High Level Policy Dialogue Roadmap for a EU-AU partnership in Agricultural Research and Innovation : current development and next steps

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Research and Innovation

Roadmap proposal towards aEU-Africa Research & Innovation

Partnership on food and nutrition security and sustainable agriculture

By Mohammed Jeenah and Philippe Petithuguenin, on behalf of all the 10 members of the Expert Working Group appointed by the EU-Africa HLPD Bureau: Ibrahim RM Benesi, Joachim von Braun, Johnson A Ekpere, Mohammed Jeenah, Luís Goulão, Daniel Nkoola Kisauzi, Helena Gómez

Macpherson, Philippe Petithuguenin, Paco Sereme and Jeff Waage.


• The process: constitution of the EWG, ToR, Modus operandi • The context• The proposal: What and How• Inputs from the external consultation• To conclude: what is new with this proposal !

Summary of presentation


• Constitution of the EWG and ToR set by the HLPD Bureau• First face-to face meeting in Brussels, 29 - 30 April 2014• 2nd ftof meeting, Addis Ababa, 6 – 8 October 2014• 3rd ftof meeting, London, 5 – 6 March 2015

with regular virtual meetings in between and abundant flow of

Process

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Role of science, technology and innovation Food security, nutrition and sustainable agriculture

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Context (1/3)

Roadmap ToR set by the EU-Africa High Level Policy Dialogue on STILong term Jointly funded and Co-owned R&I Partnership (R&IP)

Prompted by agriculture to sustainably respond Level of global hunger, 800 mil going hungry Expanding nutritional imbalances Under nutrition and obesityDemand of a global population 9 billion by 2050Complicating context of Climate change

Dwindling natural resources Increased input costs


• Substantial convergence − European Common Agricultural Policy− Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme− Science, Technology & Innovation Strategy for Africa

• Common Policy Goals− producing more food with appropriate inputs, − enhancing income growth − promoting rural development.

Roadmap Cognisance of What Exist

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Context (2/3)


• Enhanced coordination of research relevant to FNSSA between African and European researchers

• Broader mobilisation of the STI community• Joint design of the R&I Partnership by European and African stakeholders• Direct linkage of R&I • Inclusion of the complete value chain.

Novel Elements of R&I Partnership

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Context (3/3)


• Relevance of the research to African and European priorities for FNSSA; • Capacity for joint research, based on principles of equity, and involving

comparable and complementary expertise and resources; • Expected impact of research and likelihood of uptake through an integrated

knowledge system with all stakeholders; • Scalability, or the likelihood that effective research outputs and outcomes will

have impact at national or even continental scales;• Complementarity and value for money, based on the intention that the new

investment will also up-scale existing bilateral and multilateral collaboration.

Criteria for selection of thematic priorities

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WHAT (1/6)


• Sustainable intensification• Agriculture and food systems for nutrition• Expansion and improvement of agricultural markets and trade

=> Specific research projects should be jointly identified and designed after consultation with other stakeholders

Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda

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WHAT (2/6)


• Ecological intensification approaches at lowest costs and environmental impact. • The identification, and breeding, of animals and crops to maintain/increase

productivity and resilience under conditions of limited external inputs• Research on animal and crop health, including fish, will be given due attention

at all relevant scales (from farm to international levels) • Research on appropriate use of soil, water, land and inputs management

practices, • Research on advanced informed marine spatial planning and functioning of

marine ecosystems, and aquaculture technologies • Research on organizational innovations, which will facilitate uptake of

innovations across farms and rural communities,

Sustainable intensification

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WHAT (3/6)


• Research on improved food value chains with minimal loss of nutritional value, little wastage and a high level of safety.

• Research to improve the nutritional value, through advances in breeding and biotechnological innovation,

• Understanding consumer behaviour with respect to healthy diets and nutrition Public private partnerships on research to improve the nutritional quality of foods, particularly processed foods in the marketplace.

Agriculture and food systems for nutrition

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WHAT (4/6)


• Research development of surveillance, monitoring and diagnostic systems for sanitary, phytosanitary and other food safety purposes. that will permit improved trade in agricultural commodities

• Development of the science agenda of mutually beneficial bioeconomy innovations. Example of specific scientific issues are the expansion of tradable biomass products with due consideration for food security,

• Research on reducing excessive fluctuations in food and input prices and improving resilience of food systems.

• Global Value chains and market power. Research priorities could include: the development of mechanisms for linking smallholder farmers to markets, addressing the question of how to link rural communities to markets,

Expansion and improvement of agricultural markets and trade

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WHAT (5/6)


• Creating a framework for improved coordination and added value • Supporting innovation processes allowing knowledge to be mobilized to

generate impact• Strengthening the capacities for collaboration among the African and European

R&I communities.• Understanding the social and cultural contexts of the production systems

impacting FNSSA• Research infrastructure, Innovation platforms

Cross cutting issues

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WHAT (6/6)


• Competitive calls for proposals, • Commissioned work, • Targeted facilitation mechanisms.

