthen its partnerships with organisations that provide advisory services, and undertake research on uptake with the help of the appropriate resource clusters. Evidence based knowledge management will be an integral part of learning and scaling-up. ASARECA will facilitate this with its Knowledge and Information Hub through continuous harnessing of knowledge about what works, through ME&L, and using various platforms and ICT to share information with relevant stakeholders. To strengthen this further, the ASARECA partnership with AFAAS will be formalised through a mutually negotiated Memorandum of Understanding. This will provide a framework for ASARECA to collaborate more effectively with extension service providers.

The sustainability and uptake of new technology adoption will be encouraged through cost sharing with end-users. ASARECA will carry out research into the types of outputs that different categories of farmers and end-users are prepared to pay for and facilitate the development of purposive partnerships with farmer organisations that will ensure sustainability. Significant informal transfer

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(spillover) of technologies has occurred within and across countries, and ASARECA will invest more effort in systematically monitoring the scope and scale of this. Project support will be used to facilitate the movement of material, germplasm, seeds and research products and therefore enhance transboundary implementation of projects. Projects under OP2 will be required to develop mechanisms to document lessons learned from innovation platforms and share spill-in/spillover among partners within and between countries. This will be done through uptake pathways targeting innovative partnerships, and thus encourage the dissemination of research findings beyond participating partners and countries.

Support to agribusiness incubationASARECA will take advantage of the lessons learned through implementation of the UniBRAIN initiative. UniBRAIN is a collaborative programme with FARA and the SROs to support agri-business incubation through strategic partnerships that encourage the private sector in the uptake of value addition and other technologies. Under OP2, ASARECA will undertake the following activities, building on the UniBRAIN initiative to support agri-business incubation:

• Stock taking of existing agribusiness incubators in the ECA sub region.

• Capacity building for the incubators to handle more incubatees and to provide a wide range of essential business development services such as business plan development, value addition, market information and linkages with financial service providers.

• Select at least 10 TIMPs developed under OP1 that have good potential and support them for upscaling through the incubation centres.

• Conduct value chain analyses around the TIMPs to identify critical gaps that could be addressed by the incubators.

• Work with selected networks such as the non-governmental organisation (NGO)/community based organisation forum, university and private sector networks such as RUFORUM and the Pan African Agribusiness and Agro-Industry consortium (PANAAC), and others to identify potential incubatees that can be linked to the incubators.

4.6 Advocacy

Compliance with ASARECA-catalysed policy changes remains a limitation to moving beyond outcomes to impact.27 At the start of OP1, the entry point for policy harmonisation through strengthened advocacy and lobbying in member countries was unclear. ASARECA had carried out several strategic studies that should have led to adoption of policies by member countries, but there was limited success.

During OP1, the reasons for this were identified and a strategy and plan28 to address them were developed. These consider ways in which stronger influence can be exerted at the highest sub-regional and national policy levels to ensure compliance of member countries to agreements brokered by ASARECA. The advocacy strategy and implementation plan that will support the development of

27 For example, there can be institutional and financial incentives for a national ministry to retain requirements for mandatory trials before commercial release, even when agro-ecological conditions are identical in bordering countries.

28 ASARECA [Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa]. 2011. Strategy for enhancing the impact of policy research in Eastern and Central Africa. ASARECA, Entebbe, Uganda.

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high-level advocacy skills and build a stronger more focused advocacy thrust will be developed as a key element of Theme 3, Market, Market Linkages and Trade.

ASARECA has no legal framework or procedures to ensure access by member countries and stakeholders to technologies using sub-regional funding; linked to this is the issue of intellectual property rights which needs more attention. The Board of Directors will ensure that internal policies and an appropriate legal framework that ensures sharing of benefits of sub-regional public goods are developed.

ASARECA representation in high-level, regional, agriculture-related fora at COMESA ministerial meetings and at AU/NEPAD will be treated as an extremely high priority intervention.

Success in this area will increase the ability of ASARECA to engage and influence high-level policy processes in the sub-region. The Communication and IT units are in a position to provide suitable material to reinforce the advocacy role of senior management, and this will be encouraged and supported.

Recent CGIAR reforms and the new CGIAR Research Programmes (CRPs), provide opportunities to redefine roles for partnering with the CGIAR. Relevant CRPs will be identified and participation in the CRP design meetings as the connection point between the CGIAR centres and NARES will be encouraged and advocated.

Political pressure from influential stakeholders to politicise the organisation and the growing influence of donors through micro-management of ASARECA activities could prove a threat to smooth implementation. This will be addressed through high-level advocacy and a deliberately managed change process, which includes sensitisation to the issues.

The current challenge of sub-optimal investment in issues that require regional solutions resulting in wasteful, duplicative research will be addressed through: (1) an effective communication strategy at all levels seeking to increase awareness and the mainstreaming of OP2 in key country strategic papers and CAADP compacts; (2) enhancing political commitment to the regional research agenda by facilitating ministerial dialogues for the patron ministers who are also ministers of agriculture in each member state; and (3) strengthening linkages to national budgetary processes to ensure that regional issues find their way into national strategies, work plans and budgets.

4.7 Gender mainstreaming

Institutionalising gender mainstreamingASARECA recognises the importance of gender mainstreaming and the fact that it enhances the understanding of socio-economic issues, putting a human face on activities. This is seen through the adoption of FAAP and CAADP principles29 in planning, and has been strengthened through the recruitment of a gender specialist and subsequent capacity building of stakeholders.

29 The nine principles of FAAP are: Empowerment of end-users; Planned subsidiarity; Pluralism in delivery; Evidence-based approaches; Integration of agricultural research; Explicit incorporation of sustainability criteria; Systematic utilisation of improved management information systems; Introduction of cost-sharing; and Institutionalisation of gender.

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During OP1, gender equality was mainstreamed into project design and implementation of activities. ASARECA achieved gender responsiveness at all levels of its institutional framework and all stages of the design, planning, implementation and M&E of its agricultural research agenda.

Successful gender mainstreaming requires buy-in from the highest policy organs in a country/institution, involving key policy makers such as the ministers of agriculture, research directors and centre managers. Training programmes implemented by ASARECA have raised the profile of gender mainstreaming efforts including developing action plans. Forming a platform of trainers of trainers in gender mainstreaming at regional and in-country level is likely to yield faster gains.

Gender is no longer viewed as a women’s issue or an issue for development partners, but as something important for understanding the needs of women and men as the people for whom ASARECA exists.The inclusion of gender analysis among intended beneficiaries as one of several socio-economic factors to be considered in project targeting and outcomes/impacts will raise the effectiveness of ASARECA in targeting gender issues and poverty.

The formation of a gender oversight role for national focal points will be developed to strengthen gender mainstreaming and accountability for gender results at project level. A platform for trainers of trainers in gender mainstreaming at the regional and in-country level will also be developed.

A gender policy will be operationalised and the gender capacity at the ASARECA Secretariat has been enhanced by creating a fully-fledged unit to strengthen gender mainstreaming and socio-economic differentiation by partner institutions in project implementation. One of the key factors in achieving gender equality will be empowering women and the youth. OP2 will also focus on establishing a common framework through which regional interventions will be designed for empowering poor rural women and the youth.

Focus will be on fewer, more strategic, interventions that will strengthen the ASARECA capacity to address gender mainstreaming across socio-economic differentiation at all levels of its institutional and thematic work. This will make the most efficient use of available resources and include using existing stakeholder platforms and regional and sub-regional consultative forums to build synergies and share experiences that promote and strengthen gender mainstreaming.

Current, unilateral initiatives at national level to address gender mainstreaming will be treated as an opportunity to facilitate it in projects, ensuring holistic and sustainable agricultural development.Some of the other issues that will be addressed include:

• The low numbers of women in scientific/research positions which may be partially addressed through increased opportunities for women in higher education.

• The inequitable distribution of agricultural resources with specific gender categories of women, youth, other interest groups and targeted minority groups.

• Policy advocacy for equitable resource distribution.

• The creation of gender-responsive stakeholder platforms at national and regional level.

• Addressing some of the factors embedded in gender roles, that hinder women’s participation in decision making and other opportunities such as training (for example, establishing how women can be encouraged to take up training slots allocated to them).

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The youth and the unemployed display a lack of enthusiasm for agriculture, and with an aging population in the farming community, the future of agricultural production is under threat. As part of the broader approach, extra efforts will be made to engage with organisations that deal with youth.

Gender at thematic and project levelA gender strategy has been developed and approved by the ASARECA Board of Directors and a monitoring system will be developed to measure its success and identify areas for review and development. This will be done by developing and institutionalising performance management plans for projects and resource clusters which include baselines and targets that are appropriately disaggregated, by gender or sex, but also other socio-economic categories.

The inclusion of gender-related differences among intended beneficiaries as one of several socio-economic factors to be considered in project targeting and outcomes/impact assessment, will raise ASARECA effectiveness in targeting gender and poverty.

4.8 Environmental and social safeguards

Sustainability is one of the driving forces for ASARECA, although compliance to existing safeguard policies and procedures has sometimes proved a challenge. To address this, an office for ESS was established under the office of the DED which will emphasise compliance with environmental and social safeguards.

In addition to the available operational support for programme managers and NARES, existing country systems for environmental and social assessments will be used and adapted to strengthen technical capacity. The systems will then be used in the process of preparing environmental and social management instruments for approved projects.

Emphasis will be placed on implementation of mitigation measures, identified ESS instruments and reporting on both the outputs and outcomes on a regular basis. To ensure effective implementation of ESS, ASARECA plans to provide training for programme managers, principal investigators and sub-grantees as part of its capacity building initiatives. This will enable them to integrate ESS considerations during design, development, approval and implementation of sub-projects.

To succeed in integrating and mainstreaming ESS, building of partnerships and networking is considered as key. The role of establishing and managing functional partnerships with relevant organisations belongs to the ASARECA Partnerships and Capacity Development (PCD) Unit. Therefore, working with this unit, key partnerships will be identified, established and managed. Networks will also be identified and initiated with agencies at international, regional and local levels to advance the ESS agenda and programme.

Information is important in empowering ASARECA and partners to conduct effective environmental and social management. ASARECA will therefore create and disseminate (both internally and externally) information on environmental and social sustainability. This will be done through collaboration with programme managers, IT and the Communication and Public Relations Unit.

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30 Central Africa. ASARECA, Plot 5, Mpigi Road, Entebbe, Uganda. [In English and French]. 31 ASARECA Operations Manual, Approved 17 December 2009, Revised July, 2011. ASARECA Plot 5, Mpigi Road, Entebbe, Uganda.

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5Organisation and governance

5.1 Changes to support the paradigm shift

The organisational structure under OP1 is shown in Figure 6. This structure is supported by Governance30 and Operation31 manuals.

Figure 6: ASARECA organisational structure under OP1

The above structure has proved useful and effective during the implementation of OP1, but is constantly evolving to meet fresh demands and needs. Under OP2 several further changes are proposed to increase accountability, transparency and efficiency. These are driven by the shift to a Programme-Thematic Approach and by the need to address issues described elsewhere in this document.


5.2 Issues of change and change management

ASARECA has successfully gone through substantial changes since 2006. These changes include adopting a programme approach to replace NPPs, expanding the Secretariat, bringing all staff to the Entebbe office and recruiting additional staff to support the Association’s strategy.

No formal organisational change management programme had been in place to oversee these changes. Some significant areas were therefore neglected including issues linked to institutional norms and culture, leadership and management style, communication and the profile of ASARECA and its activities.

To address this, an integrated, formal and structured management of change process was initiated and mentored by a Change Management Specialist in 2013 to guide and support the process in collaboration with a Change Management Team comprising ASARECA staff members.

The change management initiative is not being treated as a separate project or programme, but is integrated into everything that ASARECA does. It follows a structured approach that addresses all the key issues (see Figure 7) through a change management framework that deals with the obvious, and less obvious, factors.

Figure 7: The 4-Step Change Management Framework

The framework focuses on, but is not limited to 12 key areas listed in Box 6.32 Further information on the process is detailed in Annex 6. To develop a clear timetable and plan, the change management process uses a logframe approach to identify the deliverables and what the process is aiming to

32 These were identified by stakeholders at a Consultative Workshop in Nairobi, Kenya from 18–21 September 2012 as well as the processes involved for some of them. Further work is required to develop these as part of the change process itself, however, this marks a first step in the change process.

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achieve. A draft logframe is shown in Annex 7. Finalisation of this will form part of the planning process during the inception phase 0f OP2 (see Chapter 6). An indicative timetable is shown in Annex 8.

The revised organisational structure is shown in Figure 8. The establishment of this revised structure will be integrated into the change process.

Box 6: Substance of change for OP2

1. Programme to hybrid approach is a prerequisite for OP2. Sensitise management from lower to higher levels including Board members (creative capacity building).

2. Revision of current structures, processes and roles: Review of procedures in Operations Manual to minise conflict of interest at governance/Board level (to look at the decision-making processes and beneficiary roles) with definition of clear roles and responsibilities for management and the Board.

3. Corporate identity: Enhance the profile and visibility of ASARECA nationally, sub-regionally, regionally and internationally. Resolve the issue of legal status of ASARECA in Uganda (by completing the Host country Agreement); Address issue if status at the regional level with special emphasis on how member countries view ASARECA and reaches out to it.

4. Institutionalising outreach and communication tasks.5. Institutionalising gender mainstreaming: Harmonised implementation of gender mainstreaming,

communication strategies within ASARECA region.6. Institutionalising effective ESS: Integration of ESS to ensure its contribution towards sustainable

agricultural systems.7. Human resources: Equal opportunity, participation, training on soft skills, capacity building,

evolution into a learning organisation. Review incentive scheme/reward system.8. ME&L: Performance of initiatives, staff and the organisation as a whole.9. Partnership development: Engagement with stakeholders and new partners, especially the private

sector. Establish private sector contact point at ASARECA. Build capacity and partnership for private sector, civil society organisations.

10. Advocacy: Examine the tools related to this aspect to develop coherent mechanisms. In-reach (advocacy within ASARECA as an organisation) before outreach needs focus and galvanised support.

11. Capacity building of NARES: Emphasis should be on institutional capacity building of partners (processes, systems, etc.) particularly the less competitive NARES. Popularise ASARECA products and strengthen feedback mechanism.

12. Impact orientation: Tracking adoption and impact of technologies (using appropriate social economic and gender analysis tools).

13. Proactive resource mobilisation: Develop a strategy and be able to mobilise resources from within the region, other donors and the private sector.

5.3 The Board of Directors

The ASARECA Board of Directors currently comprises the Directors General of the 11 NARIs and 1 representative from each of the key stakeholder groups. The stakeholder groups are: COMESA, agricultural universities, the private sector, farmer organisations/associations, international agricultural research centres of the CGIAR, agricultural research extension advisory services and NGOs; development partners attend as observers. The Board meets twice a year and is responsible for the stewardship and strategic leadership of the ASARECA Secretariat. A General Assembly (GA) was also established to serve as the oversight organ to which the Board of Directors is responsible to. The GA reviews the strategies, priorities and assesses the progress and research programmes and initiatives of ASARECA every two years.

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Organisation and governance


Strengthening of governance mechanisms

General Assembly and Business Committee members are currently uncertain of their precise roles. To enhance the stewardship and leadership of ASARECA, the Secretariat will continue to organise Board induction retreats to build the capacity of new Board members on their roles. The roles will also be clarified through a consultative review of their functions, and as part of the formal support to the change process. The Committee and General Assembly will also be sensitised to their roles in the implementation of OP2. Once all of them understand their roles and responsibilities, they will provide the right guidance to ASARECA and hence increase its efficiency.

The Board of Directors must feel able to challenge the ASARECA management. In its oversight role, the Board should be able to approve or reject recommendations presented by the Secretariat. The change management process will enhance the governance and management skills of the Board of Directors and of Committee members through training. This should enable the Board to take informed decisions that will make ASARECA a more efficient organisation.

The extensive technical and specialist skills that Board members possess do not always include those necessary to operate effectively and efficiently in the role of ASARECA oversight. This sometimes prevents full engagement of the Board of Directors with the Secretariat and other stakeholders, restricting their ability to ensure quality and alignment with the wider policy and political environment, something which may lead to compromised and reduced quality decision making. The change management process will therefore equip Board members with soft skills such as decision making, effective communication and problem solving. Improved quality of decisions made will increase the organisational efficiency.

ASARECA proposed revisiting the Board composition to balance stakeholders and their skills and develop a formal training policy for members with specific training including corporate governance. A familiarisation programme for Board members will also be developed and implemented.33 When Board members are from diverse backgrounds; are empowered with corporate governance skills, which the change management process will facilitate; and they are well oriented to their roles and responsibilities, they will be more effective. This will in turn result to ASARECA being a more efficient and effective organisation.

A self-appraisal process for the Board of Directors and its committees is being implemented under OP1, and will continue to be promoted and supported. The appraisal document will be reviewed to conform to best practice.

Interaction between the Board and Secretariat staff will be encouraged with more Board and Committee visits to the Secretariat to meet senior management and staff. This will allow them to take a more proactive role in providing guidance and oversight. The change management process will encourage effective communication between the Board, Committee members and staff at the Secretariat. This will build solid communication and knowledge sharing channels. When people talk to each other, day-to-day operations will be smoother, as bottlenecks will be easily eliminated. In that way, ASARECA will be more efficient and effective as an organisation.

33 Improvements in the Board performance will include ensuring that decisions made by the Board at previous Board meetings are subsequently checked and reviewed and that decisions taken are assigned to specific staff or a management committee with timelines for their implementation.

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In OP1 the Board has had three committees34 with functions spelt out in the Governance Manual. Currently, the Finance and Audit Committee has been split into a Finance and Administration Committee and Audit Committee (see Figure 8). The Audit Committee’s responsibilities and activities address the Board’s obligation to establish formal and transparent arrangements for considering how it should apply financial reporting and internal control principles. Areas where there is potential for conflict of interest will also be reviewed and addressed. This is important because audit and financial duties need to be segregated. Changes in the structure will lead to this segregation and this will result in the audit function checking the finance one. This creation of checks and balance will result in more accountability which will in turn enhance efficiency.

A Nomination and Governance Committee will be established to replace the OP1 Nomination Committee. It will have a broader role and set of responsibilities to be decided by the Board of Directors.

Technical Advisory CommitteeA Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) will be established to act as the technical advisory arm to the Executive Director. This will have clear terms of reference and a clear OP of its own. A draft of these for discussion is shown in Annex 9.

ASARECA envisages that TAC will comprise 12 experts appointed from organisations within the NARES of member states, partner institutions and international organisations, on the basis of their personal merit, proven expertise and experience in agricultural research for development and capacity strengthening. Composition of the membership of TAC will ensure representation of the areas of ASARECA activities, official working languages and gender.

The functions of TAC will include, inter alia:

• Review programmes and advise the Executive Director on scientific and technical matters and the relevance of the themes’ projects to the ASARECA strategic and operational plans.

• Assist the Secretariat in the functions of facilitating scientific cooperation and coordination.

• Assist the Secretariat and Board of Directors to conduct evaluation of the scientific activities of ASARECA between meetings of the General Assembly.

• Monitor and evaluate scientific cooperation activities, including scientific publication and dissemination of technical information, implemented by ASARECA.

• Assist the Secretariat to coordinate the scientific activities of ASARECA to promote scientific excellence and enhancing the influence of ASARECA in the ECA sub-region.

Members of TAC will be appointed by the Board of Directors and will meet once or twice a year in ordinary sessions when at least two-thirds of the members have confirmed their participation. Extraordinary sessions of TAC may be convened if half its members and the Executive Director give approval. To facilitate implementation of its functions, TAC may also be empowered to set up special ad hoc sub-committees to address specific issues.

The precise nature and governance of TAC will be discussed and decided during the inception phase of OP2.

34 Programme Committee, Finance and Audit Committee, Nomination Committee.

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5.4 The Secretariat

Management of themes and projectsThe Secretariat has highly qualified staff and a strong pool of human resources with diverse skills. The staff were all recruited using a transparent, competitive and merit-based process. The special focus on staff motivation and retention will continue and, if necessary, skills sets will be broadened to reflect the changes implied in the thematic, multi-disciplinary approach. The change management process will continue to motivate employees because with high morale, productivity is elevated, and employees offer new ideas to help increase organisational efficiency. The process may create incentive plans that offer merit awards to individuals who perform above expectations, constantly compare the salaries and pay structures ASARECA is offering with those of other organisations in the same industry to remain competitive and encourage employee feedback on organisational issues. ASARECA carried out a human resource capital requirement evaluation exercise to determine the optimal level of staff to operationalise OP2 (Annex 10). The Association will endeavour to maintain a lean and effective human resource base and optimise the strength of this resource by regularly carrying out skills audits.

The new Programme-Thematic Approach will be coordinated and managed by the Deputy Executive Director. Senior technical staff will remain as they were under OP1, as programme managers and unit heads. Programmes and unit functions and responsibilities will be reviewed to ensure they are appropriate to the new approach and priorities.

The Executive Director will assign a Programme Manager as Theme Coordinator for each theme in consultation with the Deputy Executive Director and with the approval of the Board of Directors. Theme Coordinators will be responsible for convening meetings; they will each use a small budget, held by the Deputy Executive Director, to facilitate this process. It is possible that this role could rotate amongst the Programme Managers on a biennial basis. Programme assistants will continue to provide additional technical support for the management of activities.

Prioritised issues within each theme will be addressed by developing calls for concept notes by programme managers and unit heads under the coordination of the Theme Coordinator.The Environment and Social Safeguard Specialist will ensure projects concept notes and proposals satisfy environmental and social criteria.

Each individual multi-disciplinary project will have a designated Programme Manager, who may be the Theme Coordinator, if appropriate. Programme managers will report projects to the Deputy Executive Director, as is currently done. Other technical staff will provide any necessary support and inputs.

The specific roles and responsibilities will be reviewed and developed as part of the managed change process during the start-up (see Implementation schedule, Chapter 6). When employees know what is expected of them in terms of roles, responsibilities and performance standards, they tend to perform better, have high morale and, hence, increase organisational efficiency.To ensure that ESS, gender, partnership and advocacy issues, principles and initiatives are institutionalised across the organisation, a special Crosscutting Committee, chaired by the Executive Director, will be created. Membership of the committee will come from policy, advocacy, partnerships, knowledge management, upscaling, gender and capacity strengthening.

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The Crosscutting Committee will advise, support and develop ASARECA-wide policy and initiatives on these key issues and ensure that they are resourced and addressed. The scope and scale of the committee will be beyond that covered by the themes, projects and activities.

The Information Communication Unit of OP1 has been split into a Communications and Public Relations Unit and an Information Technology Unit (Figure 8).

Support to the paradigm shift will be provided through access to resource persons or mentors to provide guidance and support as part of the managed process of change.

Profiles of the ASARECA OP2 functional unitsOP2 will be implemented by the following ASARECA functional units/offices:

• The Executive Director’s office

• The Deputy Executive Director’s office

• Programme management units

• Partnerships and Capacity Development Unit

• Information, Communication and Public Relations Unit

• Information Technology Unit

• Gender Mainstreaming Unit

• Internal Audit Unit

• Procurement and Contracting Unit

• Environmental and Social Safeguards office

• Human Resources and Administration Unit

• Finance Unit

• Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Unit

The required profile for the functions above is detailed in Annex 11.

Other human resource issuesJob titles and descriptions will be reviewed to improve perceptions and conditions of Secretariat staff. It may be necessary to redefine roles and responsibilities through a human resources development review, before reassigning staff and units. The change management process will involve all staff in the review of their job descriptions and the redefining of their roles to suit the OP2 requirements. This will increase staff morale which should translate to elevated productivity and therefore increased organisational efficiency.

A programme for regular staff or management meetings specifically to deal with human resources issues will be established to allow sufficient time to deal with critical agenda items. Once staff members understand that the organisation cares for their welfare and involves them in taking decisions affecting them, their morale will increase and they will be more productive.

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Figure 8: Organisational structure for OP2(Dotted lines reflect collaborative-interactive links on regular or day-to-day basis, purple boxes are new positions or units.)

The staff representation outlined in the Operations Manual will be operationalised to create a forum in which staff can be represented and which can receive feedback on staff suggestions presented to the Board.

