ProIntensAfrica Project Experience

Transcription

1 ProIntensAfrica Project Experience Baitsi Podisi Centre for Coordination of Agricultural Research and Development for Southern Africa (CCARDESA), Gaborone, Botswana

2 Presentation Content 1. What is CCARDESA? 2. How consortium partners got in-touch with each other? 3. Who played what role in the execution of the project? 4. Who are the partners from Europe and Africa? 5. The project accounting processes 6. Were the deliverables/the outcome met? 7. Any challenges in the implementation processes?

3 What is CCARDESA? A sub regional research organisation created in 2011 by SADC MS to facilitate cooperation in agricultural research and development Works with many partners and sister organisations: e.g. Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in East and Central Africa (ASARECA) North Africa Sub-regional Research Organisation (NASRO) West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research and Development (CORAF/WECARD) At Continental level: FARA coordinates

4 ProIntensAfrica Background World population is to reach 9 billion in 2050 Changing diets, impact of climate change & constrained natural resources will affect food availability, access, & utilization drastically. Improving Food & Nutrition Security while ensuring the Sustainability of Agriculture (FNSSA) is, and will be, a global issue into the future. Africa s population is to double in coming decades: A larger challenge! Africa has potential to be a major food basket but will require a transformation of African agro-food systems, and joining of forces to explore and harness the strengths and assets of African agriculture.

5 Why Sustainable Intensification? Sustainable intensification is generally acknowledged as a major driver for increasing food and nutrition security in Africa. It implies higher agricultural production per unit of resources, labour and/or land. Not only geared towards increased production of food and biomass, but also towards providing employment and improving livelihoods. Sustainable intensification must play a central role in the management of natural resources such as water, biodiversity, soil nutrients and in the regulation of the carbon cycle.

6 Why ProIntensAfrica? Realizing that much is needed and much is possible, the IntensAfrica Consortium emerged in 2012 Objectives to document the variety of pathways leading to sustainable intensification, and to align efforts in doing so. African and European members of the consortium agreed to jointly engage in the preparation of a new, strategic, long-term and ambitious research and innovation partnership between Europe and Africa in the thematic area of sustainable intensification of agri-food systems. A project named PROIntensAfrica was formulated to develop such partnership, and, with funding of the EC, was carried out for two years with active involvement of 23 African and European partners.

7 Formation of the Consortium IntensAfrica Consortium was established in 2012 following a joint CIRAD-WUR proposition to FARA and the African Sub-Regional Organizations. To further develop a basis for discussion with the European and African Commissions, national governments, and other potentially interested parties in Europe and in Africa, the group submitted a proposal in response to a competitive EU-call under H2020. PROIntensAfrica, was approved by the EC for funding for a two years period (1 April March 2017); the Objectives are the development of detailed contours of an Africa-Europe research and innovation partnership and the securing of policy support for the initiative. For past two years, 15 European and 8 African partners collaborated in the PROIntensAfrica project. They were engaged in a number of activities to further develop the partnership proposal.

8 Project: Pathways to sustainable intensification of the agri-food system in Africa - PROIntensAfrica Aim: developing a proposal for a long-term research and innovation partnership PROIntensAfrica is a bi-continental co-owned and co-led initiative, aiming at an extensive research programme on sustainable intensification of agri-food systems in sub-saharan Africa. Improving the food and nutrition security and the livelihoods of African farmers Exploring and exploiting the diversity of pathways that respond to diverse situations is the key factor to sustainable intensification of the African agri-food systems. PROIntensAfrica received funding (Euro 1,047) from European Union s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No

9 How consortium partners got in-touch FARA led the process to contact the SROs Side events were organised around the FARA General Assembly and Science week Project Launched at FARA HQ in 2015 Steering Committee was formed of Work Package leaders Steering committee met virtually and physically Work package organised working meetings Project was wound up in March 2017 at AU HQ

10 PROIntensAfrica Consortium Members African partners: FARA (Ghana), CORAF/WECARD (Senegal), CCARDESA (Botswana), ASARECA (Uganda), AFAAS (Uganda), ARC (South Africa), CSRI-CRI (Ghana) and INERA (Burkina Faso). European partners: Wageningen UR (The Netherlands), CIRAD (France), UCL (Belgium), SLU (Sweden), IICT (Portugal), Luke (Finland), University of Copenhagen (Denmark), ZEF (Germany), INIA (Spain), NRI (England), Teagasc (Ireland), BOKU (Austria), University of Life Sciences (Czech Republic), University of Szent Istvan (Hungary) and Bioforsk (Norway). PROIntensAfrica received funding from the European Union s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No

11 Project Organisation Lead: WUR co-lead FARA the project coordination. WUR did the reporting to the EC. Help desk assisted. Work Organised into 7 Work Packages and each WP had activities and associated deliverables Each WP had a lead and co-lead All partners contributed to outputs and reports There was a Steering committee and General Assembly