Flexibility and Capacity to adapt• Effectiveness of the mechanisms• Ability to evolve and to address the goals articulated by the HLPD.

Portfolio of Modalities

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HOW (1/3)


• Short term,, − Existing instruments that support the goals and aims of this road map.

• Long term − Specific platform.

Public-Public partnership– Bi continental Public-Public partnership between the EC, the AUC– Voluntary basis, European and African Governments.

Public-Private partnerships Expanded– Philanthropy– Private Companies

Mechanisms

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HOW (2/3)


Monitored Goals (see also logical framework)

• The improvement of food security in the two regions

• The development of better and healthier diets for billions of people

• The creation of jobs and new opportunities for family farmers, especially smallholders, on both continents

• The increase of diversification of agricultural systems and agribusinesses

• The opening of new markets and the development of better trade within and between both continents

• The reduction of structural dependence of African countries to food aid

Monitoring, evaluation and impact assessment

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HOW (3/3)


• In February and March 2015, an advanced draft of the roadmap was submitted to a targeted consultation of stakeholders in Europe and in Africa. Responses from 50 diverse stakeholders confirmed the relevance of the proposal.

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Stakeholder consultation (1/4)

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• “The long term perspective of the Project aiming on the development of self-supporting bi-Continental networks.”

• “To reduce fragmentation and coordinate the various national initiatives, hence promoting research impact. It should be realized however that this is highly ambitious. “

• “Ecological intensification approaches that may include research on more efficient use of external inputs and on natural resource management, crop health with the objectives to develop sustainable approaches minimizing production losses and avoiding geographical spreading of diseases.”

• “The pursued strong involvement of all stakeholder Groups (scientific community, civil Society, public sector, private sector, gender-balanced and over all income Groups) into the process.“

Examples of what they especially liked

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• “The document still has a ‘transfer of technology’ tone, despite the acknowledgment that multi-stakeholder partnerships are needed (which includes farmers.). So it’s still a ‘linear pathway’ from research to farmers, not considering the important role of local innovation and adaptation, and the role of technology users in shaping research agendas and screening solutions.”

• “The pathways being proposed (e.g. global value chains) do not seem to be very suitable for improving the livelihoods and resilience of the majority of smallholder /family farmers in Africa or Europe”

• “On science and research, one can distinguish shared interest between the two continents. Considering innovation, the difficulty is that innovation needs are very different between Europe and Africa. Innovations are more 'context‘ specific and these contexts are very different between the two continents. Europe and Africa may have more to share on how to promote innovation processes (with adequate policies, partnership agreements, participatory approach, criteria for assessing researchers….) than on the innovations themselves.”

• “EDCTP is given as a successful example, but the EDCTP is very focused (3 diseases, just the clinical trials) and the health sector is much less diverse than the agricultural sector. So this successful example has limited validity for the proposed roadmap.”

Main concerns about the Roadmap

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• « Le non-respect des engagements de chaque partie prenante, notamment en termes de contribution financière ». « Low-level capacity for domestic resource mobilization; and weak political commitment to operationalize and fast track …..”

• “In Africa, The main barrier is the weak linkage between research and the CAADP process.”

• « Notre organisme est en train d'ouvrir ses portes au continent africain et le plus grand handicap que nous avons c'est la méconnaissance...Nos chercheurs sont bien connus en Europe, aux USA, mais pas en Afrique et ils n'ont pas des contacts là-bas»

• “The often short term nature of project funding timeframes sometimes limits optimal implementation of projects which integrate some sustainability components. Consideration on longer time frames could be made to enable such research projects to achieve full impacts.”

• “Poor availability of suitable and functional research facilities limits the type and extent of research which can be conducted. Need to foster a close link between the research grants and others focusing on infrastructural development.”

• “There is no single blueprint .Implementation should be scaled up in ways that take account of local conditions and national priorities.”

• “We underline the importance of flexible funding mechanisms”

Bottleneck identified and Recommendations

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A true Africa- Europe joint and balanced partnership. jointly owned, governed and funded by European and African moving away from an “aid perspective” Broader participation of the European institutions

An all-encompassing R&I framework covering all aspects of food security, nutrition and sustainable agriculture. align, under a common vision, all existing joint R&I activities, irrespective of their funding

mechanisms or legal instruments. Synergies, optimization, identification of gaps...

• Linking local action - adapted to the huge diversity of local contexts both in Africa and in Europe - with National, regional, continental and bi-continental policies in research, innovation, trade, capacity development, knowledge management….

− generation of diverse innovation adapted to the multiplicity of local specificities

− AND generation of generic knowledge and know-how which can be exchanged.

Innovative characteristics of the proposed Roadmap

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To conclude


Thank you for your attention. Any questions ?

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High Level Policy Dialogue Roadmap for a EU-AU partnership in Agricultural Research and Innovation : current development and next steps

Documents

impact of research

joint research

input costs research

effective research outputs

specific research projects

innovation food security

roadmap tor

european priorities