Operations ManualThe ASARECA Operations Manual is an extensive document that has been developed and used during OP1. It contains good systems and procedures which create confidence and predictability and reduce the risk of problems. It allows ASARECA to promote itself and demonstrate good value for money.

For it to remain a useful document, the processes and procedures in it will be implemented according to the principles and policies it contains. Where elements of it are unhelpful or obstructive, they will be reviewed and changed. Since the Operations Manual is a living document it will be systematically reviewed and revised to ensure that it remains relevant to the changing environment in which ASARECA operates.

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5.5 Financial management

Programme-thematic supportASARECA bears the fiduciary responsibility for all funds utilised or advanced by the Secretariat, and must closely monitor the use of funds by its sub-grantees. This ensures the funds are used for the purposes intended. The ASARECA Finance Unit has in place a robust automated accounting system and well documented operational policies and guidelines that can fulfil these fiduciary responsibilities.

The transparency and effectiveness of financial accounting has met all types of development partner funding requirements and criteria, and this has been well documented and demonstrated over the last five years.

The current automated system and guidelines are flexible and will be able to accommodate the new programme-thematic approach with minimal modifications.

Capacity building of sub-grantees to handle financial management procedures will continue, including where necessary, language skills for non-English speakers so that, inter alia, sub-grantee finance officers will be better placed to fulfil reporting requirements.

The Finance Unit will determine how best to simplify the financial reporting standards and templates and also determine how to move from financial accountabilities to performance accountabilities for smaller and target-specific projects and activities.

There is a continuing need and demand for funding for ASARECA activities. To address this, it is proposed to develop a coordinated and comprehensive fund-raising strategy that is included as an activity in job descriptions of senior management.

Low burn rate of ASARECA programmesIssues resulting in sub-optimal budget utilisation (burn rate) will be addressed. Burn rate is a function of both the ability to make disbursements for actual expenditure efficiently, and implementation of project activities on the ground. If one lags behind, the burn rate will suffer. The focus will be on an all-inclusive review that includes project coordinators, finance and M&E performance.The assessment of sub-grantees needs to be strengthened with their institutional capacity reviewed. Budgets submitted by sub-grantees will be validated to a greater level of detail to identify instances of over-budgeting, in relation to the outputs that the sub-grantees promise to deliver.

Programmes which involve the contracting of individual scientists will be closely monitored and will have contract clauses which emphasise the time and the quality of project deliverables.

The general sentiment at ASARECA is that burn rate is an issue only for finance. However, the concept is broader than that and will be handled as an institutional concern for ASARECA. Burn rate is an informal institution that will be addressed under the change management process.

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Risks in financial operationsThe various reviews of the ASARECA financial operations have identified the following risks, and these will be addressed:

• Insufficient involvement of the Human Resources Unit in the payroll process which leads to errors in payment.

• No risk management policy in place to identify, assess, communicate, document and manage institutional risks, as stipulated by the Operations Manual.

• Inadequate risk assessment with no rating for identified risks; the last assessment, for example, was carried out in 2009.

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6Implementation schedule

6.1 Overview and introduction

ASARECA must consider several practical issues in the context of implementation. The principal one is the projects for which funds are already committed and which are operating under the programme approach. These needs to be completed and, where appropriate, absorbed into the new paradigm based on thematic areas and resource clusters.

The preparation for implementation of OP2 will start as soon as the document has been approved, with the official start date being 1 January 2014. It is anticipated that an Inception–Transition Phase of 12 to 18 months will address several key issues.

An indicative timetable is summarised in Figure 9 and shown in full in Annex 8 (this highlights key activities). The activities were identified by stakeholders as priority areas (see Box 6).

Figure 9: Summary of key change management events

Green blocks indicate start and period of intensive inputs—further detail in Annex 8.

Once the Inception–Transition Phase is completed the full implementation will include not only the research and other activities of ASARECA, but also the institutionalisation of the changes identified in this OP. These are linked to the structures and processes of ASARECA and will be covered through a managed process which will ensure the successful incorporation of the changes into the operation of the organisation.

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6.2 Inception—Transition phaseCompletion of OP1 projectsProjects and initiatives started under OP1 will continue but will also, wherever possible and where they are not already doing so, refocus on key issues of upscaling and wider stakeholder engagement. Any potential to continue after 2013 will be identified and integrated into the planning phase of the new initiatives, projects and calls for proposals.

Each OP1 programme manager will audit project portfolios to determine which would be suitable for developing further and incorporating directly into the new structure.

Participatory identification of key componentsThere are technical, structural and process-based changes that are an inherent part of this Plan. For these to be successfully institutionalised, a broad base of ASARECA stakeholders must both understand and agree on the main elements. Some of these changes are shown in Box 6. However, they will need to be shared with a wider cohort of stakeholders and developed into a plan which addresses each.

This will be done through a participatory, workshop-based approach which is managed and facilitated as part of the change management process; it will serve two functions. First, it will provide the technical elements that will drive the development of research calls and the schedule of activities for delivering the outputs. Second, it will develop a sense of stakeholder-ownership and engagement with the new plan and approach.

Change will also address the sharing and development of new and improved soft-skills (management, facilitation, decision making and delegation). Furthermore, it will include developing a wider appreciation of the need to manage change and the identification and facilitation of champions of change and change agents to support the process throughout the organisation at national and sub-regional levels.

6.3 Main implementation of OP2All the changes that must be made to effectively implement OP2 will be aided and managed. Stakeholders will need to be sensitised and given the appropriate skills and resources to implement the Plan. It is for this reason that capacity strengthening is a core function of the ASARECA approach to transforming agriculture in the sub-region.

Technical implementation to ensure delivery of the outputs will be addressed through the approaches described in Chapter 3. This will ensure that ASARECA fully meets its role as a facilitating and synergising SRO that adds value to the skills and resources at national level.

It is anticipated that the main Implementation Phase will overlap with the Inception–Transition Phase, as it would be unrealistic to imagine them as separate activities. Some of the issues addressed in the Inception–Transition Phase will continue and become an integral part of the implementation, although their emphasis will undoubtedly shift. These will include, for example, a continuous process of sensitisation and capacity development with a move to training of trainers to ensure sustainability once a core level of competence had been developed.

The cost and resource implications of all these are considered in Chapter 7 and will be finalised during the Inception–Transition Phase.

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7Financial plan for the Operational

Plan (2014–2018)

7.1 The model of the financing plan

The indicative, total budgets summarised in Table 4 compare three levels of funding for activities. The three possible scenarios, or activity levels, support:

• A high case level which reflects the maximum absorptive capacity of the organisation and that is likely to create the anticipated impact.

• A medium case portfolio, which would be appropriate in the face of limited funding.

• A low case portfolio which would be appropriate in the face of highly constrained funding and is benchmarked to the previous five year OP impact.

7.2 Budgeting methodology

To estimate the costs of research activities, priorities identified by the current programmes, have been used and are summarised in Sub-section 3.3. The priorities were identified in consultation with stakeholders and articulated in the analyses performed by the Secretariat’s sub-committee that reviewed current and future priorities.

The costs for management, administration have been fixed based on the current contractual obligations; the OP1 cost trends and also taking into account inflation and exchange rate fluctuations.An overview of total budgets for the three funding levels of activity is shown in Table 4 and a summary of the budgets for these levels of investment is given in Table 5. Detailed breakdowns of these forecasts are given in Annex 13.

Table 4: Overview of projected costs at three funding scenariosASARECA—Operational Plan 2 Financing Scenarios (2014–2018)Cost Elements High Medium Low

(US$ millions) (US$ millions) (US$ millions)

Research—Sub-granted projects 125.10 69% 91.99 62% 52.08 58%

Technical support activities by ASARECA 32.69 18% 32.69 22% 19.21 21%BOD and Governance 4.19 2% 4.19 3% 2.63 3%Secretariat running costs, rent, capital items 0.63 0% 0.63 0% 0.53 1%Staff costs—Directly managing projects 7.37 4% 7.37 5% 7.29 8%Staff costs— Administration & management units 11.04 6% 11.04 7% 8.54 9%Total 181.03 147.92 90.28

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For the sub-granted projects, the following parameters were used to derive the budget shown in Table 4.

1. High• Ecosystem services—14 projects @ US$ 2.6 million each for 5 years with 2.5% inflation• Markets, market linkages and trade—14 projects @ US$ 3.7 million each for 5 years with 2.5%

inflation• Sustainable agriculture—14 projects @ US$ 2.6 million each for 5 years with 2.5% inflation

2. Medium• Ecosystem services—14 projects @ US$ 2.1 million each for 5 years with 2.5% inflation• Markets, market linkages and trade—14 projects @ US$ 2.3 million each for 5 years with 2.5%


3. Low• Ecosystem services—8 projects @ US$ 2.0 million each for 5 years with 2.5% inflation• Markets, market linkages and trade—8 projects @ US$ 2.2 million each for 5 years with 2.5%


Table 5: Summary of budget costs for the three funding levelsASARECA—Operational Plan 2 Financing Scenarios (2014–2018)Cost elements High Medium Low

(US$ millions) (US$ millions) (US$ millions)

I) Reasearch Themes

Eco-Systems 41.1 29% 33.7 31% 19.8 31%Markets & Market Linkages 56.4 40% 38.0 35% 21.8 34%Sustainable Agriculture 43.0 31% 35.6 33% 21.8 34%Sub-Total 140.4 78% 107.3 73% 63.4 70%

II) Technical Services

Deputy ED—Theme Cordination Office 6.0 23% 6.0 23% 4.0 24%Monitoring & Evaluation 3.7 15% 3.7 15% 2.5 15%Partnerships & Capacity Development 14.0 55% 14.0 55% 8.6 52%Information Technology 1.9 7% 1.9 7% 1.4 9%Sub-Total 25.6 14% 25.6 17% 16.6 18%

III) Management & Administration

Executive Director’s Office 2.4 20% 2.4 20% 2.1 25%Financial Management 1.9 16% 1.9 16% 1.6 19%Administration & HRD 1.5 12% 1.5 12% 1.2 14%Communication & Public Relations 3.3 28% 3.3 28% 1.7 20%Procurement & Contracting 0.9 8% 0.9 8% 0.7 8%Gender Mainstreaming 2.0 16% 2.0 16% 1.3 15%

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Cost elements High Medium Low(US$ millions) (US$ millions) (US$ millions)

Sub-Total Management & Administration 11.9 7% 11.9 8% 8.6 10%

IV) Board & Governance

Board of Directors 1.4 46% 1.4 46% 0.7 42%General Assembly 1.7 54% 1.7 54% 1.0 58%Sub-Total BOD 3.0 2% 3.0 2% 1.7 2%

OVERALL TOTAL FOR OP2 181.0 147.9 90.3

7.3 The financial reporting structure

There are no major fundamental differences between the reporting formats of OP1 and OP2. The proposed organisational management structure, as described in the organogram (see Figure 8), will guide the systematic cost accumulation for budget purposes and reporting.Systems and mechanisms remain the same.

7.4 Resource mobilisation strategy

ASARECA has developed a resource mobilisation strategy which is intended to guide the Secretariat in raising the necessary resources to stimulate agricultural transformation in the sub-region. These are not limited to financial but also include human and capital resources. ASARECA considers these resources as critical to realising the mission and objectives. The scope of mobilising resources is not limited to traditional sources of development partners but will also bring on board national governments and institutions (universities, farmer organisations, research institutions and the private sector among others). In putting together this strategy, ASARECA recognised the significant contributions made by the national governments through NARES, universities, farming and pastoral communities, research institutions and farmer organisations in form of indirect counterpart funding that have proved pivotal in supporting ASARECA operations. Although not always directly quantified in monetary terms, the contributions in kind (human resource and capital) run into several millions of dollars. ASARECA will continue to encourage these critical partners for support in the implementation of OP2.

The current ASARECA Operational Plan (OP1) is estimated to cost about US$80 million over a period of 5 years.35 Under OP2, it is estimated that ASARECA shall require between US$90 million to about US$181 million over 5 years. Under OP2, ASARECA therefore requires an increase of between 12.5% and 125% above the OP1 funding level, to manage core programme activities to be implemented under the three indicative themes, establish and sustain the ASARECA Knowledge and Information Hub, and run the Secretariat. ASARECA shall start a new five-year cycle in 2014 without committed funds and hence every effort must be made to raise the requisite financial resources to fund OP2 activities if the anticipated agricultural transformation is to be realised. Raised funds can be managed as is currently done under MDTF, or through special bilateral arrangements with other partners. The ASARECA Resource Mobilisation Strategy identifies various mechanisms through which ASARECA can

35 Based on three scenarios: low (US$90 million), medium (US$147 million) and high (US$180) with scale being based on the expected impact.

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Financial plan for 2014–2018


raise the required funds to fulfil its mission. Based on the assumption that the unit of transformation is the household, it is estimated that about 11 to 21 million people will be influenced positively over the lifespan of OP2 and a total area of 300,000 hectares will be brought under sustainable natural resource management.36 As earlier noted, the required resources would be financial, human, and capital. This is on the understanding that some development partners would be willing to provide technical backstopping or capital equipment (such as irrigation equipment, laboratory equipment, water pumps, and certified and clean planting materials).

The purpose of the ASARECA Resource Mobilisation Strategy is to facilitate the mobilisation of adequate resources to: (1) support ASARECA key result areas and related activities; (2) support operations at the ASARECA Secretariat; (3) fund activities that support the vision and goal of ASARECA; and (4) facilitate the establishment and operationalisation of the proposed ASARECA Knowledge and Information Hub. This strategy is founded on the ASARECA organisational setup as a sub-regional agency with the mandate to guide and support agricultural transformation in the ECA agriculture sub-sector. Through the fund, ASARECA will position itself as a sub-regional think-tank, knowledge and information hub, and a learning centre on how to truly transform the agriculture sector. The strategy guides how the ASARECA management structure and governance will be mobilised to:

1. Scope the nature and magnitude of resources to be mobilised.

2. Prioritise OP2 investment areas and partnerships needed to mobilise resources and implement actions that deliver ASARECA results.

3. Optimise resource use within institutional operations so as to ensure programme coherence, cost effectiveness and competitiveness, as ASARECA implements OP2 through the hybrid of thematic-programmatic implementation approach. This approach is designed to ensure cross learning and wider development impacts over the next five years and beyond.

4. Intensify marketing, advocacy and communication as part of a broader approach to showcase the organisation’s impacts in the ECA sub-region, in turn demonstrating the ASARECA position as an important agricultural development vehicle worth investing in.

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36 Based on the economy of scale, it is estimated that with an effectiveness input of US$20, one person will be positively touched either through capacity enhancement, food security enhancement, nutritional status, provision of quality ecosystem services or otherwise.

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8Conclusions

ASARECA has had many successes during the period of its first Operational Plan (2008–2013) and these are well documented elsewhere. The successes are in large part due to the dedication of its staff and partners combined with a prioritised strategic approach and focused programmes.

Success, and the search for success, has provided many useful lessons for stakeholders. As the period covered by OP1 draws to a close, these lessons form an excellent basis for the development of a plan and approach to cover the next period of implementation (2014–2018).

Applying these lessons in a way which recognises the importance of engaging with a broad base of stakeholders has led to the development of a new paradigm for the next five years. This paradigm is not the radical shift that occurred when programmes and centralised management replaced the scattered NPP, but a gentle evolution of a successful approach which has served ASARECA well since 2008.

It aims to institutionalise the collaborative and coordinated use of the technical skills available to develop calls for initiatives that will address prioritised issues clustered under the distinct challenges and opportunities which face agricultural transformation in the sub-region. These are the thematic areas where programmes and crosscutting issues can pool their collective knowledge and resources to develop integrated responses that satisfy the demands of clients.

Integrated into this paradigm is the recognition that to gain the required impact, the changes that are explicit and implicit in the lessons learned and interactions with stakeholders will need a deliberate and formal process to manage them.

The technical aspects of the plan build on strong foundations that have been developed in the many different disciplines needed to reach targets and provide a holistic approach.

Institutionalising the new paradigm through deliberately managed change, coupled with continued technical excellence and the incorporation of critical crosscutting issues, will ensure that ASARECA enjoys even greater success over the next five years.


9.

Bibliography

ASARECA Board of Directors Visioning Meeting. 29 June 2012, Meeting Report. ASARECA Secretariat.

ASARECA Consultative Workshop of the Transformation Sub-Committee of the ASARECA Secretariat. Synthesis Report, 26 and 27 April 2012.

ASARECA Operational Plan 2008–2012 Towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals and NEPAD’s agenda CAADP through the improved delivery and impact of sub-regional research. Revised Version. [draft]

ASARECA Operations Manual. Approved 17 December 2009, Revised July 2011. ASARECA Plot 5, Mpigi Road, Entebbe, Uganda.

ASARECA Strategic Plan 2007–2016, Agricultural Research-for-Development in Eastern and Central Africa. ASARECA, Plot 5 Mpigi Road, Entebbe, Uganda.

Evaluation of USAID/East Africa Support to the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern And Central Africa [ASARECA]. Revised Final Report. August 2011.

Framework for African Agricultural Productivity. June 2006. Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa, Secretariat, Accra, Ghana.

Governance Manual for the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa. ASARECA, Plot 5, Mpigi Road, Entebbe, Uganda. [In English and French]

Internal Review of the Performance of ASARECA Operational Plan. Price Waterhouse Cooper. September 2011.

Key Issues and Potential/Proposed Responses for ASARECA Operational Plan 2013–2017—A Synthesis of Internal and External Monitoring and Evaluation Reviews and Workshops of ASARECA 2010–2012. JA Sutherland, May 2012.

Mid-term Review Mission of the ASARECA MDTF. Aide Memoire ASARECA P112600. The World Bank. 28 October 2011.

Mid-term Review of ASARECA by the Joint Mission of Development Partners. Final Report. 5 January 2011.

Mid-term Review of the Operational Plan of ASARECA. Final Report. External Review by Tripleline. 26 August 2011.

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NEPAD: Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme. Midrand, South Africa. August 2002.

Proposed Strategic Investment Priorities For ASARECA OP2. Report of ASARECA Subcommittee on Strategic Investment Priorities. May 2012.

Retreat of the Stocktaking Sub-Committee of ASARECA Secretariat. 21–23 March 2012. Summary Report.

Stakeholder Working Group Consultation Workshop for Operational Plan Development. Workshop Report. ASARECA Secretariat. 11 and 12 June 2012.

Stakeholder Working Group Consultation Workshop for Operational Plan Development. Workshop Report. ASARECA Secretariat 18–21 September 2012. Nairobi, Kenya.

SWOT and Situation Analysis Workshop for Operational Plan Development. 11 and 12 May 2012. Workshop Report. ASARECA Secretariat.

10Definitions for the terms and indicators in the OP2 logical

framework (Table 2)

1. Competitiveness is shorthand for increased productivity and access to input and output markets and their supporting and enabling policies.

2. Appropriate covers all aspects of the innovation systems, meaning they should be addressing the following issues: prioritised and strategic, gender responsive, environment and social safeguards, demand-driven, environmentally sensitive, climate-smart, equitable and sub-regionally significant.

3. Innovation systems include key aspects of agricultural systems including value chains and stakeholder platforms. It will involve a network of organisations, enterprises and individuals focused on bringing new products, new processes and new forms of organisation into economic use, together with the institutions and policies that affect their behaviour and performance.

4. This indicator is intended to track the trends in total factor productivity (TFP), including assessing the cumulative percentage change in the value of agricultural output and yield of selected crops and livestock. This indicator is based on the projection that to achieve the desired agricultural growth rate of 6.6% or more will require annual TFP growth rates of 4.4%.

5. This indicator aims to track the annual growth in values of inputs and outputs of agricultural commodities. Time series data on value added in the agriculture sector will be collected. Year-to-year growth rates will be calculated, and where necessary, triennium ending moving averages will be adopted.

6. This indicator tracks the trends in the intra- and inter-country trade (plus intra-regional trade) and value of agricultural trade, including market access and export volumes, etc. It is one of the key indicators in the expanded CAADP M&E systems for agricultural innovation at national and sub-regional level.

7. Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. Household food security is therefore regarded as the application of this concept to the family level, with individuals in households being the focus of concern (FAO 2003).

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8. The Coping Strategies Index (CSI) is a rapid method of assessing what targeted stakeholders do when faced with food insecurity. It acts as an early warning system and whether projects are implemented in the most food insecure households. It is based on the response to a single question: “What do you do when you don’t have adequate food, and don’t have the money to buy food?” The CSI will be constructed by the ASARECA M&E Unit, and administered to stakeholders annually.

9. This indicator measures the increases in agricultural productivity across different crop, livestock and fishery systems and by different categories of farmers (large, commercial; small- and medium-scale; subsistence and women farmers). It tracks increases in yields for staple food crops and other high-value speciality crops; increases in livestock productivity (annual milk production per cow), increases in the yield of fish ponds (annual tons per area), and increases in the productivity of other enterprises.

10. This indicator measures the number of agricultural enabling environment policies, regulations, and administrative procedures in the areas of food, market standards and regulation, natural resource management (NRM), agricultural resource, soil and water management, climate change adaptation/mitigation that implemented new or revised policies by relevant authorities. It also measures the policy progress milestones.

11. This will also include the assessment of the number of project participants reporting positive changes in their food security situation (e.g. changes in productivity, income, nutrition and child feeding practices) as a result of using their new capacities in coping with climate variability. Other key indicators to be tracked include: better knowledge of new practices/technologies for food security; better understanding of the constraints and possible actions and strategies to improve the food security situation.

12. This includes assessing the level of beneficiary satisfaction with the generated TIMPs, the functionality of the incubation centres and knowledge hub, the quality of information products developed, the various pathways used, as well as governance and management, etc. It will also assess changes in stakeholder skills, knowledge and attitudes.

13. This indicator will continue to measure the rate at which the fundamental sections of the Constitution are respected and complied with.

14. This indicator will measure the rate at which ASARECA receives new funds from the various development partners, either through MDTF or any other sources.

15. As a measure of gender mainstreaming processes, this indicator will assess the annual rate of compliance with the general gender policy and principles. This indicator will involve indexed measures for tracking.

16. Given that most of the targeted projects are of Category “B”, this indicator will track all the projects and ensure that all the potential environmental or social impacts are readily identified, and the mitigation and management measures identified, availed and handled. Focused environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA) will be conducted (alongside other targeted programmatic evaluations) to address specific issues.

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17. ASARECA Knowledge and Information Hub is expected to be an ensemble of knowledge-intensive institutions and organisations, public, private and inter-regional, involved to generate, store, transfer, apply and transmit knowledge through education and training with the overall objective of fostering economic and social development. This indicator will therefore help track the effectiveness of this hub in meeting the needs of the partners served, as well as assessing the levels of improved sharing of knowledge within and between like-minded organisations.

18. This indicator will track the level of adoption of the change management practices by ASARECA. Among the key parameters of assessment include: adherence to the vision for the change as well as changes in leadership, planning and organisation, consultation, communication, support characteristics of organisational members, nature of the changes, impact of the change on individuals, and attitudes towards the changes.

19. This intermediate indicator is aimed at tracking the effectiveness and advantages of the thematic approach to project implementation as opposed to the programmatic approach. Its contribution to enhancing rural livelihoods, sustainable NRM practices, strengthening of sustainable producer groups, farmer associations and rural youth groups will be assessed.

20. This indicator assesses the number of beneficiaries who already know about the available TIMPs, and who can physically get them (in terms of time and distance), and can afford and use them.

21. It is the same indicator with refinement of the wording to align with the indicator measured by ASARECA. It tracks the percentage change in adoption of new varieties, breeds, management practices, integrated NRM practices, and improved processing and handling methods by processors and other market intermediaries.

22. This indicator is introduced to enhance tracking of rate of uptake of already generated TIMPs.

23. This indicator assesses the number of beneficiaries who already know about the available TIMPs, and who can physically get them (in terms of time and distance), and can afford and use them.

24. In this indicator, incubation centres are typically designed to serve as an incubating base for TIMPs promotion, training base for persons with new, innovating skills, as well as experimental zones for new TIMPs. This indicator intends to measure the number of such incubators used to avail relevant TIMPs to targeted stakeholders.

25. This indicator looks at the number of agricultural enabling environment policy options including reforms, regulations and administrative procedures in the area of agricultural resources, food, market standards and regulations as well as public investment which are formally presented before legislators through meetings, workshops, seminars, conferences, fora, etc.