12 ALLOCATION OF WORK PACKAGES (WP) WP number WorkPackage Title 1 Development partnership proposal, consortium governance and project coordination 2 Development of Research and Innovation Agenda(RIA) on Sustainable Intensification Pathways of agro-food systems Lead Beneficiary Wageningen UR CIRAD 3 Mapping of on-going sustainable intensification research Universite Catholique De Louvain (UCL) 4 Public and private Research and Innovation (R&I) funding instruments: working modalities and rules of participation Swedish University of Agriculture (SLU) 5 Governance options for the future partnership programme Agriculture Research Council (ARC) 6 Communication and profiling PROIntensAfrica and the future partnership programme Luonnonvarakeskus (LUKE) 7 Expected impacts of a future IntensAfrica research and innovation partnership Kobenhavns Universitet (UCPH)

13 Example: Work Package 3 (WP3) Mapping of On-going Sustainable Intensification Lead: Universite Catholique De Louvain (UCL), Co-lead: CCARDESA Task 3.1: Mapping existing research Activity 1: Building a web-based interface Activity 2: Compilation of the database of existing research Deliverable 3.1: A web- based interface built Deliverable 3.2: A database of existing agricultural projects on sustainable intensification Task 3.2: Assignment of projects to typology Activity 3: Classification of different pathways Task 3.3. Analysis of imbalances between intensification pathways Activity 4: Analysis of the respective contribution of pathways Deliverable 3.3: Investment and knowledge gaps per pathway (Report)

14 Approach PROIntensAfricaPROIntensAfrica Looking for support of the policy environment. Aligning forces is vital for increasing the synergy of ongoing research, to stimulate new research, & to increase the volume of the research PROIntensAfrica connects stakeholders, policy makers and research organizations and examines a variety of modalities to pool resources. Collaborating with 23 members from European and African countries The PROIntensAfrica consortium represents research and platform organizations. Shared vision and strategy is sought through extensive discussions in seven work packages. PROIntensAfrica has received funding from the European Union s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No

15 Reporting Processes Periodic reporting module: ECAS login (your own username and password) go to: My Projects (PROIntensAfrica) go to: MP button (Manage Projects) Now you will see the Periodic Reporting Module There has to be: the Participant Contact (you) The Project Financial Signatory (PFSIGN): this is the person within your organisation, who is authorised to sign the financial statement of the project. The LEAR (the Legal Entity Appointed Representative) is able to assign the role of FSIGN (at organisation level), via My Organisation(s). The Participant contact, will be able to add (or connect) this FSIGN to the project as PFSIGN.

16 PROJECT PROCESSES: On Line EU Project Portal

17 Grant Management System PROIntensAfrica Towards a long-term Africa-EU partnership to raise sustainable food and nutrition security in Africa 17

18 OTHER PROJECT ELEMENTS Engagement of stakeholders including policy makers Leveraging on on-going initiatives Paid for staff time and essential costs Events were rotated between the continents Publicity of the project and visibility of the donor Use of social media (facebook, twitter, Linkedin) Project website: www. Project Publications were produced ECAS has detailed manuals

19 ProIA Project Website

20 ProIA Project Findings ProIA identified 4 different pathways leading to sustainable intensification: A) Conventional b) Eco-Technical c) Agro-ecological d) Organic Pathways demonstrate the richness & variety of options open to farmers The pathways differ in vision and mission, in organization and governance, in dimensionality, in technology and in the use of resources. They range from conventional agriculture to organic farming, and were studied both through a literature survey and by in-situ case studies. Results shows a trade-off in aspects of impacts and gains between different dimensions. The trade-offs are context dependent

21 Key Findings Potential depends on efficient research & innovation programs, many efforts are scattered. Lack of alignment undermines the potential for synergy and convergence and is suboptimal for mobilizing resources, expertise and competences that are relevant for improving FNSSA. Perception leads to a generally felt need to join forces in research and innovation programs. The EU-AU High -Level Policy Dialogue (HLPD) has developed a well-received road map that seeks to guide research and innovation. A Working Group has been set-up to oversee the implementation of a coherent program leading to improved FNSSA. Collaborating at scientific and policy levels in the programming of research, is necessary to stimulate alignment in a bi-continental Africa-Europe collaboration, e.g. the Long term EU-Africa research and innovation Partnership on food and nutrition security and sustainable Agriculture (LEAP-Agri program)

22 Findings cont d The four identified pathways serve as a typology, there are of course many more pathways and related systems that are in use and/or are possible. Combining elements of various pathways will probably yield systems that are better adapted and optimize

23 Challenges Participation of some African partners was inconsistent The consortium had over representation of EU partners The use of the on-line portal was a challenge to most users There were limited resources for face-to face interactions Some deliverables were delayed Resources constraints Poor connectivity for virtual meetings was a minor handicap

24 Successes The project met most of the deliverables Project demonstrated possibility to work together Partnerships have been established and partners are willing to continue beyond the project phase to collaborate The initiative was quite enriching Project has produced good outputs to shape coordination of R&D efforts towards delivering value towards addressing food nutrition Proposals were developed for follow-up work

25 Conclusions ProIA project demonstrated the potential of the diversity of pathways for sustainable intensification in agri-food systems. It identified future challenges for science and innovation to address. It documented salient characteristics of a successful bi-continental research and innovation partnership, and drafted an outline for such partnership. ProIA Partners showed their expertise and creativity in the scientific field; commitment to contribute to solutions for the existing and still-growing challenges of improved FNSSA. Partners pledged to collaborate even beyond the timespan of the project. Showed mutual conviction to jointly tackle the challenge of secure and sustainable food production, now and in the future

26 Project Wrap-up General Assembly at the AU HQ