26. This indicator addresses the number of agricultural enabling environment policies, regulations and administrative procedures that were passed or approved by legislators.

27. This indicator tracks the number of persons benefiting from short- and long-term training courses (e.g. MSc, PhD, technicians, farmers and the private sector).

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Definitions for the terms


28. The research infrastructure and equipment include physical facilities, such as laboratory equipment, computers and software, greenhouses, refurbishments, farm equipment and vehicles. It also includes tracking of the number, type and quality of needed equipment and technologies made available to support implementation of food security programmes.

29. This indicator tracks the different pathways used in disseminating the packaged information, and includes multimedia events, workshops, exchange visits, website hits, publications, etc.

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11Annexes

Annex 1: Recommendations adopted by the 1st ASARECA General Assembly

The following recommendations were adopted by the 1st ASARECA General Assembly.

1. Agricultural development—challenges and opportunitiesASARECA should:

• Work with national governments to increase investment in science, technology and innovation (STI), particularly advances in biotechnology and ICTs.

• Support mechanisms and approaches that encourage participation of targeted technology users in the development of new technologies for relevance and easy uptake.

• Strengthen the mechanisms for member countries to tap into existing opportunities (including technological options) to enhance regional agricultural production and productivity.

• Increase focus on scaling out of best practices informed by a dynamic inventory of proven technologies and innovations that will contribute to enhancing production, food security and adaptation to effects of climate change.

• In addition to increasing agricultural production and productivity, increase efforts towards regional market integration and trade, removal of non-tariff trade barriers, infrastructural development to enhance access to markets and trade within the countries.

• Increase efforts towards addressing food price volatility.

2. Climate changeASARECA should:

• Make climate change a focal and crosscutting issue in its programmes and projects.

• Support its member countries to generate reliable weather data through building the capacity at national and regional levels for dependable weather forecasts to aid decision-making and appropriate responses to climate change.

• Sensitise its membership and promote best practices that enhance production, food security and adaptation to effects of climate change.

• Play a key role in raising awareness on climate change to minimise post-harvest losses and


address the issue of access to food. Post-harvest handling and storage (warehousing) should also be emphasised.

3. Policies and political commitment

Policies and political commitment are the most critical success/failure factors for advancement and use of science, technology and innovation for agricultural development.ASARECA should:

• Strengthen its engagement and that of its stakeholders in policy advocacy and dialogue to solicit political will and development of supportive policies for agricultural development.

• Facilitate mechanisms for effective coordination of research, extension and training to effectively deliver services to a wide range of stakeholders in the agricultural sector.

• Lobby for government support to smallholder farmers to access inputs and credit services to invest in more productive technologies and practices.

• Strengthen its collaboration with regional economic communities (RECs) to influence political support to the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) process.

4. Disconnect between national agricultural research institutes and the faculties of agricultural sciences

To address the gap between agricultural research in the national agricultural research institutes (NARIs), and the various faculties of agricultural sciences in Eastern and Central Africa (ECA), ASARECA should:

• Initiate and strengthen national institutional frameworks that coordinate and consolidate agricultural research in NARIs and training in faculties and schools of agriculture and related institutions.

• Support universities to undertake reforms that make them more relevant to current and future needs.

• Champion the establishment of a new generation of agricultural universities that integrate agricultural research and university training. Such universities should be anchored in the ministries of agriculture but linked with other relevant sectoral ministries such as education, environment and roads.

• Influence and lobby for new policies that nurture universities that keep pace with change.

• Mobilise more resources and extend more funding to universities as a strategy to strengthen the relationship between the private sector and national research institutions.

• Support and foster collaborative research between universities and NARIs, and engage with the private sector to commercialise the research output.

• Increase representation of universities on the ASARECA Board based on the number of agricultural universities, the number of scientists and the diversity of disciplines.

5. Contribution towards CAADP

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ASARECA should:

• Strengthen its collaboration with regional economic communities to garner political support for the CAADP process.

• Ensure that all stakeholders (NARIs, universities, extension organisations, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), the private sector and farmer organisations) fully participate in the CAADP process through increased support for their capacity building.

• Engage more with the private sector to develop the agricultural value chain.

• Provide directions and guidelines to advance science and technology, particularly biotechnology.

• Adopt English and French as official languages to enable the various stakeholders to interact and communicate more effectively.

6. Supporting farmers and their organisationsASARECA should assist farmer organisations:

• To build their capacity and that of their partners so as to engage in post-production activities in the value chain, such as value addition, marketing and enterprise development, and develop entrepreneurial skills such as record keeping, business planning, market intelligence, negotiation, and monitoring and evaluation (M&E).

• To establish strong governance and leadership structures that represent the needs and interests of members; manage their organisations in an efficient and accountable manner and solicit or access support services such as credit, advisory services and market information.

• To lobby, advocate and influence policies (such as land reforms) that favour investment in their development plans, including agricultural technologies.

• To create an innovative platform and network for information and knowledge management, including indigenous knowledge and information sharing to promote continuous learning and adaptation among the different stakeholders. Multiple approaches to the dissemination of information and technologies should be encouraged, including the use of electronic media such as radio, TV, mobile phones and the internet.

• To articulate and pursue their needs and priorities.

• To develop systems that guarantee access and utilisation of productivity-enhancing technologies such as improved seed and agro-inputs.

7. Strengthening extensionASARECA should:

• Commission studies to understand the underlying bottlenecks to technology adoption.

• Review and critique the extension approaches and their relevance in different contexts.

• Widen its scope of capacity building to include extension and contribute to building the capacity of pluralistic extension services delivery systems encompassing public, private and farmer-based extension.

• Support initiatives that foster partnerships and closer collaboration between research/training and extension service providers, including farmer organisations, NGOs, private sector organisations and civil society.

8. Supporting non-governmental organisation

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ASARECA should:

• Encourage and support genuine NGOs that play a supportive role to functions of ASARECA and create platforms for their networking and partnerships with research/training institutes.

• Broaden its “concept of NGOs” to embrace civil society organisations to tap into the contribution of professional associations in agriculture-related disciplines.

• Enhance the participation of NGOs in programme priority setting.

• Nurture and enhance the capacity of NGOs to mobilise resources, including competing for agricultural research and development (ARD) funds, and create a window through which they can favourably compete for resources from ASARECA.

9. Supporting the private sector and their strategic partners ASARECA should empower the private sector by:

• Building its capacity to lobby and advocate for favourable policies, for example tax exemptions on agricultural goods and products, and increased access to finance for agriculture.

• Commissioning research into strategic entry points for greater interaction between the private sector and farmers that could trigger economic transformation within the agricultural sub-sector.

• Providing access to an inventory of available technologies and their suitability in the different areas within the region, production levels, potential markets, value addition and so forth.

• Facilitating an innovation systems approach to make value chains and agribusiness in the regional work, and support dialogue among the different actors.

• Supporting agribusiness incubation centres in research institutions so that the private sector and the farmers can learn about how the business works.

• Providing evidence-based recommendations that inform the policy formulation processes, with an emphasis on activities, processes and procedures that support commercialisation of agriculture, including financial services and risk aversion.

10. Dealing with emerging issues underlying food insecurityTo coordinate agricultural research and development (R&D) efforts to deal with emerging issues underlying food insecurity, ASARECA should:

• Strengthen its efforts in engendering agricultural research and enhance equity to boost food production.

• Strengthen centres of excellence and build their capacity by recruiting outstanding scientists and developing infrastructure to produce or exploit appropriate technologies for diverse cultures.

• Support member countries to invest in rainwater harvesting, water harnessing and irrigation to boost agricultural productivity and enhance food security.

• Strengthen quality assurance in the entire agricultural research and production system.

• Zone the ECA region and implement mega projects in suitable agro-ecological zones for greater impact.

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11. Mainstreaming universities in the R&D systemASARECA should:

• Support a mapping exercise as a step towards building a database of experts within the ECA region and initiate ways of sharing that capacity within the individual countries and across the region.

• Establish and co-ordinate national platforms which bring together various faculties of agricultural sciences in the ECA region to foster and develop regional programmes on capacity building as well as R&D.

• Explore the possibility of using the institutional infrastructure which has been established in the ECA region to develop regional programmes on human resource (HR) capacity building and R&D efforts in agricultural sciences in the region.

• Tap into the existing regional and global networks that strengthen collaboration between universities and national research institutions, to strengthen human resource capacity development, institutional knowledge management and learning.

• Support universities to undertake reforms that make them more relevant to the current and future needs.

• Increase representation of universities on the ASARECA Board based on the number agriculture-oriented universities, the number of scientists and the diversity of disciplines.

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Annex 2: Proposed ASARECA Knowledge and Information Hub

Under the programme structure in OP1, ASARECA has continued to implement several projects. A lot of knowledge and information has been generated in the context of these projects. In addition, ASARECA projects have continued to generate data, information and new knowledge that guide the formulation of agriculture-related policies and strategies. The data, information and knowledge generated by ASARECA projects and activities during the OP1 period have continued to be captured, organised and packaged into targeted communication products. These communication products are designed to be responsive to the needs of specific stakeholders and include training resources, reports, technical and training manuals, research data, research papers, journal articles, policy briefs, books, pamphlets, brochures, position papers, newsletters and video documentaries. A database of technologies, innovations and management practices (TIMPs) which are available for dissemination to and uptake by farmers has also been developed. The TIMPs include technologies and innovations generated through The ASARECA research programmes, as well as those generated by partners in the ECA, especially NARIs and universities. A public website (http://www.asareca.org) has been set up and is in use. This website functions as a tool for disseminating information to the public. ASARECA envisages that the above approaches will continue to be relevant during the OP2 implementation period. However, ASARECA also proposes to establish a knowledge and information hub (KI-hub).

The KI-hub will be a focal point for the generation and exchange of knowledge, the development of new ideas and networking. It will also serve as a sub-regional focal point for data and information generated by ASARECA and other AR4D organisations both in the ECA sub-region and beyond.

ASARECA will implement several projects under each of the three thematic areas. A lot of knowledge and information will be generated by these projects as they engage in research, generating, promoting and scaling-up of TIMPs. In addition, ASARECA projects will generate data, information and new knowledge that will continue to guide the formulation of agriculture-related policies and strategies in the sub-region. The ASARECA KI-hub will put in place organised systems (structures, strategies, policies and guidelines) that support generation, documentation, sharing, advocacy and promotion of quality information and knowledge generated within and as a result of ASARECA projects, present and past. In addition, ASARECA will establish itself as a central clearing house for data, information and technology generated by other AR4D organisations within the ECA sub-region related to the three thematic areas. This will be done through a series of negotiations and formal agreements with various AR4D organisations. The ASARECA Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) policy will guide in implementing this role.

The proposed ASARECA KI-Hub will achieve four mutually reinforcing outputs (see scheme below):

• Learning and innovation centre for agricultural research for development (AR4D)

• AR4D think tank

• Platforms for information exchange

• Technology and information clearing house

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Mutually reinforcing outputs for ASARECA KI-Hub

KI-Hub output 1: Learning and innovation centre for agricultural research for development (AR4D)To achieve this output, ASARECA aims at developing and spreading practical knowledge and information, promoting learning and innovations in AR4D that will assist in transforming agriculture into a viable market-oriented venture. The focus will be on sharing of information and knowledge on policies and TIMPs that are relevant to commercialisation and agro-enterprise, and on information on marketing forces and requirements such as quality, quantity, price and enabling policy environments. This knowledge and information will come from past and ongoing ASARECA initiatives in research, generation and scaling-up of TIMPs, and its experience with agricultural innovation systems, gender mainstreaming, and agricultural policies and standards. It will also draw from work conducted by other organisations such as RECs, CGIAR, NARIs, international development organisations, the private sector and NGOs.

ASARECA projects conduct action research whereby stakeholders (e.g. farmers, extension and local leaders) are involved throughout the project life cycle from problem identification, planning, implementation to monitoring and evaluation. Mechanisms that support learning from action research will be enforced as part of the KI-hub. ASARECA projects will promote TIMPs through innovative platforms for technology adoption (IPTAs) with the aim of addressing loopholes in the existing agricultural value chains and strengthening market linkages and innovations. Emphasis will be on strategic partnerships for scaling up of TIMPs through commercialisation, agro-enterprises and support to business incubation centres. ASARECA will endeavour to influence as many small-scale farmers as possible by working through national and regional strategic partnerships with the private sector, farmer organisations, national agricultural advisory and extension, research and academic institutions, relevant government institutions, NGOs, the CGIAR, RECs and the media. These strategic partnerships will be used to catalyse social or collective learning and innovation that takes

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place in the innovation platforms, farmer field schools, communities of practice and engagement with the media. Participatory learning, action research, on-field peer-to-peer learning, farmer-to-farmer learning, field visits, study tours, edutainment programmes, media talk shows, trade shows, mentoring, coaching, sensitisation and experience-sharing events are among the methods that will be used to facilitate social learning. Through its projects, ASARECA will carry out formal stakeholder capacity development events such as training workshops, farmer field schools and demonstration sites. It will ensure that related training resources are documented and made accessible through the KI-hub.

Monitoring and evaluation at ASARECA will reinforce learning by generating practical lessons from action research, capacity development and the scaling-up of TIMPs and methodologies and best practices. It will conduct process monitoring and evaluation in order to generate and document lessons, case studies, baseline surveys, surveillance studies and success stories. These targeted evaluations will be contracted or commissioned by ASARECA. The new ideas, data, information and knowledge gathered under this output will feed into the AR4D think tank output. It will also be fed into the information exchange platform output.

KI-Hub output 2: AR4D think tankThe KI-hub will facilitate ASARECA to play its role as a regional AR4D think tank. The AR4D think tank will aim at advising and influencing agriculture-related decisions, strategies and policies at national, regional and global levels. The think tank will be constituted by ASARECA around issues arising from ASARECA research projects, initiatives and other issues of concern. The maize lethal necrotic disease is an example of a prevailing issue of concern in the ECA sub-region. Through the ASARECA research projects, the AR4D think tank will collect, corroborate, analyse, synthesise, produce and document relevant data and information that supports discourse and advocacy for agriculture and related trade strategies and policy issues. Recommendations from the AR4D think tank will be documented, published and brought to the attention of persons (individuals, organisations, governments) that need to take action. The ASARECA think tank will seek to collaborate with the regional economic communities (EAC, COMESA, IGAD, SADC, AU) and other regional bodies (FARA, SROs, AFAAS, EAFF, PAFF, private sector, NGOs). The recommendations resulting from this output will feed into the AR4D think tank output. It will also be fed into the information exchange platform output.

KI-Hub output 3: Platforms for information exchangeThrough its projects and other activities, ASARECA generates data, knowledge and information that is important to a wide range of AR4D stakeholders across all the ASARECA member states and beyond. The ASARECA KI-hub will establish robust platforms for information exchange that enable access to ASARECA data, information and knowledge. These platforms will be designed to provide socially and environmentally friendly solutions that facilitate effective processing, storage and retrieval, promotion and sharing of data, information and knowledge with ASARECA stakeholders. It will support effective feedback and demand articulation mechanisms. Key elements of the platforms will be targeted communication products; a one-stop web-based portal; an information resource centre; gender-responsive feedback and demand articulation mechanisms; and capacity development. The data, information and knowledge generated by ASARECA projects, activities and initiatives will be captured, organised and packaged into targeted communication products. Targeted communication products are responsive to the needs of specific stakeholders and include training resources, reports, technical and training manuals, geospatial data, research data, research papers, journal articles, policy briefs, books, pamphlets, brochures, position papers, newsletters and video documentaries. Several targeted communication products will result from the AR4D think

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tank and learning and innovation centre for AR4D activities. The one-stop web-based portal will be the major channel of access to the ASARECA communication products. The web-based portal will host several e-platforms including databases (TIMPs inventory), e-repositories, mobile platforms, geospatial data and collaboration tools. The web-based portal will be supported by a user-friendly, cutting edge ICT environment. The information resource centre will be set up to provide access to hard-copy communication products including publications, CD-ROMs and DVDs. The resource centre will serve the needs of stakeholders with poor access to the internet. It will also physically post materials to other AR4D libraries. The KI-hub will institute gender responsive mechanisms for feedback and demand articulation from different categories of stakeholders paying attention to women and youth. These will entail both electronic and face-to-face interaction. Electronic mechanisms will comprise social media (facebook, twitter, YouTube) targeting the youth and face-to-face mechanisms (conferences, meetings, workshops, seminars, agricultural trade shows and mass media) will ensure equal participation by women. Capacity development entails training as well as set-up and maintenance of the infrastructure that supports the information exchange platforms.

KI-Hub output 4: Technology and information clearing houseThe ASARECA KI-hub will serve as the clearing house for AR4D technology and information from the ECA sub-region. It will be a central place for coordination, collection, maintenance and access to AR4D data and information, including an inventory of TIMPs, produced from the work of other AR4D organisations within the ECA and beyond. These AR4D organisations include NARES, CGIAR-CRPs and development partners. Through negotiations, ASARECA will seek to partner with AR4D organisations for sub-regional sharing and access to their information. ASARECA will enter into formal agreements (Memoranda of Understanding, contract agreements) with the AR4D organisations for coordination of the sub-regional information resources through the KI-technology and clearing house. Through the KI-technology and clearing house, ASARECA will collect, collate and avail relevant data and information for AR4D in the ECA. It will ensure that data and information is sieved through credible quality assurance systems and that appropriate IPR regimes are adhered to. In addition to the inventory of ECA TIMPs, GIS maps will be availed through the clearing house. These will be useful for mapping of ongoing project locations in the ECA region to ensure complementarity and eliminate duplication. The clearing house will also link with existing online knowledge bases (NARES, CGIAR centres, SROs and development partners)

The purpose of the KI-hub will be to enhance access to and utilisation of agricultural knowledge and information within and beyond the ECA sub-region. This will tracked through the following indicators:

• The number of stakeholders benefiting from the activities of the hub in terms of access to information and knowledge, as well as networking and learning.

• Level of effectiveness and efficiency of knowledge accessibility and transfers.

• Level of stakeholder satisfaction with the hub, including its functionality and service provision.

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92

Act

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aM

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and q

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and s

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anag

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t Poli

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city f

or en

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ments

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tion o

f env

ironm

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and s

ocial

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strum

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for

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oved

proje

cts.

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mplem

entat

ion of

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umen

ts an

d rep

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utputs

on a

regu

lar

basis

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raini

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prog

ramm

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s, pr

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l inve

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tors a

nd su

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antee

s in

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ith P

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rships

and C

apac

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pmen

t Unit

to id

entify

, esta

blish

an

d man

age k

ey pa

rtner

ships

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MP in

plac

e•

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ast 7

50 pe

rsons

train

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ESS

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leas

t 80%

of ca

tegor

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proje

cts

comp

liant

on E

SS

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licy d

ocum

ent

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ports

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oject

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rts

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letely

ma

instre

amed

into

all

ASAR

ECA

proje

cts

93

Annexes


Annex 4: Programme and unit achievements and priorities

1. Staple Crops Programme

The staple crops are among the most important commodities for the people of Eastern and Central Africa (ECA). The crops contribute to the socio-economic well-being of the people in the ECA region through provision of food, raw materials for local industries (agro-processing), poverty alleviation, improved nutrition, natural resource management and employment. These crops have been prioritised as the most important commodities to be addressed if the ECA countries are to meet the MDG goals of halving poverty by 2015 for propelling agro-industries and hence revolutionising the industrial sector in the region. The priority crops addressed during OP1 are banana, cassava, maize, wheat, sorghum, millet, rice, potato and sweet potato.

Documented output since 2008

The staple crops programme has implemented 17 projects since 2008 and the focus has been on (a) developing packages for integrated crop management (b) developing management options for integrated pest and disease management (c) integrated management for maize and sorghum to mitigate the effects of drought and (d) product diversification, value addition and development of agro-enterprises for strategic staple crops. To this end, a total of 38 technologies and innovations have been generated and 40 are in uptake pathways. A total of 5,738 stakeholders have had their capacity built in various skills and at least 73 information packages have been produced.Current priorities

1. Enhancing regional competitiveness and value chains of strategic staple crops in ECA.

2. Strategic capacity building to enhance research in innovation systems for selected staple crops.

3. Enhancing viable and sustainable seed systems for staple crops.

4. Integrated management of bacterial wilt to enhance productivity and utilisation of banana in ECA.

5. Integrated management of cassava brown streak disease to enhance productivity and utilisation.

6. Integration and validation of staple crops management practices to mitigate the effects of drought.

Research areas being completed and those continuing

At the end of OP1, the programme will be implementing seven projects. The projects are (1) Sustainable intensification of sorghum-legume system to improve livelihood and adaptation to climate change in ECA; (2) Pearl millet innovations for improved livelihoods in drought-prone areas of ECA; (3) Upscaling integrated technologies for quality potato seed; (4) Management of BBW; (5) Upscaling highland maize in Ethiopia; (6) Validation of highland maize in Kenya and Uganda, and (7) Validation of banana beverages.

The current projects have been designed to end in December 2013 since the funding period ends in 2013. However, these are upscaling projects which will need continuation in OP2 if they are to achieve the desired outcomes.

The projects for validation under the current funding phase will be completed and will be redesigned as upscaling projects in OP2.

94

Outline of programme priorities for OP2

All the projects that were implementing development of innovations and technologies were successful. They were either integrated crop management, integrated pest and disease management or integrated soil and water management for mitigating the effects of drought. As mentioned above, 38 packages were generated and 40 entered the uptake pathway. Capacity building for stakeholders went on successfully. The stakeholders were enthusiastic to learn, especially when the technologies and innovations resulted in increased productivity and income. What did not work well was that these projects were of very short duration. They ended before the beneficiaries could realise the real benefits from the implementation. Regarding the product diversification and value addition, a period of incubation to allow the products to make it into the market should have been allocated. Lessons learned from the process

1. The stakeholders were enthusiastic to learn, especially when the technologies and innovations resulted in increased productivity and income.

2. For the projects to benefit the stakeholders, they should be designed to last at least 4–5 years rather than the usual 1–3 years which is very short.

3. Projects designed to address the value chain, involving a wide range of stakeholders, are more likely to be adopted.

4. Partnerships between different stakeholders are key to successful implementation of any project.

5. Product diversification and value addition are more likely to benefit the stakeholders if business incubation is incorporated in the process (at different levels).

None of the priorities will be dropped in OP2. There will, however, be need to rationalise and refocus the initiatives. For example, the priority on cassava brown streak will require that more focus be placed on the cassava centre of excellence. ASARECA will have a coordination role but also ensuring that the non-EAAPP countries participate. Greater integration with other programmes in implementation of the priorities will also be necessary.

Key priorities for OP2

1. Enhancing regional competitiveness, value addition, processing, value chains and commercialisation of strategic staple crops. This area is critical if the farmer is to be successfully transformed to produce for the market. This area was not addressed in OP1. There is need to link producers to processors and markets.

2. Effects of climate change on strategic staple crops production. This area is of concern given the current fluctuations in climate. There is need to develop innovations to address and mitigate the effects of climate change.

3. Management of emerging diseases and pests for different strategic staple crops, for example, maize lethal necrosis disease (MLND). This will also include surveillance for effective monitoring of the diseases in the region. It is very important to ensure that in addition to other constraints, crops are not damaged by pests and diseases.

4. Integration of staple crops with natural resource management (water/soil) for improved productivity. Soil fertility and water management are critical for crop productivity and should be addressed.

5. Enhancing viable and sustainable seed systems. There is need to develop innovative ways for addressing seed systems, especially for vegetatively propagated staple crops. In OP1, this was

95

Annexes


only addressed for potato and even for this particular commodity, there is need to scale out what was done.

New research areas

1. Integration of staple crops with natural resource management for improved productivity.

2. Effect of climate change on all strategic staple crops (cassava, maize, Irish potato, sweet potato, banana, sorghum, millet and wheat).

3. Surveillance for effective monitoring of new diseases and pests in the region. Timely response will help reduce the damage these new diseases and pests may cause.

4. Enhancing innovative partnerships that can result in change and commercialisation of products is important and needs to be encouraged for staple crops in OP2.

Inter-programme collaboration is important to the programme to ensure a well integrated value chain and innovation system approach. For example the two projects currently being implemented by the programme include crop (sorghum/pearl millet/legume)—livestock integration. Such a project requires integration of the staples/HVNS/LFP/NRM/KMUS/ICU programmes to complement it.

The crosscutting issues such as gender and capacity building should be inbuilt into all projects or activities.

2. High Value Non-Staple Crops Programme (HVNSC)

The programme was established against a background of limited relevant research on its non-staple crops such as pulses, tea, coffee, oil crops, fruits and vegetables, which play a significant role in human nutrition and health in the sub-region. Many are also important cash-crops for local and export markets, contributing significantly to the economic empowerment of the community and socio-economic development. Among the pulses, snow-peas and snap-beans are continually fetching premium prices in local high-end markets and in Europe. Processed and packaged oil crops increase in economic value several times over.

The programme has implemented three projects under OP1 with a focus on:

• Breeding varieties for higher yields, pests and disease resistance, efficiency in input use and to meet international quality standards.

• Enhanced utilisation of various crops at farm level and technology development to minimise post-harvest losses.

• Improving access and use of agricultural knowledge, technologies and market systems.

• Improving the policy environment for better livelihoods of farmers.

• Seed production, processing, marketing and distribution.

These projects have produced several useful products and technologies.37

37 Kimenye L, Odeke M and Nampala MP. 2013. Inventory and synthesis of technologies and innovations generated from ASARECA supported projects

96

Current priorities are:

1. Enhancing sustainable production, productivity and quality of high value non-staple crops (HVNSC).

2. Generating and developing adaptation and mitigation strategies for effective response to climate change.

3. Boosting accessibility and competitiveness of high value non-staple crops in the domestic, regional and global markets.

4. Developing and maintaining a sustainable financial base.

5. Improving information and knowledge sharing on high value non-staple crops.

6. Influencing policy makers to support high value non-staple crops.

7. Enhancing sustainable utilisation of high value non-staple crops for improved nutrition and health.

Current research areas and activities

At the end of OP1, the programme will be implementing three projects. The ongoing projects cover: (1) The use of bean innovations for food security and improved livelihoods in eastern and central Africa; (2) Upscaling innovations for fruits and vegetables and; (3) Validation of snap-bean lines in Kenya and Uganda.

The projects for validation under the current funding phase will be completed and will be redesigned as upscaling projects in OP2.

Lessons learned from the process

The following lessons were learned from the implementation process during OP1.Projects that included an international agricultural research centre as a partner succeeded because of technical support provided by the IARC; however, these projects were of very short duration and ended before beneficiaries could realise the real benefits from the implementation.

1. Staff had insufficient skills to implement projects and capacity building is needed.

2. Facilities/infrastructure in the sub-region are not appropriate for the cutting edge research demands of the programme’s work.

3. Francophone and Arabic speaking partners had problems communicating in English, restricting their effective participation in project concept writing and implementation.

4. The socio-economic and cultural state of some countries requires careful and sensitive planning of projects.

5. Partners perceive information differently and this results in different interpretations of the performance reports. It is important to discuss reports with partners during monitoring visits so as to sort out inconsistencies.

The programme’s priorities remain the same for OP2 though greater integration with other programmes will be sought in implementation of OP2.

Priorities for OP2

1. Enhancing sub-regional competitiveness, value addition, processing, value chains and commercialisation of strategic high value non-staple crops for the market. This area was not addressed in OP1. There is need to link producers to processors and markets.

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Annexes


2. Effects of climate change on strategic high value non-staple crops production.

3. Management of emerging diseases and pests for different strategic high value non-staple crops, including monitoring of diseases.

4. Integration of high value non-staple crops with natural resource management (water/soil) for improved productivity. Soil fertility and water management are critical for crop productivity.

5. Uptake and upscaling research to generate best practices. Enhancing innovative partnerships that can result in change and commercialisation of products.

3. Livestock and Fisheries Programme (LFP)Livestock and fisheries products contribute a large share of the regional agricultural gross domestic product. Milk alone is ranked as a number one commodity in the ASARECA strategy. For this sector to keep pace with demand, it is imperative that animal and fisheries production is enhanced.

From 2009, the LFP generated and promoted a number of technologies or innovations to increase the overall productivity. These comprised of integrated crop-livestock systems including feeding packaging and feed conservation innovations; establishment of a regional feed database and feed tables; characterisation of selected indigenous cattle and small ruminants breeds; prevention and control of tick and tick-borne diseases; strengthening the regional capacity for forage seed supply; developing mechanisms for crisis management in pastoral systems and refining innovations to exploit market opportunities for value added meat and milk products.

Current LFP priorities

Current priorities include four themes: (1) Improving livestock and fisheries productivity; (2) Improving access to markets; (3) Improving value addition in input and output marketing chain; and (4) Improving sustainable interaction between livestock, fisheries and the environment. Sub-themes identified include 13 crosscutting sub-themes for livestock and fisheries and one sub-theme specific to fisheries.

Research areas completed and areas to be continued

During OP1, LFP spearheaded implementation of 13 projects, 12 of them addressing the livestock component sector and only one project for fisheries. Ten of the implemented projects closed by 31 December 2011. Current project areas include improving the productivity and competitiveness of aquaculture systems; integrated productivity enhancing technologies to increase the productivity of smallholder dairy farms and upscaling technologies and innovations for crop-livestock integration and system adaptation to climate change. Under OP2, the upscaling of productivity-enhancing technologies and innovations to enhance resilience to climate change will continue in addition to the generation, validation and upscaling of technologies for enhancing productivity and competitiveness of aquaculture systems.

Programme priorities for OP2

During OP1, the recommendation to reactivate projects inherited from the EU funding support to ASARECA through the networks resulted in a research portfolio exclusively focusing on the livestock sector. Inadequate funding to start new projects hampered the implementation of the priorities as defined by stakeholders in 2009. The fisheries component of the programme was therefore largely

98

untouched. Moreover, inherited projects also mainly focused on livestock productivity with very little activities on the other components of the value chains, particularly marketing and value addition. During OP2, the priorities for investment could therefore be as follows:

Enhancing productivity of inland and marine fisheries—Major focus should be on establishing and implementing the right institutional arrangements, policies and regulations to counter the continuing decline in fish catches by taming overfishing and utilisation of destructive fishing gear.

Enhancing conservation and utilisation of genetic resources—The priority interventions under OP2 will focus on facilitating processes that establish synergies among national breeding programmes including information and germplasm exchange and promoting appropriate breeding policies that favour public-private partnership and participation of farmers in animal genetic resources (AnGR) improvement programmes.

Enhancing regional capacity for surveillance and control of major livestock diseases—Major interventions will focus on development and utilisation of appropriate diagnostic and early warning tools for surveillance and control of major livestock diseases and pests; development of cost effective disease control packages and delivery systems; promoting appropriate policies to minimise the cost of drug and disease control packages; and enhancing regional capacity for prevention and control of emerging epizootic diseases and pests.

Improving market access of livestock and fish products—The programme should invest more significantly in research to generate innovations to enhance market access for livestock and fish products. It is therefore suggested that investment be made to address the following priority areas: (1) market analyses to inform policy and investment options; (2) support the development and harmonisation of standards and regulations in ECA that affect market access; and (3) improving the utilisation of innovations to enhance market opportunities.

Development of innovative technologies for value addition—Activities should focus on developing innovative technologies for value addition. In the livestock sector, the programme should identify or develop and upscale appropriate processing technologies for small-scale producers and processors of livestock products and enhanced utilisation of technologies to reduce post-harvest losses. For the fisheries sector, activities should focus on inventorying, testing and validating technologies for small-scale post-harvest handling and value addition. The other area should be improving efficiency and value addition in the input and output markets through policy and institutional arrangements. This should be done through policy and institutional analysis to enhance value addition in the input/output market chains and build the capacity for continuous assessment of market requirements of value addition innovations to enhance market opportunities.

Development of strategies for adaptation to climate change—Developing strategies for adaptation to climate variability and change for both livestock and fisheries sectors, developing regional ability for climate forecasting and interpretation of changes for use by farmers and other stakeholder for crisis mitigation; enhancing the use of new and indigenous knowledge for predicting climate change and variability and strengthening coping strategies to buffer poor farmers from climate-induced shocks; developing sustainable crop–livestock–fisheries–environment interactions for improved systems productivity.

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Annexes


4. Agro-biodiversity and Biotechnology Programme (AGROBIO)

The Agro-biodiversity and Biotechnology Programme (AGROBIO) was created to tap the immense potential of the regional agro-biodiversity and genetic resources using biotechnology as a preferred tool of innovation for food and feed purposes. In addition, there was a felt need for the use of biotechnology tools to facilitate characterisation and evaluation of the same genetic resources whose potential for use in pharmaceuticals, industrial uses and other bio-resources is largely unknown. Accordingly, AGROBIO through a consultative process identified five priority areas: (1) Technology development, transfer and commercialisation; (2) Biotechnology infrastructure and human capacity mobilisation; (3) Agro-biodiversity conservation, utilisation and development; (4) Bio-policy development and harmonisation; and (5) Biotechnology communication and outreach.

Research areas being completed Currently, AGROBIO is implementing six projects to the end of 2013 under the current OP. These are: (1) Evaluation of Striga resistant and drought tolerant farmer preferred sorghum varieties; (2) Developing community-based low-cost tissue culture innovations for improved food security and livelihoods; (3) Validation of Taenia solium cysticercosis (Tsol) diagnostic kit; (4) Validation of Tsol 18 vaccine for control of pig tapeworm in ECA; (5) Improving livestock productivity through enhanced breeding programmes—applications in goat genomics; and (6) Genetic engineering of maize for drought tolerance in ECA.

Outline of programme priorities

Since 2008 the following issues worked well under AGROBIO: (1) Stakeholder priority dialogues for priority setting; (2) Engaging universities in research projects; (3) Working with private sector and NGOs; (4) Bringing scientists together to address regional research issues; and (5) creation of public–private sector platforms for information sharing of research issues. Thus, since 2008 several documented outputs have been achieved through research efforts mounted with our regional partners comprising of the NARIs, CGIAR centres, private sector, universities, NGOs and farmers.

These include:

1. Genetic engineering of maize for drought tolerance

2. Enhancement of plant tissue culture applications on banana, cassava and sweet potato, and transfer of banana tissue culture to farmers’ fields

3. Conservation and sustainable utilisation of cassava and sweet potato genetic resources through the application biotechnology

4. Establishment of a virus indexing system and certification scheme for tissue culture materials in Eastern and Central Africa region

5. Development of Striga resistant sorghum varieties for enhanced sorghum productivity

6. Development of a pen-side diagnostic kit for detection of Taenia solium parasite in pigs

7. Trials with Taenia solium vaccine for controlling pig tapeworm

8. Development of a genetic linkage mapping of field resistance to cassava brown streak disease (CBSD)

100


The following lessons were learned: (1) Project duration of three years is grossly inadequate to bring commissioned projects to a logical conclusion and consequently there is need to develop projects that last at least 4–5 years; (2) There is generally a tendency for sub-grantees to work in isolation, calling for the need to promote sharing of information from different countries as projects progress, and (3) To ensure compliance with financial accountability by sub-grantees, there is need for more capacity building at sub-grantee level.

Priorities to be dropped in OP2

Two priorities will be dropped because these have been overtaken by events and besides, there is a lot of information available now than was the case some five years ago. These priorities include: (1) Developing global access mechanisms for proprietary and non-proprietary novel and applied biotechnologies and agro-biodiversity resources for the ASARECA region, and (2) Further regional and global assessment, validation, selection and documentation of applied biotechnologies and agro-biodiversity resources.


Continue developing pilot novel biotechnology and business incubation models and biotech business development training modules for the ASARECA region. There is urgent need for more biotechnology incubation projects especially with respect to the establishment of low-cost community-based tissue culture innovation platforms involving farming communities operating their own low-cost tissue culture facilities to micropropagate clean planting materials for their use.

Further work and speeding up staple cereals breeding for resilience to drought and biotic stresses including diseases using molecular marker-assisted selection. There is need for a second phase of the project to advance the genetically engineered drought-tolerant transgenic maize for confined and open field trials and commercial release (GEMADOT Phase II Project) in the ECA. The efforts to breed climate-smart cereals, especially sorghum using MAS, have yielded positive results and will also continue. Sequencing and searching for novel genes for adaptability to climate change will also be continued.

Enhancing conservation and utilisation of underutilised plant species in ECA. Agricultural transformation in the region will depend to a large extent on innovativeness in agricultural research and development driven by creating alternatives such as targeting special market opportunities (niches) or creating new ones for underutilised plant species. Market niches will entail new species, product diversification, value addition, and environmentally sound products and practices offered by underutilised plant species.

Scaling up of agro-diversity community conservancy innovations in the savannah regions of the ECA. This innovation aims at building on work that was initiated in establishing a conservancy model based on ecotourism principles where profitable livestock production is innovatively integrated with wildlife conservation and ecotourism to create sustainable social and economic benefits to the landowning community, most of whom currently live below the poverty line.

Scaling up gene bank operations involving cryopreservation and molecular characterisation of collected accessions in the gene banks of the ECA. The previous project focused on long-term ex situ conservation and sustainable utilisation of cassava and sweet potato plant genetic resources

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of actual and potential value for the benefit of present and future generations. This project will continue conserving and characterising cassava and sweet potato germplasm for use to improve cassava for traits demanded by the market using conservation biotechnology.

East and Central Africa Plant and Animal Genetic Resources Project. The goal of this project is to contribute to sustainable agricultural productivity and food security through conservation and sustainable use of PGRs in the ECA region. This work will build on the previous project Eastern African plant genetic resources network (EAPGREN). The main outputs from this project will be: (1) Development of an operational regional PGR network and well coordinated national PGR programmes; (2) Collection or conservation through ex situ and in situ methods done; (3) Development of appropriate conservation protocols and establishment of diversity and storage behaviour studies; (4) Accessing more germplasm for conservation and utilisation; (5) Development of a critical mass of trained personnel in the national programmes; (6) Development and use of a compatible regional information and documentation system; and (7) Increased level of awareness of PGR at policy and community levels.

Improving livestock productivity through enhanced breeding programmes. applications in livestock genomics. Many biotechnological tools are now available for improving livestock production to supply human food in East and Central Africa. Some of these tools have already been tested and validated. The objectives of this work will be to (1) Develop livestock genome sequences as a research tool; (2) Develop tools to characterise breed structure and geographic distribution in livestock genome; (3) Develop genotype/phenotype programmes for selective breeding; (4) Identify teams and methods for implementing breeding; and (5) Develop a policy paper that will guide the planning and implementation of the objectives of this research group with partners.

Inter-programme collaboration is important to the programme

Biotechnology is fast becoming a necessary cutting edge application for value addition in virtually all ASARECA commodity programmes including policy and natural resource management areas. AGROBIO will therefore work with other programmes, particularly the staple crops, high value non-staple crops, livestock and fisheries and natural resource management and biodiversity to add value to the initiatives being carried out by these programmes. The thematic approach will be used to develop joint initiatives.

5. Policy Analysis and Advocacy Programme (PAAP)

The Policy Analysis and Advocacy Programme (PAAP) is the key agency for delivery of ASARECA Result 3—“Policy options for enhancing the performance of the agricultural sector in the ECA sub-region facilitated”. The PAAP outcome is: “Enhanced utilisation of appropriate policy options for sustainable agricultural growth in the ECA sub-region”. PAAP supports adoption and utilisation of improved technologies and innovations through the provision of appropriate regulatory and incentive structures. This is done through analyses of the policy environment, facilitation of policy development and advocating for policy adoption by regional economic communities and national governments.


Currently, PAAP is completing support towards approval of regional policies on biosafety, standards for cassava and potato products, development of by-laws for sustainable land management, and

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harmonisation of standards and procedures for pasture seeds, animal feeds and animal breeding services.

Achievements for OP1

Since 2008, PAAP has been working on four research themes:

1. Rationalisation and harmonisation of policies, laws and regulations in key agricultural commodity and input sectors in the ECA region.

2. Trends analysis.

3. Policy issues for natural resource management.

4. Options and opportunities for small-scale agricultural growth.

Key achievements include gazetting by the East African Community of 24 standards for cassava and potato and their products, as well as for seed potato. Application of these standards in the five EAC partner states has the potential to spur commercialisation of the cassava and potato industries. The Kenya Seed Policy was launched, opening the way for a review of various seed industry regulations in the country. The Kenya dairy policy that recognises the role of the dominant informal dairy sector and supports active integration of the sector in the formal value chain was approved by cabinet. The Rwanda Dairy Board, an autonomous regulatory body for the dairy sector, was established. Two by-laws on sustainable land management in Ethiopia and Uganda were approved by local councils and are being implemented. The regional biosafety policies on handling of emergency food aid, and the planting and trade in genetically modified organisms (GMOs) were approved by the 5th Ministerial meeting of Ministers of Agriculture and Environment in September 2013. Seed laws were revised in Kenya and Ethiopia, Uganda.. The Plant Variety Protection Bill for Burundi was drafted, while quarantine pest lists for Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, and a regional variety catalogue for Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda were produced.Proposed options for policy reform for dry land areas include: review and consolidation of diverse sectoral policies (land, wildlife and livestock) with a bearing on pastoralism, biodiversity conservation and dry lands; and securing of pastoral mobility within and outside the borders.

Development of standards through the EAC has worked well. Implementation of harmonised agreements on seed laws and regulations at country level was still slow. Approval of biosafety policies on GMOs was slowed down by the expansion of the Joint COMESA ministerial committee to include the ministries of environment and trade, which necessitated further dialogue.


Due to the uncertainty in timing of approval of policy agreements, projects should be at least three years long. There should be flexibility in budgeting to allow for quick follow-up for unanticipated opportunities.


The following are identified as priority areas for OP2.

1. Capacity building in influencing policy process for enactment and implementation of laws and regulations.

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2. Advocacy for enactment of policy agreements, such as harmonised seed regulations and standards, regulations for animal feeds and artificial insemination at regional and national levels.

3. Adoption and utilisation of approved standards for roots and other crops and biosafety guidelines.

4. Addressing trade barriers to promote regional trade.

5. Value chain upgrading.

6. Guiding policy on emerging areas such as biofuel production in relation to food security and environmental concerns.

Although not new, there will be emphasis on analysis of how to be more effective in policy processes through collaborative projects and enhanced communication.

PAAP is already collaborating with other programmes in the new projects from development of concept notes to review of proposals and follow-up during implementation. These include sorghum and pearl millet, crop–livestock intensification and aquaculture.

Through the thematic approach, crosscutting issues will be addressed through joint projects and will involve collaboration right from the development of concept notes, proposals and implementation.

6. Natural Resource Management and Biodiversity Programme

The sub-region has experienced declining per capita agricultural productivity over the last 20 years, soil fertility decline, watershed destruction, and reduced water balance within specific ecological zones and has hence become vulnerable to shocks associated with changing climatic conditions. The greatest challenge faced by the sub-region is identifying an adequate response to these challenges that have resulted in food insecurity.

Consequently, the Natural Resource Management and Biodiversity Programme, using a consultative approach, identified strategic interventions to promote the use of appropriate technologies/innovations in the management of the sub-region’s natural capital. The key strategic interventions are:

1. Improved water productivity and management in agricultural systems

2. Enhancing sustainable management of forestry, agroforestry and biodiversity for improved livelihoods and environmental services

3. Managing the productive potential of soils

4. Institutions and governance for sustainable natural resource management

5. Managing fragile and dry-land ecosystems for sustainable livelihoods

6. Adapting to climate variability and mitigation of climate change.

Achievements under OP1

Emerging results from the programme’s investment since 2009 include:

• Soil fertility enhancement and upscaling approaches• Climate variability adaptation approaches particularly at downscaled levels

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• Incentive mechanisms for promoting sustainable natural resource management models for estimating below and above ground carbon sequestration potentials for forest-based ecosystems

• Innovative approaches for estimating the value, compensation and attribution of environmental services

• Integrated water management technologies with gender considerations.

Current priorities

The current priorities are:

1. Integrated water resource management with emphasis on enhancing water productivity at farm and watershed levels

2. Linking farm level gains made on agricultural productivity to the market through the value chain

3. Promoting soil fertility and conservation enhancement approaches through the application of various concepts

4. Watershed management using innovative approaches including carbon markets and payment for environmental services schemes

5. Enhancing smallholders’ adaptive capacity under varying climatic conditions

Research areas and activities completed

Integrated management of water for food security and livelihoods under varying and changing climatic conditions. Key activities under this project include:

1. Developing and promoting gender responsive integrated water management options to improve water productivity and to cope with impacts of climate variability and change

2. Enhancing the capacity of stakeholders to develop and implement integrated water management options at farm and watershed scales

3. Piloting on IWM policy options and institutional arrangements to minimise smallholder farmer vulnerability to climate uncertainties

4. Strengthening of learning alliances and knowledge exchange systems for scaling up technologies and sharing information on improved water management

Linking integrated soil fertility management to agricultural produce markets in Eastern and Central Africa sub-region. Key activities are:

1. Scaling out of promising integrated soil fertility management (ISFM) and value addition technologies and innovations.

2. Strengthening of institutional innovations including markets, credit access and policy for promoting ISFM and value addition along the value chain.

3. Building of capacities of value chain actors to implement ISFM and value addition technologies.

4. Documentation and dissemination of knowledge, information and lessons learned on ISFM and value addition/innovations.

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Enhancing adaptive capacity of smallholders through response farming. Key activities include:

1. Validation of response farming in Ethiopia and Tanzania

2. Promotion of response farming in Kenya

3. Establishment and promotion of response farming supporting institutions, particularly agro- advisory centres

4. Support capacity building of researchers and participating smallholders in the collection and interpretation of weather and climate-related data and information.

All current priorities will be carried over to OP2 with emphasis on integration with other programmes through the themes.

Programme lessons learned

Over the last three years, the following are noted to have worked well:

1. Priority identification for the programme—this was conducted through a regional consultative process and the priorities identified then are still key in addressing the competitiveness of the agricultural sector.

2. Establishment of partnerships across institutions and countries—this has been established through the formation of innovation platforms, community of practices through which exchange of information, knowledge and experiences has been shared.

3. Capacity building based on the priority needs of the partners.

Issues to be addressed under OP2 include:

1. Regionality—this aspect has not been adequately understood by the ASARECA partners.

2. Integration of the projects across programmes and across countries.

3. Market orientation—this is a key element in addressing rural poverty through agricultural innovation, but little seems to have been achieved.

4. Sustainability—this is not clearly demonstrated in the just-concluded projects.

5. The need to enhance the level of understanding on key principles of regionality and a shift in the criteria for project selection to ensure that this attribute is taken into consideration.

6. The need to use a systems approach given that challenges facing farmers are not commodity based but rather based on the entire household needs.

7. More strategic efforts to foster closer collaboration at programme and unit levels in ASARECA through the themes.

Key areas for inclusion in OP2

The following are considered to be the key priorities for OP2.

1. Integrated water resource management with emphasis on enhancing water productivity at farm and watershed levels—micro-irrigation and water harvesting.

2. Linking farm-level gains made on agricultural productivity to the market through the value chain, including local cooperative societies.

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3. Promoting soil fertility and conservation enhancement approaches through the application of various concepts—conservation agriculture, evergreen agriculture, and soil nutrient boosting techniques among others.

4. Watershed management using innovative approaches including carbon markets and payment for environmental service schemes.

5. Enhancing smallholders’ adaptive capacity under varying climatic conditions.

6. Mitigation of climate change.

Finally, crosscutting issues, notably gender and capacity building, will be built into all projects or activities.

7. Knowledge Management and Upscaling (KMUS) Programme

Knowledge management and upscaling (KMUS) is a crosscutting domain that requires the leveraging of numerous soft skills to achieve the anticipated level of effectiveness. It is crucial for the overall ASARECA mission and the envisaged agricultural transformation. The latter will depend on stakeholders’ adoption of productivity and livelihood enhancing technologies and knowledge. How to enhance this and achieve impact at scale is a key challenge for the national agricultural research and extension systems (NARES).

The KMUS Programme has worked on direct promotion of technologies into uptake pathways and in generating approaches and methods for doing this. Over 35,000 stakeholders have accessed orange fleshed sweet potato and quality protein maize technologies in six countries. The programme has generated lessons on application of the innovation platforms and models for farm level seed enterprises for vegetatively propagated and self-pollinating crops.

Its current priorities are: (1) development and promotion of approaches for scaling-up; (2) empowerment of farmer organisations; (3) scaling-up technologies and innovations in selected value chains; and (4) disseminating information on available technologies and innovations.

Research areas being completed and continuing

Currently, KMUS has six action research value chains scaling-up projects and one capacity development project. The scaling up projects are promoting selected technologies into uptake pathways and also generating best practices and lessons for dissemination. Three of these projects, called DONATA, will be completed while three, which started in 2012, will need to be continued for another year to achieve meaningful results. The capacity development project will be completed in 2013. KMUS is also collating and disseminating information on technologies. This will be carried over to OP2 for technologies from projects that end in 2013.

Outline of programme priorities for OP2

What worked well and what did notThe DONATA projects have successfully scaled-out technologies reaching more than 30,000 beneficiaries and contributed to food and nutrition security and incomes of many households.38 Among the contributing factors is the use of the innovation platform approach with diverse partners

38 See various DONATA projects and ASARECA 2010, 2011 annual performance reports.

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including serious private sector engagement. The interventions focused on participatory identified challenges and opportunities along the commodity value chains and had inbuilt participatory action research and joint regional lesson sharing and learning. The nature of the technologies themselves39

also contributed to the success of the initiatives. The fairly long project duration and adequate budget (over U$3.5m for 4.5 years) contributed to the success. The leadership provided by the relevant CGIAR centres was instrumental especially in the action research and collating lessons on the partnering processes. Engagement with private sector and excellent coordination and facilitation of the regional partnering and lesson learning arrangements provided by an international NGO in addition to the nature of the technology and crop also led to the success of the farmer-led seed enterprise project where in one model each farmer earned on average US$3,500 per year. The three models with illustrative case studies were documented.40

None of the six priorities under the KMUS strategy should be dropped. Indeed, they should be implemented within this framework. They would be better delivered in an intra-programme implementation arrangement rather than stand-alone KMUS implemented value chain or capacity development activities

Lessons learned

Lessons learned include: (1) Demand-driven scaling-up is key for success; (2) Successful scaling up requires multiple stakeholders, especially involvement of extension agencies (public or private) and depending on the commodity, private sector engagement; (3) marketing technologies are crucial for the private sector for enhanced sustainability; and (4) For action research oriented projects aimed at generating lessons learned in methodology, leadership by organisations with resource pools of diverse skill sets such as international bodies (CGIAR, international research or NGOs) yield better results.


The following are the key priorities for OP2:

1. Regional knowledge-sharing platforms including functional communities of practice. This priority was not addressed and is very important especially if ASARECA is to evolve into a knowledge hub (regional think tank). The demand side of research knowledge such as farmer organisations and extension in particular should be strengthened. An efficient information and knowledge-sharing system would contribute significantly to this.

2. Strengthening the demand side of agricultural research extension and farmer organisations through innovative partnering with AFAAS and EAFF. Other than the single farmer empowerment project, this priority has not been implemented much, yet it is one of the priorities that can support functions within CAADP Pillar IV.

3. Uptake and upscaling research to generate best practices, lessons and case studies on topical methodological issues on upscaling.

39 The orange fleshed sweet potato and quality protein maize production and value addition technologies generated high demand and it was easy to demonstrate economic, food and nutrition benefits to stakeholders.

40 Promoting farmer-led seed enterprises of African indigenous vegetables to boost household incomes and nutrition in Kenya and Tanzania - paper presented at ASARECA 1st General Assembly in December 2011.

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New research areas

1. Systematic, well-structured research on extension system organisation, delivery, management and financing models or approaches is required.

2. Collective enterprise development as an approach for smallholder access to technology, services and functions such as assembly; storage; marketing and financing, including factoring arrangements and business development services in general.

Importance of inter-programme collaboration

Both knowledge management and upscaling thrusts of KMUS are best optimised through inter-programme/unit collaboration. The KMUS strategy identifies the programme as being 75% service entity, delivering such inputs as guidance, capacity building/coaching, best practices on upscaling methodological issues and related topical areas to ASARECA programmes, their projects and to the NARES. In addition, KMUS is also expected to obtain and make available to the stakeholders in ECA information and knowledge on available research products. These services are best realised through such collaborative team arrangements. Being a technical support entity delivering such inputs to programmes and the NARES could be more effective in OP2 than a programme implementing own stand-alone value chain projects. As part of a thematic team providing such inputs, it would also enhance the collation, documentation and dissemination of research and capacity development outputs from ASARECA work. Action research activities to generate lessons on methodology would be well anchored and delivered with this collaborative approach.

Crosscutting issues

At the project or research activity level, crosscutting areas such as gender mainstreaming, capacity development, information and communication and scaling are best addressed with the said inter-programme/unit collaboration.

8. Gender Mainstreaming Unit

Within its overall vision for change, ASARECA has taken concrete steps to mainstream gender into its agriculture research agenda and institutional frameworks by developing a gender mainstreaming strategy for the period 2010-2015. ASARECA embraced gender equality as a vital consideration in agricultural production. The Gender Mainstreaming Strategy marks the beginning of the systematic gender mainstreaming into ASARECA programmes, policies and activities. The principal purpose of gender mainstreaming (GM) in regional agricultural research ensures that gender responsiveness is achieved at the institutional level and in all stages of the project cycle. The ultimate goal is to ensure that women and men participate and benefit equally from research and development efforts in the agricultural sector and that inequality is not perpetuated.

The current strategy focuses on two key priority areas: the first is developing institutional mechanisms for GM through a clear regional policy, establishment of a regional network of gender specialists to foster learning and innovation and entrenching systems for GM in the NARES in the region. The second priority—integrating gender in ASARECA programmes and projects—is being carried out through development of appropriate tools and capacity building. An elaborate training programme has been developed and over 600 scientists have been trained in gender mainstreaming in research. National action plans for at least six countries will be implemented in 2012/2013. A gender policy will also be developed.

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Outline of current activities:

1. Develop guidelines and backstop preparation of programme and project performance monitoring plans, concept notes, proposals and baseline instruments to assure gender responsiveness.

2. Operationalise the ASARECA gender strategy and develop regional policy.

3. Implement training programme on gender mainstreaming concepts, analysis and field application for ASARECA NARES scientists rolled out in seven ASARECA and SIMLESA project countries with the rest to follow.

4. Facilitate development of gender mainstreaming action plans for NARES in Burundi, DRC, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Madagascar and Uganda, as well as the SIMLESA project.

During OP1, recommendations from the gender audit resulted in the need for a GM mechanism and regional gender policy in the NARES and support to enhancing the capacity of NARES members in gender analysis approaches. During OP2, the priorities for investment will focus on facilitating and consolidating the processes that were established and to have gender mainstreaming permeate through all the processes of the institution as discussed below.

Short-term plan

The immediate activities and areas of focus for gender mainstreaming are as follows:

1. Implement the ASARECA gender policy and gender mainstreaming action plans. This is expected to entail a thorough gender audit and to inform the review of key governance and management structures including the ASARECA operational manual and establishment of a gender unit to ensure gender mainstreaming in research.

2. Engender all the ASARECA formats, guidelines, frameworks, and harmonise these with gender strategy and policy.

3. Support engendering of the research project cycle in ASARECA.

4. Establish a gender disaggregated database in programmes/units.

5. Establish a regional consultative gender mainstreaming platform for networking and fostering learning and innovation.

6. Implement country gender mainstreaming action plans.

7. Support M&E systems to ensure gender responsive planning and reporting.

8. Implement the trainer of trainers programme including finalising the training manuals and use of other options such as mentoring, research-based training, etc.

9. Engender ASARECA super goal and objectives.

10. Establish an internal forum to facilitate equal opportunity and well-being in the organisation.

11. Establish a comprehensive website for knowledge sharing.

Long-term plan

In the longer term, the Gender Mainstreaming Unit will:

1. Establish a gender disaggregated data resource centre in ASARECA and partner organisations for references.

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2. Continue with the ongoing capacity building for gender analysis initiatives.

3. Engender the ASARECA constitution.

4. Develop the approach to implementation to take advantage of advancements in gender mainstreaming.

Lessons learned

The training programme on gender mainstreaming has been rolled out to seven countries and gender action plans developed. However, limited human resources has been a key constraining factor.

The key lessons learned are:

1. Successful gender mainstreaming requires buy-in from the highest policy organs in the country/institution rather than being approached from the margins.

2. Involving key policy makers such as ministers of agriculture, research directors and centre managers in a one-day training programme has raised the profile of GM efforts including development of action plans. Forming a platform of trainers of trainers in GM at regional and in-country level is likely to yield faster gains.


1. Establish a regional network of gender mainstreaming practitioners in agricultural research to foster a community of practice for learning, capacity building and innovation in this area.

2. Integrate gender mainstreaming indicators within the overall M&E system, institutional framework and research management guidelines and track and backstop their realisation. This should institutionalise the approach and provide a research input into understanding the higher level impacts of engendered research processes.

As capacity is enhanced, the impact of gender mainstreaming efforts will need to be tracked and documented and particular effort placed on identifying new approaches to GM in agricultural research.

Gender mainstreaming is a programme support function to assure efficient delivery of research and the key functions of capacity building, development of guidelines and review of the research process for gender responsiveness at programme and project level although the mode of delivery may evolve over time. Gender mainstreaming is an important crosscutting function central to good governance, and addressing gender inequalities will serve the purpose of engendering the regional agricultural research and development agenda. Therefore, conducting a gender audit will help determine how much support is still required at programme and institutional level with regard to gender mainstreaming and develop a clear plan of implementation to address any capacity gaps.

9. Capacity strengthening

During OP2, ASARECA will step up capacity-building activities for NARES, by scaling-up and out the SCARDA approach which was quite successful during OP1. As in SCARDA, ASARECA will work in collaboration with RUFORUM and other organisations involved in capacity building for agricultural development as needs arise.

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A comprehensive needs assessment for capacity building for NARES is planned during the conclusion of OP1. Specific activities identified will be implemented under OP2. However, it is expected that the proposed initiatives will include but not be limited to the following areas of capacity building:60.

1. Inculcating agricultural innovation and value chain development approaches in the businesses of the NARES: ASARECA recognises the need to exploit the creative capacities of all potential actors in development in order for agricultural research, extension and education to contribute to enhancing agricultural productivity in a sustainable way. More than ever before, there is need for a more interactive approach to development. The initiative for inculcating agricultural innovation and value chain development approaches in the NARES will ensure an understanding of the existing potential innovation processes and recognition of the potential to catalyse such processes.

2. Leadership and research management: This capacity building initiative was a key component of SCARDA. Senior researchers and administrative staff will be targeted and the aim is to improve on research as well as institutional management, through the development of leadership and management skills. The initiative seeks to develop the capacities of institutions within NARES to be more strategic in their agenda setting and more proactive in their programme implementation. The learning process is adaptive, and includes identification of key issues and challenges within the institutions and trying to address them using principles acquired during group learning sessions. Thus the aim is not only to ensure understanding of concepts but also the development of practical strategies and skills for addressing daily leadership and management challenges.

3. Other short skill enhancement courses: During the implementation of SCARDA, a number of skill gaps were identified among the young researchers trained under the programme, as well as their senior colleagues in the focal institutes. These common skill gap areas include proposal writing for resource mobilisation; technical writing/journal publishing; scientific data analysis and interpretation; formulating and writing policy briefs; performance management and M&E; and procurement and financial management. ASARECA will work with the target NARs to identify the most critical short courses and the staff who will need them most.

3. Institutional mentorship: Many of the institutions within the target NARES lack the full complement of staff needed to operate their programmes and deliver on their mandate. This invariably has an adverse effect on the quality of their outputs. In order to enhance the quality of the products and outcomes from the NARS, inter-institutional cooperation will be pursued as a cardinal objective under the institutional mentorship initiative. Thus the initiative will involve leveraging on the strengths of strong NARS to build the capacity the other NARS through a demand-driven and facilitated interactive process.

4. It is expected that in general under the institutional mentoring initiative, three- to six-month residential placement of senior researchers and scientists from the strong NARS (NARIs or universities) to the target NARS will be organised. Alternatively, staff from the target NARS will spend three to six months at identified strong institutions (NARIs, universities, CG centres, etc.). The process will be demand driven, with clear objectives and agreed deliverables.

Infrastructure development

This refers to support on equipment that would contribute directly to current ASARECA programmes in the NARES. The target institutions will identify, justify, prioritise and submit their needy areas of infrastructural support to ASARECA. This will then be followed by face-to-face discussion between the institutions and ASARECA. The exact nature of support will be determined in a participatory

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manner, considering the resources available. Participating institutions will be expected to make their own contribution, including in-kind contribution, and will be expected to sustain the infrastructure beyond the ASARECA funding.

Overview of partnerships

ASARECA will continue to support implementation of CAADP and other similar initiatives by working with FARA and the regional economic communities (COMESA and ECA). The aim will be to ensure that the design and implementation of country and sub-regional CAADP investment programmes and other similar initiatives are relevant, effective and fully address the needs of the countries and the sub-region. With respect to supporting CAADP implementation, the aim will be to: (1) ensure that pillar four issues are well articulated in the CAADP processes and investment programmes; (2) ensure that expert information, knowledge and skills are effectively coordinated, managed and incorporated in supporting CAADP implementation at country and sub-regional levels; (3) link with and coordinate efforts with other regional and sub-regional bodies in implementing CAADP and other similar initiatives; and (4) work with ASARECA programme managers and heads of units to coordinate ASARECA inputs into the Africa-wide initiative.

In addition to supporting implementation of the CAADP processes, ASARECA will ensure that sound partnerships are developed within the projects under our implementation and the NARES in implementing them. The aim will be to ensure strong, effective and efficient NARES that are able to successfully develop and manage successful partnerships and ARD in ECA. Systems, approaches, methods and databases will be put in place to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of partnership development and management efforts in ASARECA and the sub-region. Emphasis will be placed on individual, organisational and institutional capacity building of NARES to manage the partnerships.

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Annex 5: Issues and options for engagement with private sector

The information in this annex was generated in a consultative stakeholder workshop held as part of the process of developing OP2. (See workshop report for full details of proceedings, listed in Chapter 9.)

Reasons for currently limited private sector engagement with ASARECA

1. No clear definitions of who the private sector is and some private sector needs have never been addressed since most of them are unknown to ASARECA and they have never been profiled.

2. Need for partnership is an emerging need not felt before and different member states have different policy frameworks for engaging private sector in research and development activities.

3. Private sector is profit oriented and ASARECA is driven by desire to produce sub-regional public goods. There is also dominance by large multinationals whose interests and those of ASARECA are not aligned.

4. There is a low level of awareness of commercially viable technologies and innovations produced by ASARECA and limited knowledge in ASARECA of how private sector works.

5. Weak private sector unable to participate in development of viable partnerships with other players. Most SMEs are struggling businesses and they may not meet compliance standards for participation in ASARECA projects.

6. The current competitive grants system (CGS) in ASARECA is not attractive to private sector which is not geared to access that support.

7. ASARECA work has been mainly focused on technology generation with limited targeting of the private sector.

8. Gender mainstreaming is not included in the value chain. Viability and market research does not accompany technologies and innovations, increasing costs and risks to potential users.

Options for ASARECA to address these issues

1. Mapping of stakeholders including private sector, identify knowledge and information gaps/needs for informed capacity building and develop a clear framework on how to engage private sector. Identify pillar organisations that ASARECA can engage with as entry points. Faith-based groups should be included in the potential partner groups.

2. Few farmers organised into registered groups, but they need to be organised to establish partnerships—cooperative sector (in Kenya) is mobilising farmers and this offers opportunities. Building the capacity of cooperatives should be adopted as an approach across the sub-region.

3. Review the CGS and sub-grant agreements. Develop targeted calls to attract private sector stakeholders (SMEs, youth and crosscutting issues). Consider direct commissioning for involvement of private sector and setting aside some funds for private sector engagement.

4. Involve the private sector in the planning and implementation of projects and develop business incubation models with them to support commercialisation of technologies. Look for ways to provide incentives to enable the private sector to adopt ASARECA technologies which address some of the risks involved in agriculture.

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5. Develop a platform for private sector to encourage strategic engagement in specific aspects including information and knowledge sharing. This should have value chain approach and share information at national level between the sector and researchers. Need to follow the value chain, including gender analysis in these value chains, and build business entrepreneurship, skills and capacity among SMEs.

6. Create awareness of ASARECA through ICT, trade fairs and open days, and develop a communication and sensitisation strategy that addresses the interaction between ASARECA and the private sector.

7. Besides producing technologies, also consider producing supporting equipment and machinery, involving the media as partners in promotion of technology.

Opportunities and strategies for ASARECA to develop in order to increase engagement with the private sector

1. Align research projects with flagship private sector projects identified in ECA countries’ long-term development objectives (Uganda’s vision 2025, Rwanda’s vision 2020 and Kenya’s vision 2030).

2. Identify and develop viable commercialisation models for products that are not true public goods (open pollinated varieties through farmers, community based enterprises linked to private sector). Develop award schemes that recognise innovations and technology use.

3. Identify opportunities of agricultural social responsibility projects supported by regional private sector players, including identification of ways to make urban and peri-urban agriculture safe and compliant with city ordinances.

4. Learn from, and adapt, marketing models from non-agriculture actor players (banks, pharmaceutical sector) who work with the private sector. Develop partnerships with partners who are already supporting or working with the private sector (AGRA, East African Business Council, export promotion zones).

5. Enhance support to technology incubation centres. Seek a platform to engage with the private sector by either creating the platform or penetrating existing national and regional private sector bodies.

6. Use regional integration as an opportunity to engage the private sector and policy harmonisation. Support and advocate for harmonisation of policies, laws, regulations, standards and certification schemes that support competitiveness of key commodities.

7. Explore implementation of crop and livestock insurance schemes and demonstrate regional benefits of ASARECA products. Work with the private sector to analyse policy constraints. Domestication of the policy frameworks in the region will encourage participation of the private sector (the harmonised seed policy to take advantage of economies of scale).

115

Annexes


Annex 6: The substance and process of change

The following outline of the things that need changing, and the process by which this might be done, was generated by stakeholders during a consultative workshop held in Nairobi, Kenya 18 to 21 September 2012. This is incomplete, but provides a starting point for developing a timetable and a series of initiatives to address key issues.

The key areas for change identified by stakeholders were:1. Programme to hybrid approach is a prerequisite for OP2. Sensitise change management to

all ASARECA internal stakeholders from the lower to higher levels including Board members [creative capacity building]. To ensure that there is leadership by paradigm change.

2. Revision of current structures, processes and roles. Review of procedures in operations manual to minimise conflict of interest at governance/board level (The Board of Directors will look at the decision making and beneficiary roles) with delineation of roles and responsibilities between management and the Board.

3. Corporate identity. Enhance the profile and visibility of ASARECA nationally, sub-regionally, regionally and internationally. Resolve the issue of the legal status of ASARECA in Uganda by completing the host country agreement.

4. Institutionalising outreach and communication.

5. Institutionalising of gender mainstreaming. Harmonised implementation of gender mainstreaming and communication strategies within ASARECA region.

6. Human resources. Equal opportunity, enhance participation by all ASARECA internal and external stakeholders, train staff on soft skills, capacity building, evolve ASARECA into a learning organisation. Review incentive scheme and reward system.

7. M&E. Enhance the monitoring of performance of initiatives, staff and the organisation as a whole.

8. Partnership development. Engagement with stakeholders and new partners, especially the private sector. Establish private sector contact point at ASARECA. Build capacity and partnership for private sector and civil society organisations.

9. Advocacy. Examine the tools related to this aspect to develop coherent mechanisms. In-reach (advocacy within ASARECA as an organisation) before outreach needs focus and galvanised support.

10. Capacity building of NARES. Emphasis should be on institutional capacity building of partners [processes, systems, etc] including less competitive NARES. Popularise ASARECA products and strengthen feedback mechanism.

11. Impact orientation. Tracking adoption and impact of technologies [using appropriate socio-economic and gender analysis tools].

12. Proactive resource mobilisation. Be able to mobilise resources from within the region, other donors and private sector.

116

Strengthening capacity of NARESWhat needs to be managed How to make the changes• Strengthen the less competitive NARIs• Understanding of the knowledge and management

capacity [management of partnerships]• Research infrastructure and materials• Project duration• Language• Use different media in ASARECA region• Review calls for proposals criteria, procedures and

protocols

• Identify the management and scientific training needs of partners

• Mobilise funds for training diplomas and various specialisations of researchers (granting of scholarships)

• Integrate a training component in each project• Create incentives• Develop partnerships with local universities and other

research centres• Identify the gaps• Develop a framework for collaboration between centres• Equip the research centres• Ensure project and training duration is coherent• Adopting both French and English as working languages

in ASARECA• Build language capacity• Engage stakeholders• Develop a database of researchers• Programme managers start networking with less

competitive NARIs• Review the criteria, procedures and protocol for proposals

Strengthening partnershipsWhat needs to be managed How to make the changes• Partnership strategy• Visibility of ASARECA to partners

• Regular partners visits• Adopt a policy specific to each category of partners• Adopt a system of partnership based on a participatory

approach• Identify common interests• Adapt the tools of communication the partners need• Take a commercial approach similar to Coca Cola

advertising• Promote the achievements of ASARECA

Programme-thematic hybrid approachWhat needs to be managed How to make the changes• Inter-programme/unit linkage• Governance and management—formal system,

procedures and processes• Roles and responsibilities• Staff, partners• Harmonisation at country level, with partners• Attitude and culture

• Sensitisation at all levels—including staff, stakeholders, etc.

• Establish timelines and means of monitoring the whole process

• Set up inbuilt communication and feedback mechanisms• Internalise and own the process• Joint planning and review• Delegate responsibility for implementation• Development of policies and implementation guidelines• Identify champions• Address structural changes that have been recommended

Revision of current structures, processes and rolesWhat needs to be managed How to make the changes• Documentation• Board and management approval

• Document policies and guidelines• Orientation• Commission external expert to guide process

117

Annexes


Corporate identity—promotion of ownershipWhat needs to be managed How to make the changes• Re-branding• Promotion• Visibility

• Corporate communication plan• Customisation of ASARECA products• Attend high level meetings• Promotional materials• Revise TORs for national focal points

Institutionalising of gender mainstreamingWhat needs to be managed How to make the changes• Enabling environment for all peoples to participate

both at Secretariat and among stakeholders• Demystifying gender mainstreaming• Conceptualisation of the gender mainstreaming

approach• Culture of mainstreaming• Engendering the BOD, as gender champions

• Human resource policy capacity building among stakeholders

• Identify gaps in development opportunities—and apply affirmative action

• Design on-the-job gender coaching mechanism• Collection of gender disaggregated data for problem

identification, technology generation, baselines and M&E• Develop pool of gender champions at the country level• Capacity building for the BOD• Strengthening the gender unit—personnel, funds• Orientation of new staff

Revision of current structures, processes and rolesWhat needs to be managed How to make the changes• The processes• Content• Staff, partners• Governance and management• Harmonisation at country level, with partners• Job descriptions and titles• Clear roles and responsibilities at all levels• Attitude, culture

• Policies and guidelines• Operational manual• Governance manual• Change management specialist• Committee for change• Orientation and guidance• Monitoring the process• Corporate governance training for the Board and senior

managers• Engage organisational development specialist in

reviewing structures and staffing levels• Sensitisation of staff at every step

Proactive resource mobilisation [mobilise resources from within the region, other donors and private sector]What needs to be managed How to make the changes• Expedite the finalisation of fundraising/mobilisation

strategy• Arrange consultative workshop/write-shop• Operationalise resource mobilisation plan• Respond to global call for resources

Creative capacity building and clarified roles of Secretariat and Board membersWhat needs to be managed How to make the changes• Review operational manual (governance issues with

detailed clear roles and responsibilities)• Information sharing/capacity building training• Organise information sharing• External visit for Board members

118

Ann

ex 7

: Ind

icati

ve d

raft

logf

ram

e fo

r ch

ange

man

agem

ent

Not

e: T

his

is a

draft

cov

erin

g a

perio

d of

app

roxi

mat

ely

18 m

onth

s. It

will

nee

d to

be

revi

ewed

and

ass

esse

d w

ith s

take

hold

ers

as p

art o

f the

ch

ange

pro

cess

. It w

ill in

clud

e bo

th su

bsta

nce

and

proc

ess

of c

hang

e. It

is in

com

plet

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d its

incl

usio

n is

for i

ndic

ative

pur

pose

s on

ly.

Chan

ge M

anag

emen

t Lo

gica

l Fra

mew

ork

Perio

d: 1

8 m

onth

s

Nar

rativ

eO

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y Ve

rifiab

le In

dica

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Mea

ns o

f Ver

ifica

tion

Ass

umpt

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Impa

ctE

quita

ble

acce

ss a

nd u

tilis

atio

n of

ag

ricul

tura

l res

earc

h an

d de

velo

pmen

t in

nova

tions

enh

ance

d

1. T

o be

iden

tified

• G

over

nmen

t sta

tistic

s•

Uni

ted

Nat

ions

Eco

nom

ic C

omm

issi

on fo

r Afri

ca s

tatis

tics

and

repo

rts•

Reg

iona

l org

anis

atio

n•

Rep

orts

• S

elec

ted

CG

IAR

repo

rts a

nd p

ublic

atio

ns

Out

com

eC

apac

ity o

f AS

AR

EC

A as

an

orga

nisa

tion

to fu

nctio

n ef

fect

ivel

y in

the

new

par

adig

m s

usta

inab

ly e

stab

lishe

d

1. A

ll A

SA

RE

CA

new

org

anis

atio

nal s

truct

ures

st

affe

d an

d op

erat

iona

l by

2013

2. 7

5% in

crea

se, o

ver 2

012

leve

ls, i

n th

e nu

mbe

r of p

ositi

ve re

spon

ses

for fi

nanc

ial

and

tech

nica

l sup

port

to s

ub-r

egio

nal

requ

ests

by

2015

• A

nnua

l rep

orts

of t

he R

EC

s •

AS

AR

EC

A pu

blis

hed

and

inte

rnal

repo

rts•

AS

AR

EC

A te

chni

cal r

epor

ts•

Ann

ual r

epor

ts fr

om m

embe

r N

AR

S a

nd A

RIs

[Pur

pose

to g

oal]

1. A

dequ

ate

infra

stru

ctur

e is

mai

ntai

ned

2. N

atio

nal p

olic

ies

and

unfa

ir co

mpe

titio

n do

no

t com

prom

ise

gain

s 3.

Ena

blin

g po

licie

s, re

sour

ces

and

cond

uciv

e en

viro

nmen

t exi

st a

nd a

re

sust

aine

d 4.

Effe

ctiv

e pl

atfo

rms

for c

onsu

ltatio

n ex

ist

5. P

oliti

cal/e

cono

mic

env

ironm

ent d

oes

not

nega

te g

ains

119

Annexes


Nar

rativ

eO

bjec

tivel

y Ve

rifiab

le In

dica

tors

Mea

ns o

f Ver

ifica

tion

Ass

umpt

ions

Res

ults

1. P

rogr

amm

e-th

emat

ic A

IS

para

digm

for s

ub-r

egio

nal

agric

ultu

ral r

esea

rch

and

deve

lopm

ent e

stab

lishe

d

1.1

All

proj

ects

bas

ed o

n pr

ogra

mm

e-th

emat

ic a

ppro

ach

at s

ub-r

egio

nal l

evel

by

2015

1.2

To b

e id

entifi

ed

• A

nnua

l rep

orts

of t

he R

EC

s •

AS

AR

EC

A pu

blis

hed

and

inte

rnal

re

ports

• A

SA

RE

CA

tech

nica

l rep

orts

• A

nnua

l rep

orts

from

mem

ber N

AR

S

and

AR

Is•

AS

AR

EC

A au

dit r

epor

ts•

Mul

ti-m

edia

ann

ounc

emen

ts•

Ann

ual a

nd o

ccas

iona

l rep

orts

of

deve

lopm

ent p

artn

ers

[Out

puts

to p

urpo

se]

1. S

taffi

ng a

nd re

sour

ce le

vels

with

in th

e N

AR

WS

of

the

sub-

regi

on a

re a

dequ

ate

and

are

mai

ntai

ned

2. G

ood

rela

tions

hips

with

pol

itica

l sta

keho

lder

s ex

ist

3. T

he fi

nanc

ial a

nd p

hysi

cal r

esou

rce

com

mitm

ents

of

stak

ehol

ders

, inc

ludi

ng p

ublic

and

priv

ate

sect

ors,

N

GO

and

pro

duce

r org

anis

atio

ns a

re m

aint

aine

d4.

Im

prov

ed in

frast

ruct

ure

is in

pla

ce a

nd e

ffect

ive

5. C

oord

inat

ion

brin

gs a

dded

val

ue6.

Goo

d pr

ess

and

othe

r med

ia o

rgan

isat

ions

exi

st7.

Pot

entia

l clie

nts

able

to a

rticu

late

dem

and

effe

ctiv

ely

and

have

reso

urce

s to

resp

ond

to o

utpu

t8.

Pol

itica

l/eco

nom

ic e

nviro

nmen

t doe

s no

t neg

ate

gain

s

2. S

ub-r

egio

nal c

apac

ity o

f st

akeh

olde

rs fo

r ope

ratin

g in

a

prog

ram

me-

them

atic

AIS

pa

radi

gm s

treng

then

ed

2.1

At l

east

30%

mem

ber N

AR

ES

de

sign

ing

prog

ram

me-

them

atic

ba

sed

proj

ects

by

2015

2.2

To b

e id

entifi

ed

3. E

ffect

ive

sub-

regi

onal

pa

rtner

ship

s su

ppor

ting

and

enco

urag

ing

prog

ram

me-

them

atic

AIS

rese

arch

and

up

scal

ing

esta

blis

hed

and

oper

atio

nal

3.1

At l

east

50%

of t

he in

itiat

ives

un

der e

ach

them

e be

ing

impl

emen

ted

by 2

015

3.2

At l

east

thre

e ne

w s

ourc

es o

f fu

ndin

g es

tabl

ishe

d by

201

5

As

abov

eA

s ab

ove

4. S

ecre

taria

t-lev

el h

uman

an

d or

gani

satio

nal c

apac

ity

to s

uppo

rt su

b-re

gion

al

prog

ram

me-

them

atic

bas

ed

AIS

act

iviti

es s

treng

then

ed

4.1

A po

sitiv

e in

crea

se, o

ver 2

012

leve

ls, i

n th

e nu

mbe

r of s

taff

perfo

rman

ce s

core

s ra

ted

as

outs

tand

ing

by 2

010

4.2

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% in

crea

se in

pro

activ

e m

edia

enq

uirie

s fo

r inf

orm

atio

n co

ncer

ning

AS

AR

EC

A ac

tiviti

es

by 2

015

120

Nar

rativ

eO

bjec

tivel

y Ve

rifiab

le In

dica

tors

Mea

ns o

f Ver

ifica

tion

Ass

umpt

ions

Res

ults

1. P

rogr

amm

e-th

emat

ic A

IS

para

digm

for s

ub-r

egio

nal

agric

ultu

ral r

esea

rch

and

deve

lopm

ent e

stab

lishe

d

1.1

All

proj

ects

bas

ed o

n pr

ogra

mm

e-th

emat

ic a

ppro

ach

at s

ub-r

egio

nal l

evel

by

2015

1.2

To b

e id

entifi

ed

• A

nnua

l rep

orts

of t

he R

EC

s •

AS

AR

EC

A pu

blis

hed

and

inte

rnal

re

ports

• A

SA

RE

CA

tech

nica

l rep

orts

• A

nnua

l rep

orts

from

mem

ber N

AR

S

and

AR

Is•

AS

AR

EC

A au

dit r

epor

ts•

Mul

ti-m

edia

ann

ounc

emen

ts•

Ann

ual a

nd o

ccas

iona

l rep

orts

of

deve

lopm

ent p

artn

ers

[Out

puts

to p

urpo

se]

1. S

taffi

ng a

nd re

sour

ce le

vels

with

in th

e N

AR

WS

of

the

sub-

regi

on a

re a

dequ

ate

and

are

mai

ntai

ned

2. G

ood

rela

tions

hips

with

pol

itica

l sta

keho

lder

s ex

ist

3. T

he fi

nanc

ial a

nd p

hysi

cal r

esou

rce

com

mitm

ents

of

stak

ehol

ders

, inc

ludi

ng p

ublic

and

priv

ate

sect

ors,

N

GO

and

pro

duce

r org

anis

atio

ns a

re m

aint

aine

d4.

Im

prov

ed in

frast

ruct

ure

is in

pla

ce a

nd e

ffect

ive

5. C

oord

inat

ion

brin

gs a

dded

val

ue6.

Goo

d pr

ess

and

othe

r med

ia o

rgan

isat

ions

exi

st7.

Pot

entia

l clie

nts

able

to a

rticu

late

dem

and

effe

ctiv

ely

and

have

reso

urce

s to

resp

ond

to o

utpu

t8.

Pol

itica

l/eco

nom

ic e

nviro

nmen

t doe

s no

t neg

ate

gain

s

2. S

ub-r

egio

nal c

apac

ity o

f st

akeh

olde

rs fo

r ope

ratin

g in

a

prog

ram

me-

them

atic

AIS

pa

radi

gm s

treng

then

ed

2.1

At l

east

30%

mem

ber N

AR

ES

de

sign

ing

prog

ram

me-

them

atic

ba

sed

proj

ects

by

2015

2.2

To b

e id

entifi

ed

3. E

ffect

ive

sub-

regi

onal

pa

rtner

ship

s su

ppor

ting

and

enco

urag

ing

prog

ram

me-

them

atic

AIS

rese

arch

and

up

scal

ing

esta

blis

hed

and

oper

atio

nal

3.1

At l

east

50%

of t

he in

itiat

ives

un

der e

ach

them

e be

ing

impl

emen

ted

by 2

015

3.2

At l

east

thre

e ne

w s

ourc

es o

f fu

ndin

g es

tabl

ishe

d by

201

5

As

abov

eA

s ab

ove

4. S

ecre

taria

t-lev

el h

uman

an

d or

gani

satio

nal c

apac

ity

to s

uppo

rt su

b-re

gion

al

prog

ram

me-

them

atic

bas

ed

AIS

act

iviti

es s

treng

then

ed

4.1

A po

sitiv

e in

crea

se, o

ver 2

012

leve

ls, i

n th

e nu

mbe

r of s

taff

perfo

rman

ce s

core

s ra

ted

as

outs

tand

ing

by 2

010

4.2

A 15

% in

crea

se in

pro

activ

e m

edia

enq

uirie

s fo

r inf

orm

atio

n co

ncer

ning

AS

AR

EC

A ac

tiviti

es

by 2

015

Nar

rativ

e su

mm

ary

Bud

get a

nd in

puts

Ass

umpt

ions

Act

iviti

es

The

CM

T/co

nsul

tant

[s] w

ould

pro

vide

tech

nica

l and

men

torin

g su

ppor

t and

gu

idan

ce to

the

follo

win

g ac

tiviti

es:

[Out

put 1

—P

rogr

amm

e-th

emat

ic A

IS p

arad

igm

for s

ub-r

egio

nal a

gric

ultu

ral

rese

arch

and

dev

elop

men

t est

ablis

hed]

1.1

Rev

iew

and

dev

elop

men

t of t

erm

s of

refe

renc

e an

d ap

poin

tmen

t of

appr

opria

te p

rofe

ssio

nal s

taff

to p

rogr

amm

es/th

emes

1.2

Dev

elop

men

t and

impl

emen

tatio

n of

a s

yste

mat

ic a

ppro

ach

to m

ento

ring

and

supp

ortin

g le

ad p

rofe

ssio

nals

in n

ew p

arad

igm

1.3

Sco

ping

stu

dies

aim

ed a

t ide

ntify

ing

and

addr

essi

ng th

e co

nstra

ints

of t

he

valu

e ch

ain

for e

ach

them

atic

are

a1.

4 D

evel

opm

ent o

f a p

rogr

amm

e im

plem

enta

tion

man

ual i

nclu

ding

M&

E

syst

ems

1.5

Dev

elop

men

t of i

nfor

mat

ion

and

com

mun

icat

ion

stra

tegy

1. S

ub-r

egio

nal c

omm

unic

atio

n sy

stem

s op

erat

e at

ade

quat

e le

vels

2. A

cle

ar a

nd s

hare

d vi

sion

and

com

mitm

ent e

xist

s/is

ado

pted

am

ongs

t sta

keho

lder

s3.

Com

patib

le o

rgan

isat

iona

l stru

ctur

es e

xist

with

in th

e su

b-re

gion

4. P

oliti

cal/e

cono

mic

env

ironm

ent d

oes

not n

egat

e ga

ins

[Out

put 2

—S

ub-r

egio

nal c

apac

ity o

f sta

keho

lder

s fo

r ope

ratin

g in

a

prog

ram

me-

them

atic

AIS

par

adig

m s

treng

then

ed]

2.1

Dev

elop

men

t of a

pac

kage

of A

IS a

nd p

rogr

amm

e-th

emat

ic p

arad

igm

pr

omot

iona

l and

exp

lana

tory

mat

eria

l 2.

2 Im

plem

enta

tion

of a

cap

acity

stre

ngth

enin

g pr

ogra

mm

e to

incr

ease

aw

aren

ess

and

unde

rsta

ndin

g of

AIS

issu

es

2.3

Pro

mot

e un

ders

tand

ing

thro

ugh

impl

emen

tatio

n of

a p

rogr

amm

e fo

r st

akeh

olde

r sen

sitis

atio

n to

the

chan

ges

in s

ub-r

egio

nal r

esea

rch

capt

ured

in th

e ne

w p

arad

igm

and

the

curr

ent O

pera

tiona

l Pla

n2.

4 Id

entifi

catio

n of

sub

-reg

iona

l cha

mpi

ons

of c

hang

e2.

5 P

rovi

sion

of s

uppo

rt to

sub

-reg

iona

l cha

mpi

ons

of c

hang

e2.

6 Id

entifi

catio

n of

key

are

as o

f res

ista

nce

to c

hang

e an

d th

e de

velo

pmen

t of

mec

hani

sms

to a

ddre

ss th

ese

in a

pra

ctic

al w

ay2.

7 Im

plem

enta

tion

of m

echa

nism

s to

add

ress

spe

cific

issu

es o

f res

ista

nce

to

chan

ge

121

Annexes


Nar

rativ

e Su

mm

ary

Bud

get a

nd In

puts

Ass

umpt

ions

[Out

put 3

—E

ffect

ive

sub-

regi

onal

par

tner

ship

s su

ppor

ting

and

enco

urag

ing

prog

ram

me-

them

atic

AIS

rese

arch

and

ups

calin

g es

tabl

ishe

d an

d op

erat

iona

l]3.

1 I

dent

ifica

tion

of k

ey p

artn

ers

in fo

cal p

riorit

y va

lue

chai

ns

3.2

Dev

elop

men

t and

impl

emen

tatio

n of

stre

ngth

ened

par

tner

ship

s to

sup

port

AIS

and

pro

gram

me-

them

atic

app

roac

h in

prio

rity

area

s3.

3 D

evel

opm

ent a

nd im

plem

enta

tion

of fo

rmal

and

info

rmal

com

mun

icat

ion

syst

ems

with

RE

Cs

3.4

Dev

elop

men

t and

impl

emen

tatio

n of

regu

lar,

mul

ti-m

edia

mec

hani

sms

for

prom

otin

g A

IS in

sub

-reg

iona

l res

earc

h 3.

5 D

evel

opm

ent a

nd im

plem

enta

tion

of fo

rmal

link

s be

twee

n A

SA

RE

CA

and

CO

RA

F/W

EC

AR

D a

nd C

CA

RD

ES

A as

sub

-reg

iona

l org

anis

atio

ns, t

o pr

omot

e un

ders

tand

ing

and

the

shar

ing

of in

form

atio

n 3.

6 D

evel

opm

ent a

nd im

plem

enta

tion

of m

echa

nism

s fo

r effe

ctiv

e co

mm

unic

atio

n be

twee

n su

b-re

gion

al s

take

hold

ers

[Out

put 4

—S

ecre

taria

t-lev

el h

uman

and

org

anis

atio

nal c

apac

ity to

sup

port

sub-

regi

onal

pro

gram

me-

them

atic

bas

ed A

IS a

ctiv

ities

stre

ngth

ened

]1.

1 D

evel

opm

ent a

nd im

plem

enta

tion

of a

stra

tegy

for i

nstit

utio

nalis

ing

the

orga

nisa

tiona

l cha

nges

iden

tified

in th

e O

pera

tiona

l Pla

n1.

2 D

evel

opm

ent o

f TO

R fo

r sta

ff re

crui

tmen

t, co

mpe

titiv

ely

appo

int n

ew

prof

essi

onal

sta

ff 1.

3 D

evel

opm

ent o

f a H

RM

man

ual

1.4

Dev

elop

men

t of t

rans

pare

nt fi

nanc

ial m

anag

emen

t pol

icie

s, s

yste

ms

and

proc

urem

ent p

roce

dure

s 1.

5 D

evel

opm

ent a

nd im

plem

enta

tion

of n

ew jo

b de

scrip

tions

for a

ll se

rvin

g an

d ne

w s

taff

1.6

Trai

ning

and

ski

lls n

eeds

ass

essm

ent o

f new

and

ser

ving

sta

ff1.

7 D

evel

opm

ent a

nd im

plem

enta

tion

of tr

aini

ng a

nd H

RD

stra

tegy

1.

8 D

evel

opm

ent a

nd im

plem

enta

tion

of s

yste

mat

ic a

ppro

ache

s fo

r men

torin

g ne

w a

nd s

ervi

ng s

taff

on th

e ne

w p

arad

igm

iden

tified

in th

e O

pera

tiona

l P

lan

1.9

Dev

elop

men

t and

impl

emen

tatio

n of

mec

hani

sms

to p

rom

ote

owne

rshi

p of

AS

AR

EC

A by

its

mem

bers

hip

- pro

mot

ion

of c

orpo

rate

iden

tity

122

Ann

ex 8

: Ind

icati

ve c

hang

e m

anag

emen

t tim

etab

le

This

timet

able

is in

dica

tive

and

is in

clud

ed in

this

Ope

ratio

nal P

lan

to re

flect

the

view

s of

sta

keho

lder

s at

the

time

of it

s de

velo

pmen

t. Fu

rthe

r w

ork

on d

etai

l and

pre

cise

con

tent

will

be

requ

ired.

Subs

tanc

e of

cha

nge

iden

tified

by

stak

ehol

ders

2013

2014

JF

MA

MJ

JA

SO

ND

JF

MA

MJ

JA

SO

ND

Sup

port

fund

ing

from

exi

stin

g so

urce

sS

tart

of O

P2

proj

ect f

undi

ng

Form

al fu

ndin

g fo

r OP

2 th

roug

h M

DTF

2

1. P

rogr

amm

e to

Hyb

rid A

ppro

ach

is a

pre

requ

isite

for O

P2.

Sen

sitis

e ch

ange

m

anag

emen

t fro

m lo

wer

to h

ighe

r lev

el in

clud

ing

boar

d m

embe

rs [c

reat

ive

capa

city

bui

ldin

g]. L

eadi

ng b

y pa

radi

gm c

hang

e, p

ublis

h ne

w in

nova

tions

, pr

oper

ty ri

ghts

.

A pr

ogra

mm

e of

sen

sitis

atio

n w

orks

hops

to

disc

uss

the

new

Ope

ratio

nal P

lan

and

its im

plic

atio

ns. I

dent

ifyin

g is

sues

and

stra

tegi

es to

add

ress

them

[pro

cess

es

of c

hang

e]. I

dent

ifyin

g ch

ampi

ons

and

chan

ge a

gent

s fo

r the

AIS

app

roac

h in

the

cont

ext

of p

rogr

amm

es-th

emes

and

new

lead

ersh

ip. A

dditi

onal

inpu

ts m

ay b

e id

entifi

ed a

nd re

quire

act

ion .

2. R

evis

ion

of c

urre

nt s

truct

ures

, pro

cess

es a

nd ro

les:

Rev

iew

of p

roce

dure

s in

op

erat

ions

man

ual,

confl

ict o

f int

eres

t at g

over

nanc

e/B

oard

leve

l (Th

e B

oard

w

ill l

ook

at th

e de

cisi

on m

akin

g an

d be

nefic

iary

role

s) w

ith c

lear

role

s an

d re

spon

sibi

litie

s fro

m m

anag

emen

t to

the

boar

d.

A pr

ogra

mm

e of

wor

ksho

ps to

dis

cuss

issu

es w

ith s

take

hold

ers

affe

cted

, in

con

text

of O

P2.

Con

sens

us b

uild

ing

and

revi

sion

of n

eces

sary

do

cum

enta

tion,

with

ext

erna

l tec

hnic

al s

uppo

rt w

here

nec

essa

ry.

3. R

ebra

ndin

g of

AS

AR

EC

A: P

rofil

e an

d vi

sibi

lity

of A

SA

RE

CA

natio

nally

, su

b-re

gion

ally,

regi

onal

ly a

nd in

tern

atio

nally

. Leg

al s

tatu

s in

Uga

nda

and

at a

regi

onal

leve

l. W

ith s

peci

al e

mph

asis

on

how

hos

t cou

ntry

vie

ws

and

reac

hes

out t

o A

SA

RE

CA

.

Sof

t-ski

lls d

evel

opm

ent t

o ad

dres

s ap

proa

ches

and

atti

tude

s fo

r th

ose

conc

erne

d. D

evel

opm

ent o

f stra

tegy

and

targ

ets.

Tec

hnic

al

supp

ort

if ne

cess

ary

in

prep

arat

ion

of

prel

imin

ary

mat

eria

l. O

ngoi

ng a

ctiv

ity o

nce

proc

ess

has

been

prim

ed a

nd s

tarte

d.4.

Inst

itutio

nalis

ing

outre

ach

and

com

mun

icat

ion

Ong

oing

act

ivity

of O

P2

linke

d to

[3]

5. In

stitu

tiona

lisin

g of

gen

der m

ains

tream

ing:

Har

mon

ised

impl

emen

tatio

n of

ge

nder

mai

nstre

amin

g, c

omm

unic

atio

n st

rate

gies

with

in A

SA

RE

CA

regi

onLi

nked

to

[1]

as p

art

of s

ensi

tisat

ion

proc

ess.

Inc

lude

d in

dis

cuss

ions

and

w

orks

hops

and

ana

lysi

s of

issu

es. O

ngoi

ng a

ctiv

ities

as

part

of o

vera

ll AS

AR

EC

A im

plem

enta

tion

of O

P2.

Int

egra

ted

into

bot

h pr

ojec

ts a

nd w

ider

ins

titut

iona

l ca

paci

ty s

treng

then

ing

and

deve

lopm

ent

6. H

uman

reso

urce

s: E

qual

opp

ortu

nity

, par

ticip

atio

n, s

oft s

kills

, cap

acity

bu

ildin

g, le

arni

ng o

rgan

isat

ion.

Rev

iew

ince

ntiv

e sc

hem

e/re

war

d sy

stem

Sof

t sk

ills

deve

lopm

ent

in c

olla

bora

tion

with

out

puts

fro

m s

ensi

tisat

ion

and

parti

cipa

tory

wor

ksho

ps w

ith

stak

ehol

ders

. W

ith e

xter

nal

supp

ort

as n

eces

sary

. O

ngoi

ng7.

M&

E: P

erfo

rman

ce o

f ini

tiativ

es, s

taff

and

the

orga

nisa

tion

as a

who

leR

evie

w o

f iss

ues

and

deve

lopm

ent o

f sol

utio

ns in

con

sulta

tion.

O

ngoi

ng8.

Par

tner

ship

dev

elop

men

t: E

ngag

emen

t with

sta

keho

lder

s an

d ne

w p

artn

ers,

es

peci

ally

priv

ate

sect

or. E

stab

lish

priv

ate

sect

or c

onta

ct p

oint

at A

SA

RE

CA

. B

uild

cap

acity

and

par

tner

ship

for p

rivat

e se

ctor

, civ

il so

ciet

y or

gani

satio

ns

Initi

al fo

cus

linke

d cl

osel

y to

[1] a

nd [3

] add

ress

ing

issu

es th

roug

h pa

rtici

pato

ry

disc

ussi

ons

and

loca

ting

fund

ing

for

initi

ativ

es. T

arge

ting

spec

ific

orga

nisa

tions

an

d ev

ents

to

incr

ease

im

pact

. E

ngag

emen

t w

ith p

roje

ct d

evel

opm

ent

unde

r th

emes

with

pro

gram

me

and

unit

man

ager

s. O

ngoi

ng

123

Annexes


Subs

tanc

e of

cha

nge

iden

tified

by

stak

ehol

ders

2013

2014

JF

MA

MJ

JA

SO

ND

JF

MA

MJ

JA

SO

ND

Sup

port

fund

ing

from

exi

stin

g so

urce

sS

tart

of O

P2

proj

ect f

undi

ng

Form

al fu

ndin

g fo

r OP

2 th

roug

h M

DTF

2

9.

Adv

ocac

y: E

xam

ine

the

tool

s re

late

d to

this

asp

ect t

o de

velo

p co

here

nt

mec

hani

sms.

Adv

ocac

y w

ithin

AS

AR

EC

A as

an

orga

nisa

tion

to b

e ad

dres

sed

befo

re o

utre

ach

focu

ses

and

galv

anis

es s

uppo

rt

Link

ed to

[2],

[3] a

nd [4

]. S

oft s

kills

dev

elop

men

t and

id

entifi

catio

n of

opp

ortu

nitie

s. D

evel

opm

ent a

ppro

ache

s an

d im

plem

enta

tion

of ta

rget

ed re

spon

ses

- qui

ck w

in ta

rget

s.

Ong

oing

10.

Cap

acity

bui

ldin

g of

NA

RS

: Em

phas

is s

houl

d be

on

inst

itutio

nal c

apac

ity

build

ing

of p

artn

ers

[pro

cess

es, s

yste

ms,

etc

] par

ticul

arly

for t

he le

ss

com

petit

ive

NA

RS

. Pop

ular

ise

AS

AR

EC

A pr

oduc

ts a

nd s

treng

then

fe

edba

ck m

echa

nism

Par

t of t

he s

ensi

tisat

ion

proc

ess

to O

P2

[1].

Incl

udin

g N

AR

S s

take

hold

ers

in d

iscu

ssio

ns a

nd w

orks

hops

to u

nder

stan

d O

P2

and

its im

plic

atio

ns.

Dev

elop

ing

stra

tegi

es to

add

ress

nee

ds. B

uilt

into

cur

rent

and

pla

nned

cap

acity

st

reng

then

ing

initi

ativ

es li

nked

to w

ider

leve

ls o

f und

erst

andi

ng a

nd a

ppre

ciat

ion

of th

e ro

le o

f AS

AR

EC

A [3

]. O

ngoi

ng11

. Im

pact

orie

ntat

ion:

Tra

ckin

g ad

optio

n an

d im

pact

of t

echn

olog

ies

[usi

ng

ap

prop

riate

soc

io-e

cono

mic

and

gen

der a

naly

sis

tool

s]Li

nked

to (7

) and

(1).

Sen

sitis

atio

n of

sta

keho

lder

s on

role

and

fu

nctio

n of

M&

E a

s w

ell a

s its

focu

s an

d em

phas

is. O

ngoi

ng12

. P

roac

tive

reso

urce

mob

ilisa

tion:

Be

able

to m

obili

se re

sour

ces

from

with

in

the

regi

on, o

ther

don

ors

and

priv

ate

sect

orLi

nked

to (3

) and

(9),

depe

nden

t on

rais

ing

the

profi

le o

f A

SA

RE

CA

, the

dev

elop

men

t of a

fund

-rai

sing

stra

tegy

and

the

deve

lopm

ent o

f sof

t ski

lls to

inte

ract

with

sta

keho

lder

s. O

ngoi

ng

124

Annex 9: Possible terms of reference of Technical Advisory Committee

1. Status and authoritya) The technical advisory committee (TAC) shall be the technical advisory arm to the Executive

Director and Governing Board. b) The rules and regulations governing the operations of the technical advisory committee shall

be approved by the Governing Board.

2. Compositiona) The TAC shall consist of twelve (12) experts appointed from the National Agricultural

Research and Extension Systems of ASARECA members, partner institutions and international organisations on the basis of their personal merit, proven expertise and experience in agricultural research for development and capacity strengthening. Composition of the TAC shall ensure representation of the areas of ASARECA activities, official working languages and gender.

3. Functions of technical advisory committeea) The TAC shall:

• Review programmes and advise the Governing Board on technical advisory matters and the relevance of research programme activities, base centres, networks and research poles to the vision and mission of ASARECA.

• Assist the Executive Secretariat in carrying out the functions of scientific coopera-tion and coordination.

• Assist the Governing Board in evaluating the scientific activities of ASARECA between meetings of the General Assembly.

• Monitor and evaluate all scientific co-operation programme activities, including scientific publication and dissemination of technical information, implemented by ASARECA.

• Assist the Executive Secretariat in coordinating the scientific activities of ASARECA with a view to promoting scientific excellence and enhancing the influence of ASARECA in the East and Central Africa sub-region and throughout Africa.

4. Appointment of members and tenurea) Members of the TAC are appointed by the Governing Board which later informs the General

Assembly. b) Members of the TAC shall serve for a period of three years renewable only once for a further

period of three years.c) The TAC shall establish a schedule for the appointment of new members and for the renewal of

membership of the TAC in accordance with the rules of procedure outlined in the governance manual.

5. Officers and administrationa) The TAC shall appoint a Chairperson and Vice Chairperson from amongst its members. The

Chairperson, with assistance from the Vice Chairperson, shall oversee the work of the TAC.b) The Executive Secretariat shall provide administrative and logistical support for the work of

the TAC.c) The Deputy Executive Director shall serve as the Secretary of the TAC.

125

Annexes


6. Meetings and decisionsa) TAC shall meet once every year in ordinary sessions, to be held during the second half of the

month of October of each year.b) Ordinary sessions of the TAC shall be convened when at least two-thirds of the members of

the TAC have confirmed their participation for the suggested date. c) Extraordinary sessions of the TAC may be convened if half of its members and the Chairperson

of the Governing Board give approval for such a meeting.d) Decisions at the TAC shall be taken by consensus and the Chairperson shall have the casting

vote.e) If a quorum is not reached on the day of the meeting, the members pres¬ent shall hold the

meeting. However, the decisions taken at such a meeting shall become binding only if the opinions and endorsement of the decisions have been obtained from members who were unavoidably absent at that meeting.

f) TAC may also organise special home-based consultations.

7. Sub-committeesa) To facilitate implementation of its functions, the TAC shall set up special ad-hoc sub-committees

to address specific issues of concern to the work of the TAC.

126

Annex 10: Optimal human resource requirements for efficient implementation of OP2

There is no doubt that human capital is the greatest asset of any organisation. The human variable (including education, experience, skills and competencies) affects organisational strategy and its ultimate performance. The human element is gradually gaining importance with the changing landscape of the economy and associated sectors—towards a more knowledge intense approach.41 ASARECA is therefore no exception given that to transform the agricultural sector, there is the need for intensive knowledge to inform policy, innovations, programmes and plans at various levels.

It is therefore incumbent upon ASARECA to secure, develop and maintain the most skilled human resource base to propel it to higher levels of competitiveness. The competitiveness in this sense includes being a reliable knowledge hub, serve as a think tank on various topical areas of relevance in the sub-region, and provide a potent platform for learning and reflections on how to transform the agricultural sector in the sub-region.

During the entire phase of OP1, ASARECA has maintained a lean but efficient human resource base mainly consisting of about 30 professional/technical staff and 30 support staff. The key professional staff comprises the Executive Director (1), the Deputy Executive Director (1), Programme Managers and Programme Assistants (20),42 and heads of units (10).43 To ensure delivery of the expected results, ASARECA has harnessed a critical pool of skills and competencies in agricultural sciences, economics, natural resource management, communication, financial management and procurement. These were considered to be critical in the delivery of OP1 results.

With a rapidly changing environment and the increasing demand for services from ASARECA to the general public, there is a consideration to increase the level of staffing over the life of OP2. Based on its growth path, ASARECA intends to maintain the current number of the human resource base at the minimum—60. However, an additional 25 staff may be recruited at varying engagement levels and modalities. Most will be engaged on a need basis and work packages. This approach will ensure that ASARECA remains an efficient institution that is able to deliver its mandate with a lean staff that is highly motivated. The table below depicts the total staff expected to serve at ASARECA based on the current arrangement (2-year contracts), need basis, or on work-package basis.

41 See Hitt MA, Biermant L, Shimizu K and Kochhar R. 2001. Academy of Management Journal 44(1): 13–28. 42 Staple Crops, High Value Non-Staple Crops, Livestock and Fisheries, Agro-biodiversity and biotechnology, Natural Resource Management and

Biodiversity, Policy Analysis and Advocacy, Knowledge Management and Up-scaling, and Eastern Africa Agricultural Productivity Programme.43 Finance, Human Resource and Administration, Internal Audit, Contracting and Procurement, Information, Communication & PR, Gender

Mainstreaming, Information Technology, Environment and Social Safeguards.

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Table showing human resource requirements for the implementation of OP2Office Position Number of personnel

Current/OP1 OP21 Executive Director's office Executive Director 1 1 Resource Mobilisation Officer - 1 Technical Assistant - 1 Executive Assistant 1 1 Office Assistant/Messenger 1 1 Internal Audit Internal Auditor 1 1 Assistant Internal Auditor - 12 Deputy Executive Direc-

tor's OfficeDeputy Executive Director 1 1

Environmental & Social Safeguards Specialist 1 1 Assistant ESS Specialist - 1 Programme Assistant 1 1 Administrative Asst/Secretary 1 1 Office Assistant/Messenger 1 13 Programmes Staple Crops Programme Manager 1 1 Programme Assistant 1 1 Programme Officer (Breeding) - 1 Administrative Assistant 1 1

High Value Non-Staple Programme Manager 1 1 Programme Assistant 1 1 Administrative Assistant (shared) 1 1Livestock & Fisheries Programme Manager 1 1 Programme Assistant 1 1 Programme Officer (Fisheries) - 1Agro-biodiversity & Biotech-nology

Programme Manager 1 1

Programme Assistant 1 1 Programme Officer—Plant Genetic Resources - 1 Administrative Assistant (shared) 1 1

Natural Resource Manage-ment


Programme Officer—Soil Science - 1

Programme Assistant—Irrigation Engineer - 1

Policy Analysis & Advocacy Programme Manager 1 1 Programme Assistant 1 1 Programme Officer—Advocacy - 1 Administrative Assistant 1 1

Knowledge Management & Upscaling


Programme Assistant 1 1 Current /OP1 OP2 Programme Officer—Business Development - 1

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Office Position Number of personnelCurrent/OP1 OP2

EAAPP Programme Manager 1 1 Administrative Assistant - 1

4 Technical Units Monitoring & Evaluation Senior Technical Officer 1 1 Programme Assistant 1 1 Database Administrator - 1 Partnership & Capacity

DevelopmentUnit Head 1 1

Programme Assistant 1 1 Training Officer - 1Gender Mainstreaming Gender Expert 1 1 Assistant Gender Expert 1 1Information & Communica-tion

Head, Information and Communications 1 1

Publication Officer—Corporate 1 1 Technical Communication Officer/Science

Writer- 1

PRO Public Relations Officer - 1 Information Assistant-BA/BSc BLIS - 1 Bilingual Translation Officer—BA/BSc - 1Information Technology Head of ICT 1 1

MIS/Data Base Officer - 1Web/Info-Master (PS/6A-1) 1 1Systems Administrator, BA - 1ICT Support officer - BA/BSc - 1

5 Financial Management Unit Head of Finance 1 1 Senior Accountant 1 1 Accountant 2 2 Assistant Accountant 1 1 Accounts Assistants 2 2 Accountant—year 2 - 2 Accounts Assistant - year 1 - 16 Administration & Human

ResourcesHead of Administration & Human Resources 1 1

Senior Administrative and Personnel Officer 1 1 Senior Administrative Assistant 1 1 Office Assistant/Receptionist 1 1 Drivers 3 3 Office Assistant/Messengers 5 5 Gardeners 2 27 Procurement & Contract-

ing UnitProcurement Officer 1 1

Procurement Assistant 1 1 Totals 60 84

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Annex 11: ASARECA OP2 core functions profiles

Executive Director’s OfficeASARECA is headed by the Executive Director (ED) who is the Chief Executive Officer. The ED is responsible for implementation of the regional strategic plan; executing board decisions and providing leadership and management to accomplish the ASARECA mission; ensuring that there is strict overall administrative coordination, financial management and integrated research for development programmes.

The ED’s office manages the staff, programmes, finances and assets of the Association according to the procedures approved by the Board of Directors. The ED leads in resource mobilisation for both core and operational needs of ASARECA and represents the Association in different fora as its Chief Accounting Officer and legal representative as delegated by the Board.

The ED’ office also manages institutional performance within the agreed framework of the ASARECA strategic plan, operational plan and annual work plans and budget to ensure achievement at the team and individual levels. The ED promotes existing and new strategic partnerships with development partners, regional organisations (AU, FARA), sub-regional organisations (COMESA, IGAD, East African Community, Eastern Africa Farmers Federation, RUFORUM, and international and national research and development institutions), through advocacy, participation in meetings, development of joint proposals, sharing of progress and information, exchange of experience and resource mobilisation.

The ED’s office further manages the relations of the Association with key stakeholders within and outside the sub-region, especially the national agricultural research system, the facilitating agencies and donors. The ED also guides and coordinates the preparation and review of the strategic plan, operational plan, annual work plans and financial statements of the Association for presentation and approval by the Board of Directors. The ED’s office also prepares an annual performance report against the Board approved corporate plans setting out the extent to which the office has achieved the target results in the annual work plan and wider operational and strategic plans.

The Deputy Executive Director’s officeThe deputy executive director’s office is headed by the Deputy Executive Director (DED) who is responsible for leading and coordinating the technical programme arm of the ASARECA Secretariat which entails planning, coordinating, implementing, monitoring and evaluating regional agricultural research for development initiatives. The head of this office deputises the office of the Executive Director. The office provides leadership to and coordinates the day-to-day management of the programmes, which entails programme coordination, including managing the regional programmes, projects and initiatives. The office head also represents the Executive Director in regional and international fora.

The DED’s office leads and contributes to the development of strategic initiatives for resource mobilisation efforts, and participates in specific resource mobilisation activities, including developing investor relations. The office contributes to the development and monitoring of the ASARECA vision, goals and strategies for research and development and ensures that targeted impacts are achieved. This entails contributing to development of the vision, goals and strategies of programmes and projects for research and development; assisting in the development of programme operational plans and ensuring that agreed targets are met.

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The office contributes to and provides guidance on the development and institutionalisation of policies, procedures, processes and infrastructure (databases, information systems etc) for ASARECA. The office provides leadership in the planning and coordination of overall research development activities across the programmes, encouraging and ensuring the coordination and alignment of goals, strategies and activities among the programmes and projects. The office coordinates and manages the integrated research and development agenda of the ASARECA programmes and the Competitive Grants System (CGS) and ensures that their activities are aligned to the strategic goals and objectives of ASARECA. A key part of this responsibility involves ensuring that the vision, goals and strategies of ASARECA are well understood by internal and external stakeholders.

Programme Management unitsThe Programme Management units are headed by managers and assisted by either programme officers or programme assistants. The units provide intellectual leadership in the establishment of ASARECA regional research portfolio and build NARES capacity for research, extension and education. The units develop the strategies by identifying the thematic and strategic research priority areas, mobilising and building strategic alliances and partnerships to enable ASARECA to achieve its goals and objectives. These management units also mobilise resources for the implementation of the strategic areas as well as providing strategic planning, leadership and management of research, capacity building and networking aimed at facilitating learning for innovation and scaling-up of technologies for greater impact.

Partnership and Capacity Development UnitThe PCD unit is responsible for initiating and developing strategic partnerships and managing the capacity development initiatives of ASARECA. This includes developing policies and approaches for partnerships and capacity building. The partnerships include linkages with ASARECA development partners; linkages with the AU-NEPAD Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) implementation agencies and partners such as FARA and the other regional and sub-regional organisations; linkages with regional economic communities (RECs) especially COMESA and the ECA; and linkages with current and potential programme implementation partners of ASARECA. The position continuously identifies the capacity development needs of the NARES of the 11 ASARECA member countries and the Secretariat, and develops and implements projects and programmes to address such needs.

Communication and Public RelationsThe Communication and PR Unit ensures that the Secretariat manages knowledge and communicates better as an institution through proper systems, structures, applications, tools and methods. The unit is also required to provide leadership to the Secretariat with regard to information management, coordinate the Secretariat’s public relations activities and handle internal and external communications. The unit provides strategic planning, development, evaluation and coordination of the information and communication systems for the Secretariat and develops the communication strategy in line with the Secretariat’s strategic plan and breaks it down into activities to be carried out during the year in order of priority and budgets for the implementation.

Information and Technology Unit (IT)The Information and Technology Unit oversees the effective and efficient operations of the organisation’s technological resources and infrastructure. The unit is required to design, plan, direct

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and coordinate all operational activities together with the provision of IT and Information Systems (IS) based solutions that support ASARECA activities. The unit drives, implements and manages the strategy for IT and IS developments that provide ongoing cost-effective solutions for all aspects of ASARECA activities and ensures appropriate IT capacity to adequately support current and projected activities.

Gender Mainstreaming UnitThe Gender Unit oversees implementation of the ASARECA gender mainstreaming strategy and ‘champions’ the process in ASARECA. The unit supports the strengthening of gender mainstreaming in ASARECA programmes and projects which includes use of gender criteria in project proposals, reporting and evaluation, and revision of the gender criteria where appropriate. The unit develops, proposes and undertakes gender mainstreaming initiatives in the region including providing technical support towards the development of a gender strategy in each of the NARIs in the 11 ASARECA countries.

The unit supports ASARECA and its partners to formulate gender-responsive policies to enhance gender mainstreaming in agricultural research. It identifies and builds capacity of gender quality assurance teams at appropriate levels in each NARES of ASARECA. It coordinates and maintains a close working relationship and strong communication channels with ASARECA stakeholders. It serves as the ASARECA contact point and partner with social and gender policy experts in the ECA region and consequently builds a network for addressing issues of regional priority in relation to gender. It also identifies individuals who can be champions of change in partner organisations to enhance institutional commitment at ASARECA.

Office of Internal AuditThe Office of Internal Audit directs and coordinates audit work on the various operating systems of the Secretariat. It ensures that policies and procedures are followed, standards met, resources used economically and institutional objectives attained in carrying out transactions. The unit reviews internal controls in the operating systems and sections of the Secretariat. It compiles a quarterly report with all findings and presents it to the audit committee of the ASARECA Board of Directors. It reviews the risk profiles developed by the different units and departments and ensures that the identified risks are controlled to acceptable levels. The unit interfaces with sub-grantees to check compliance with sub-grant agreements, adequacy on internal controls and that the objectives are being achieved.

Procurement and Contracting UnitThe unit is responsible for developing procurement strategies, policy guidelines, training strategies and oversight of procurement operations that will deliver maximum cost effectiveness. It leads and provides guidance on optimal use of resources in the procurement of goods, works and services. The unit manages preparation and monitoring of contracts. It handles the technical, commercial and legal aspects of procurement at all stages of the programme implementation. It develops procedures and guidelines for the implementation of cost effective procurement systems and procedures. It plans for and coordinates procurement and disposal activities in line with ASARECA regulations.

The unit also submits procurement bid documents, evaluation reports and draft contracts to the procurement committee for approval. It monitors procurement activities to ensure that deliveries

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meet established specifications or terms of reference. It also assesses the professional capacity of sub-grantees, leads and supports negotiations of contracts and ensures compliance with ASARECA regulations, local laws and development partners’ requirements. It maintains relationships with service providers and all stakeholders by keeping them informed, responding to needs and developing solutions.

Environmental and Social Safeguards OfficeThe Office provides operational support to ASARECA management and support units and principal investigators on meeting the compliance requirements of the environmental and social safeguards for all project activities financed by the ASARECA MDTF. The Office is expected to use and strengthen the country systems in environmental and social assessments by providing technical comments and by participating in the process of preparing environmental and social management plans for approved projects. The office also monitors implementation of the mitigation measures identified in the plan and provides training in environmental and social issues to sub-grantees as part of the capacity-building initiatives.

The Office of Human Resources and AdministrationThe Office of HR & Administration manages the human resource and administration activities of ASARECA, providing guidance and support with regard to all human resource and administration activities. The office coordinates and provides guidance to other units in strategic planning for human resources as well as managing and implementing the HR & Administration policies and procedures in line with local regulations, best practices and the ASARECA operational manual.

The Office also manages the Administration Unit team, liaising with the heads of programmes and units to agree on their service expectations and monitor the effectiveness of services provided including materials receipts, storage and issuance process as well as managing all travel arrangements for ASARECA staff and partners.

Finance UnitThe Finance Unit leads the financial management procedures of ASARECA in line with the ASARECA strategic plan and operational plan. This involves, in collaboration with the various ASARECA management offices developing and monitoring budgets, keeping accurate financial records and ensuring accountability at all levels, creating efficient financial service delivery, controlling expenditure and revenue, and periodic financial reporting. Other responsibilities include instituting and monitoring internal controls, ensuring compliance with statutory reporting and monitoring the Association’s performance through periodic financial reporting to management, Board of Directors, donors and stakeholders.

The finance office manages the budget preparation process in collaboration with the various management offices in ASARECA. It prepares the Secretariat operational budgets and presents them to the ED for review as well as reviewing and rationalisation in line with the ASARECA operational plan. The office also prepares and submits donor financial accountability reports, and leads in the preparation and submission of the ASARECA annual financial report through the EDs office to the Board of Directors, development partners and the General Assembly.

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M&E and Learning UnitThe M&E and Learning Unit’s role is to design and coordinate the performance management plan for ASARECA for purposes of accountability and resource mobilisation. It manages the performance management plan in liaison with the programme management units and other heads of units. It also provides leadership, and technical and analytical support to the M&E personnel in ASARECA-funded projects and stakeholders like the NARIs in development of plans, procedures and reporting processes. The unit manages and promotes the utilisation of the ASARECA M&E system as an integral part of the research for development process of the programmes and the NARES. It assesses existing capacities in M&E, identifies and prioritises training needs and conducts training for capacity building and methodological support as well as plans and executes DP technical reporting processes in liaison with DP representatives and internal staff.

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Annex 12: SWOT and situation analysis of ASARECA operations

1. This aims to analyse the issues associated with the operation and performance of ASARECA and determine what the current situation is in terms of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT).

2. In doing this, the aim was to identify key issues that needed to be addressed to improve performance, and existing features which could be used to develop ASARECA further under OP2.

3. A synthesis of the work and discussions is shown inBoxes 1, 2, 3 and 4 below.

Box 1: ASARECA strengths

As an SRO1. Fairly mature organisation, with considerable goodwill from partners and stakeholders and good

linkages, support and trust from RECs (COMESA, EAC) and national partners; high levels of credibility and support from development partners.

2. Strong convening role with ability to bring various stakeholders together [NARS, IARCS, private sector, NGOs, extension, farmer organisations, universities].

3. Good record of financial accountability with functional M&E systems and gender mainstreaming.4. Consultative approach at every stage of activity with a sub-regional agenda derived from sub-

regional priorities giving ASARECA legitimacy and relevance.5. A clear organisational structure with governance, management and processes that are well

documented and in place.

What we do—activities and programmes6. Programmes are individually well structured with strategies and priorities. 7. The importance of gender mainstreaming in ARD is recognised. 8. Working in partnerships with stakeholders through networks and networking and specialised/

strategic institutions on specific strategic themes/areas using a consultative approach at every stage.

9. Numerous demand-driven outputs have been generated—technologies, innovations and information to address sub-regional issues.

10. Capacity strengthening of people and organisations.11. ASARECA dealing with basic livelihoods commodities.

People (not just the Secretariat)12. Strong pool of human resources—diversity in skills that can work together, and a Secretariat that

comprises motivated, well qualified staff. 13. Diversity—culture and background of ASARECA and the Secretariat.14. Recruitment process provides equal opportunity for all.

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Box 2: ASARECA weaknesses

As an SRO1. ASARECA is under-represented in sub-regional agriculture-related fora—COMESA ministerial

meetings, African Union agricultural fora. 2. Language barrier is not well addressed (French and Arabic).3. Current implementation of ASARECA processes does not support integrated approaches, and

programmes tend to operate in isolation with little inter-programme implementation or interaction; linkages/interactions between the different Secretariat structures is not institutionalised.

4. ASARECA is almost completely dependent on development partner funding.5. Low public profile and weak sense of corporate identity/branding.

Activities6. Not all the key players in agriculture in the sub-region are consulted or involved in programmes.7. Excessive focus on conducting research to the extent that there is a limited uptake of outputs

with insufficient emphasis on the measuring of outcomes of the technologies, innovations and information generated.

8. Gender mainstreaming is not fully institutionalised.

People9. Private sector and extension engagement is still minimal.10. Skills set at the Secretariat too focused on agricultural research with lack of specific capacity to

consider the complete value chain.11. Inadequate in-service training programme/support to Secretariat staff.12. Skills within the NARS highly variable with not all possessing the necessary training or competencies

to respond in a sub-regional context.

Structures and processes13. BoD requires strengthening in corporate skills to allow them to fulfil their mandate and address

issues of oversight of ASARECA as an organisation.14. Lack of formal structures and processes prevents full engagement of the Board of Directors with

the Secretariat and other stakeholders, restricting their ability to ensure quality and alignment with wider policy and political environment.

15. ASARECA Secretariat management style is inflexible with sub-optimal communication and interaction between staff.

16. Inadequate utilisation of IT within the organisation as a whole as well as at the Secretariat.17. ASARECA has no formal system in operation to support and encourage young scientists/

stakeholders.

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Box 3: ASARECA opportunities

Political1. Supportive global, continental, regional and sub-regional policies on agriculture and trade such as

CAADP, and support from the RECs (EAC and COMESA); for example, EAC (five countries) is harmonising various policies.

Economic2. COMESA is a big trading block and a partner of ASARECA.3. Sub-regional integration of the different RECs (EAC, COMESA, SADC).4. Increasing funding envelope for agriculture and agricultural development within the sub-region and

region, and also internationally.5. Emerging new areas of economic activities (mining, oil, gas)—spillover on agriculture development.

Social6. Unilateral gender mainstreaming at national level.7. Increasing levels of literacy to support communication of new technologies.8. More opportunities for women in higher education, leading to greater involvement of women in

agricultural research for development.9. Growing middle class in the sub-region and region, creating new markets for produce.

Technology10. ICTs—internet more accessible, convergence of mobile telephony and the internet.11. Advances in biotechnology.12. Emerging sub-regional challenges in agricultural development for ASARECA to engage with.13. Extensive human resource capacity in different sectors within the sub-region which can be

mobilised to support agricultural development.

Box 4: ASARECA threats

Political1. Civil strife/hostility among and within member countries.2. Political pressure from influential stakeholders to politicise the organisation.3. National bureaucratic restrictions imposed on NARI scientists.

Economy4. Declining funding from donors because of global economic challenges. 5. Inflation and slow economic growth in the sub-region.6. Emerging areas of economic activity (mining, oil, gas) reducing funding available for agriculture

development.

Social7. Population growth rate.8. More youth, unemployed and not interested in agriculture.9. The farming and research community is aged.10. Growing threat to equal opportunity.

Environment11. Climate change.12. Natural resource degradation.13. Loss of diversity in germplasm.

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The following are mechanisms and approaches to address outstanding issues and constraints relating to organisational structures and the formal and informal policies governing ASARECA operations.

Table 1: Analysis of structural and process strengthsStrengths and their cause and/or consequence How can it be used?1. Programmes have high degree of independence in

operationalising activities as a result of delegation by senior management.

Strengthen by building managerial skills to further improve performance.

2. Work with specialised/strategic institutions on specific strategic themes/areas which builds synergy, adds value, is cheaper, faster and increases ownership.

Continue to support and institutionalise as a key approach of ASARECA.

3. Secretariat has highly qualified staff because ASARE-CA is an attractive, reputable organisation one wants to be associated with.

Increase ASARECA visibility by doing more advocacy and ensure systems and structures continue to be attractive to attract qualified staff.

4. Good systems and procedures embedded in the Operational Manual which creates confidence, predict-ability, and minimises risks.

ASARECA should promote itself and demonstrate good value for money.

5. High donor support due to confidence in ASARECA capacity and performance.

Leverage more funds and leadership to keep supporting it.

6. Has capacity to generate improved technologies be-cause projects work with appropriate partnerships.

Nurture partnerships and institutionalise the approach.

7. Operates sub-regionally addressing issues of sub-re-gional nature because ASARECA has a specific niche

ASARECA programmes remain regional in nature.

8. ASARECA is regionally owned by NARES and has the opportunity of working directly with agriculture sector addressing issues of regional priorities.

Nurture regional approach and institutionalise.

9. Supports capacity building which enhances technology generation and the sustainability of ASARECA.

Promote involvement of graduate students (MSc + PhD) students in technology generation.Promote staff skills building.

10. Good linkages with RECs (COMESA, EAC) which provides platform for policy harmonisation at regional level for trade promotion and material exchange.

Enhance visibility of ASARECA.

11. Convening role – with the ability to bring various stakeholders together (NARES, IARCs, private sector, NGOs, extension, farmer organisations, universities) which ensures regional priorities are addressed and enhances image of ASARECA.

As a vehicle to promote regional approaches (priorities, constraints, opportunities) and the facilitation of efficiency at regional level and avoid duplication.

12. Recognises the importance of gender mainstreaming in ARD which enhances the understanding of socio-economic issues that ARD can positively impact on them and gives ARD undertakings a human face.

Institutionalise gender considerations into ASARECA operations.

Table 2: Analysis of structural and process weaknessesWeaknesses and their cause and/or consequence How can it be addressed?1. Current implementation of ASARECA processes does

not support integrated approaches, and programmes tend to operate in isolation with little inter-programme implementation or interaction; linkages/interactions between the different Secretariat structures is not in-stitutionalised. This limits the exploitation of synergies, discourages collaboration and hinders organisational effectiveness. It also has a demoralising effect and suppresses creativity and initiative.

• Better coordination is required from senior manage-ment.

• A culture change supported by leadership is required with carefully applied change management.

2. Poor and inadequate internal communication and sub-optimal leadership/management skills which leads to poor planning and encourages rumour mongering, lack of direction and an incoherent approach. This results in a lack of direction.

• Change in the style of management and leadership.

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Weaknesses and their cause and/or consequence How can it be addressed?3. Low exploitation of information technology which

reduces efficiency and visibility and affects organisa-tional positioning and influence.

• Get the right skills in IT. • Support and encourage outward-looking management

and improved diplomatic and advocacy efforts.4. Lack of formal structures and processes prevents full

engagement of the BoD with the Secretariat and other stakeholders restricting their ability to ensure quality and alignment with wider policy and political environ-ment. This leads to compromised decision making and reduces the quality of the BoD decisions.

• Revisit board composition to balance NARI DGs and other stakeholders and balance and develop the skills of the BoD members.

5. Poor institutional arrangements which result in inap-propriate job titles and remuneration which especially demoralises national staff and creates a wide gap between regional and national staff benefits

• Review job titles and the wide gap between regional and national staff benefits.

6. ASARECA has the potential to become a regional hub of knowledge and information as it has qualified staff and over the years has generated enormous amounts of information; however, this potential has not been realised.

• Identify the reasons why this potential has not been realised.

• Strengthen infrastructure and human capacity.• Address other issues.

Table 3: Analysis of opportunities (process, structural and technical)Opportunity How can it be used?1. Supportive global, continental, regional and sub-

regional policies on agriculture and trade, including harmonisation of policies by EAC, the CAADP and the position of ASARECA in COMESA. The regional integration of RECs (EAC, SADC, COMESA) also provides the same type of opportunity.

• More investment in agricultural research and develop-ment.

• Can be used to enhance spillovers of research outputs —facilitate smooth movement of material germplasm, seeds, products.

• Can enhance trans-boundary implementation of pro-jects (NRM, livestock, policies).

• Engage with the technical committees to influence decisions and investment priorities.

• Initiate processes for ASARECA to be granted status at high level meetings.

• Strengthen relationship with RECs (and other organi-sations e.g. FARA, AU).

2. A wide constituency of members. • Use it to form strategic partnerships, networking—to deal with areas where we have limited expertise.

3. ICTs – Internet more accessible, convergence of mo-bile telephony and the internet.

• Improve knowledge management at all levels and all categories of stakeholders.

• Use the technology to advance agriculture at the farm level (by gender and across socio-economic ladders).

• Development of databases.• Improve communication with partners and linkages

with value chain actors.• Facilitate dissemination of technology packages. • Use modelling to develop early warning systems.• Facilitate evidence-based decision making.

4. Advances in biotechnology. • Use them to quickly develop technologies to address the emerging challenges both abiotic and biotic (cli-mate change, pests and diseases, population explo-sion).

• Accelerate technology development in areas such as: o Plant and livestock breedingo Disease diagnostics, control and drug developmento Conservation, regeneration of plant and animal

genetic resourceso Nanotechnologyo Livestock vaccine development

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Opportunity How can it be used?5. Gender mainstreaming at national level. • Use it to facilitate gender mainstreaming in projects for

holistic and sustainable agricultural development.• Generate information on evidence of contribution of

gender to successful project implementation to support institutionalisation of gender in ASARECA.

• Utilise national good will to support the design and implementation of projects with a positive impact on different gender groups.

• Harness capacity building for ASARECA from the national institutions.

6. Increasing levels of literacy. • Use to support communication and dissemination ef-forts, particularly through ICTs.

7. Sub-regional challenges for ASARECA to engage with. • Encourage engagement of stakeholders in partner-ships to address these issues.

• Facilitate generation of technologies and innovations targeted at specific challenges.

8. Extensive human resource capacity in different sectors within the sub-region which can be mobilised to sup-port agricultural development.

• Identification and engagement of specialised skills across the region to develop and implement projects.

• Development of partnerships and a shared vision.

9. More opportunities for women in higher education. • Use it to get more women engaged in research and development, especially as women’s contribution to agriculture is high.

10. Growing middle class in the region. • They form a demand for agricultural products. They should be included as key players in the value chains.

Table 4: Analysis of threats [process, structural and technical]THREATS How can it be addressed?1. Political pressure from influential stakeholders to

politicise the organisation and the growing influence of donors through micro-management of ASARECA programmes.

• Conflict of interest—devise mechanisms for working around them including a clear and consultative opera-tional plan.

2. Conflicts occurring within and between the countries of the sub-region.

• Not much can be done—be mindful and see how to work around it.

3. Global recession and economic challenges resulting in declining funding from donors—(USA, Euro zone, etc). This is exacerbated by sub-regional economic inflation and slow growth.

• Have an aggressive and humanitarian fund-raising/resource mobilisation strategy.

• Widening the donor base (private donors, etc).

4. Emerging new areas of economic activities (mining, oil, gas)—agricultural development can easily be for-gotten.

• Demonstrate how agriculture is making a difference, and its potential to contribute to national GDPs.

5. Youth and unemployed not interested in agriculture, with an aging population in the farming community.

• Engage with organisations that deal with youth and other gender categories especially financing pro-grammes (e.g. youth development fund), incentives.

• Market the profitability of agricultural enterprise.• Market linkages inbuilt into projects targeted at the

youth.• Stress gender analysis in the projects.

6. Growing threat to equal opportunity. • Raise consciousness at all levels about addressing equal opportunity issues.

7. Changes in the physical environment including climate change, natural resource degradation and loss of diversity in germplasm.

• Applying biotechnology.• NRM mitigation approaches.• Awareness building.

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Annex 13: Three funding scenarios for OP2

High Budget Level

Cost Categories

2014US$

2015US$

2016US$

2017US$

2018US$

Total - HIGHUS$

I) Research Themes

Eco-Systems 4,810,000 8,912,000 9,357,250 9,376,250 8,639,814 41,095,314 23%Projects 4,200,000 7,980,000 8,379,000 8,379,000 7,854,314 36,792,314

Support activities 350,000 665,000 698,250 698,250 477,500 2,889,000Operations (Salaries) 250,000 262,000 275,000 289,000 303,000 1,379,000Equipments 10,000 5,000 5,000 10,000 5,000 35,000

Markets & Market Linkages 6,710,000 12,437,000 12,602,500 12,627,013 11,980,921 56,357,433 31%Projects 6,000,000 11,400,000 11,514,000 11,514,000 11,086,870 51,514,870Support activities 350,000 665,000 698,250 698,250 464,500 2,876,000Operations (Salaries) 350,000 367,000 385,250 404,763 424,551 1,931,563Equipments 10,000 5,000 5,000 10,000 5,000 35,000

Sustainable Agriculture 5,080,000 9,284,000 9,742,700 9,769,700 9,117,523 42,993,923 24%Projects 4,200,000 7,980,000 8,379,000 8,379,000 7,855,923 36,793,923Support activities 460,000 874,000 917,700 917,700 770,600 3,940,000Operations (Salaries) 400,000 420,000 441,000 463,000 486,000 2,210,000Equipments 20,000 10,000 5,000 10,000 5,000 50,000

Sub-Total Research Themes 16,600,000 30,633,000 31,702,450 31,772,963 29,738,258 140,446,670 78%

II) Technical ServicesDED-P Office 1,115,000 1,152,000 1,190,500 1,227,519 1,270,076 5,955,094 3%


Monitoring and Evauation 703,000 723,250 747,656 767,223 792,953 3,734,082 2%Support activities 550,000 563,750 577,656 592,223 606,953 2,890,582Operations (Salaries) 150,000 157,500 165,000 173,000 181,000 826,500Equipments 3,000 2,000 5,000 2,000 5,000 17,000

Partnerships & Capacity Dev’t 1,366,000 2,451,000 3,602,000 3,608,000 3,017,493 14,044,493 8%Support activities 1,200,000 2,280,000 3,420,000 3,420,000 2,818,493 13,138,493Operations (Salaries) 161,000 169,000 177,000 186,000 194,000 887,000Equipments 5,000 2,000 5,000 2,000 5,000 19,000

Information Technology 340,000 357,000 386,000 381,000 406,000 1,870,000 1%Support activities 100,000 102,000 105,000 108,000 111,000 526,000Operations (Salaries) 210,000 220,000 231,000 243,000 255,000 1,159,000Equipments 30,000 35,000 50,000 30,000 40,000 185,000

Sub-Total Technical Servcies 3,524,000 4,683,250 5,926,156 5,983,742 5,486,522 25,603,669 14%

III) Management & AdministrationExecutive Director’s Office 437,000 469,000 481,000 505,000 528,000 2,420,000 1%

Operations (Salaries) 272,000 286,000 300,000 315,000 330,000 1,503,000Technical support 60,000 63,000 66,000 69,000 72,000 330,000Internal Audit 100,000 105,000 110,000 115,000 121,000 551,000Equipments 5,000 15,000 5,000 6,000 5,000 36,000

141

Annexes


High Budget Level

Cost Categories

2014US$

2015US$

2016US$

2017US$

2018US$

Total - HIGHUS$

Financial Management 335,000 349,000 370,000 399,000 407,000 1,860,000 1%Audit services 50,000 53,000 56,000 59,000 62,000 280,000Operations (Salaries) 280,000 294,000 309,000 324,000 340,000 1,547,000Equipments 5,000 2,000 5,000 16,000 5,000 33,000

Administration & HRD 263,000 311,000 293,000 302,000 321,000 1,490,000 1%Support activitiesOperations (Salaries) 248,000 260,000 273,000 287,000 301,000 1,369,000Equipments 15,000 51,000 20,000 15,000 20,000 121,000

Communication & Public relations

605,000 629,500 661,125 692,881 727,775 3,316,282 2%

Support activitiesOperations (Salaries) 345,000 362,000 380,000 399,000 419,000 1,905,000Publication & other activities 250,000 262,500 275,125 288,881 303,775 1,380,282Equipments 10,000 5,000 6,000 5,000 5,000 31,000

Procurement & Contracting 164,000 170,000 180,000 187,000 199,000 900,000 0%Support activitiesOperations (Salaries) 159,000 167,000 175,000 184,000 193,000 878,000Equipments 5,000 3,000 5,000 3,000 6,000 22,000

Gender Mainstreaming 355,000 371,000 391,000 408,000 435,000 1,960,000 1%Support activities 200,000 210,000 220,000 231,000 246,000 1,107,000Operations (Salaries) 150,000 158,000 166,000 174,000 183,000 831,000Equipments 5,000 3,000 5,000 3,000 6,000 22,000

Sub-Total Management & Administration

2,159,000 2,299,500 2,376,125 2,493,881 2,617,775 11,946,282 7%

IV) Board of Governance & General Assembly

Board of Directors 250,000 262,000 275,000 289,000 304,000 1,380,000General Assembly 500,000 550,000 600,000 1,650,000

Sub-Total Governance 750,000 262,000 825,000 289,000 904,000 3,030,000 2%OVERALL TOTALS FOR OP2 (2014-18)

23,033,000 37,877,750 40,829,731 40,539,586 38,746,555 181,026,621 100%

142

Medium Budget LevelCost Categories

2014US$

2015US$

2016US$

2017US$

2018US$

Total - MEDIUM

US$I) Research Themes

Eco-Systems 3,510,000 6,367,000 8,091,000 8,110,000 7,662,251 33,740,251 23%Projects 3,000,000 5,700,000 7,011,000 7,011,000 6,715,251 29,437,251Support activities 250,000 400,000 800,000 800,000 639,000 2,889,000Operations (Salaries) 250,000 262,000 275,000 289,000 303,000 1,379,000Equipments 10,000 5,000 5,000 10,000 5,000 35,000




II) Technical ServicesDED-P Office 1,115,000 1,152,000 1,190,500 1,227,519 1,270,076 5,955,094 4%


Monitoring and Evauation 703,000 723,250 747,656 767,223 792,953 3,734,082 3%Support activities 550,000 563,750 577,656 592,223 606,953 2,890,582Operations (Salaries) 150,000 157,500 165,000 173,000 181,000 826,500Equipments 3,000 2,000 5,000 2,000 5,000 17,000

Partnerships & Capacity Development

2,666,000 2,733,500 2,807,938 2,879,336 2,957,719 14,044,493 9%

Support activities 2,500,000 2,562,500 2,625,938 2,691,336 2,758,719 13,138,493Operations (Salaries) 161,000 169,000 177,000 186,000 194,000 887,000Equipments 5,000 2,000 5,000 2,000 5,000 19,000

Information Technology 340,000 357,000 386,000 381,000 406,000 1,870,000 1%Support activities 100,000 102,000 105,000 108,000 111,000 526,000Operations (Salaries) 210,000 220,000 231,000 243,000 255,000 1,159,000Equipments 30,000 35,000 50,000 30,000 40,000 185,000




143

Annexes



2014US$

2015US$

2016US$

2017US$

2018US$

Total - MEDIUM

US$Financial Management 335,000 349,000 370,000 399,000 407,000 1,860,000 1%

Audit services 50,000 53,000 56,000 59,000 62,000 280,000Operations (Salaries) 280,000 294,000 309,000 324,000 340,000 1,547,000Equipments 5,000 2,000 5,000 16,000 5,000 33,000



605,000 629,500 661,125 692,881 727,775 3,316,282 2%





2,159,000 2,299,500 2,376,125 2,493,881 2,617,775 11,946,282 8%




18,723,000 28,096,250 34,180,469 33,955,722 32,964,601 147,920,041 100%

144


2014US$

2015US$

2016US$

2017US$

2018US$

Total - MEDIUM

US$Financial Management 335,000 349,000 370,000 399,000 407,000 1,860,000 1%

Audit services 50,000 53,000 56,000 59,000 62,000 280,000Operations (Salaries) 280,000 294,000 309,000 324,000 340,000 1,547,000Equipments 5,000 2,000 5,000 16,000 5,000 33,000



605,000 629,500 661,125 692,881 727,775 3,316,282 2%





2,159,000 2,299,500 2,376,125 2,493,881 2,617,775 11,946,282 8%




18,723,000 28,096,250 34,180,469 33,955,722 32,964,601 147,920,041 100%

145

Low Budget LevelCost Categories

2014US$

2015US$

2016US$

2017US$

2018US$

Total - LOWUS$

I) Research ThemesEco-Systems 2,333,786 4,317,691 4,543,388 4,598,708 3,993,729 19,787,302 22%

Projects 1,807,120 3,614,240 3,794,952 3,794,952 3,252,816 16,264,081Support activities 177,353 336,970 363,927 400,320 317,603 1,596,173Operations (Salaries) 343,363 360,531 378,558 397,486 417,360 1,897,299Equipments 5,950 5,950 5,950 5,950 5,950 29,750




II) Technical ServicesDED-P Office 551,989 800,941 855,650 871,495 873,535 3,953,610 4%


Monitoring and Evauation 336,188 515,287 551,800 559,638 557,167 2,520,080 3%Support activities 191,100 363,089 392,136 392,136 381,435 1,719,896Operations (Salaries) 142,198 149,308 156,773 164,612 172,843 785,734

Partnerships & Capacity Dev’t 1,019,026 1,808,127 1,947,882 1,955,996 1,915,874 8,646,904 10%Support activities 868,600 1,650,341 1,782,368 1,782,368 1,733,726 7,817,403Operations (Salaries) 147,196 154,556 162,284 170,398 178,918 813,351Equipments 3,230 3,230 3,230 3,230 3,230 16,150

Information Technology 243,163 283,307 297,882 307,636 315,930 1,447,920 2%Support activities 34,774 66,071 71,357 71,357 69,410 312,970Operations (Salaries) 176,939 185,786 195,075 204,829 215,070 977,700Equipments 31,450 31,450 31,450 31,450 31,450 157,250




Annexes


Low Budget LevelCost Categories

2014US$

2015US$

2016US$

2017US$

2018US$

Total - LOWUS$

Financial Management 291,253 305,536 322,982 341,545 367,231 1,628,548 2%Audit services 46,667 49,000 53,900 59,290 71,143 280,000Operations (Salaries) 238,977 250,926 263,472 276,645 290,478 1,320,498Equipments 5,610 5,610 5,610 5,610 5,610 28,050

Administration & HRD 217,070 226,895 237,211 248,043 259,417 1,188,637 1%Support activities - - - - - -Operations (Salaries) 196,500 206,325 216,641 227,473 238,847 1,085,787Equipments 20,570 20,570 20,570 20,570 20,570 102,850


298,783 313,458 336,054 360,498 404,331 1,713,123 2%

Support activities - - - - - -Operations (Salaries) 156,635 164,466 172,690 181,324 190,390 865,505Publication & other activities 136,878 143,722 158,094 173,903 208,670 821,268Equipments 5,270 5,270 5,270 5,270 5,270 26,350

Procurement & Contracting 118,440 124,175 130,197 136,520 143,159 652,490 1%Support activities - - - - - -Operations (Salaries) 114,700 120,435 126,457 132,780 139,419 633,790Equipments 3,740 3,740 3,740 3,740 3,740 18,700

Gender Mainstreaming 230,894 242,252 259,941 279,091 313,768 1,325,947 1%Support activities 109,778 115,266 126,793 139,472 167,356 658,665Operations (Salaries) 117,377 123,246 129,408 135,878 142,672 648,582

Equipments 3,740 3,740 3,740 3,740 3,740 18,700Sub-Total Management & Administration

1,529,908 1,604,151 1,703,321 1,809,572 1,974,770 8,621,722 10%


Board of Directors 117,300 123,165 135,482 149,030 178,824 703,800General Assembly 163,625 171,806 188,987 207,886 249,446 981,750


11,412,538 19,149,039 20,249,370 20,522,795 18,943,583 90,277,325 100%

146


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ASARECA Operational Plan 2014 2018asareca/sites/default... · The 11 member countries cover an area of 8.5 million km2 and host a population of more than 350 million people, most

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