African Forum for AgriculturalAdvisory Services

Dr. Silim Nahdy, Executive Director AFAAS & Dr. Dan Kisauzi, Management Consultant

AFAAS

Brussels, 20-22 March 2012

www.afaas-africa.org

AFAASIncreasing Agricultural Productivity

Through More Effective AAS

Outline

• Challenges in AAS and role of AFAAS • Experience• Strategic Plan• Achievements• Resource mobilization• What worked well and why• Looking into the future• Sustainability

Challenges Facing African Agricultural Advisory Services

(AAS)

Inappropriate funding

approaches

Inability to target poverty and

gender

Ineffective demand for AAS

Poor Market Orientation

Farmers who are not empowered

Widening scope of AAS

Inappropriate AAS delivery

approaches

Unsupportive Policies

Environmental degradation and climate change

Low organisational &

Institutional Capacities ?!

Why AFAAS?

• Support to the country AAS to ensure that FAAP principles are applied within the CAADP process

• Support sharing of experiences, information and knowledge on AAS

• Backstop country-level AAS to organize themselves to focus on AAS issues

• Represent AAS at continental and international fora

Experience

Success factors for organizational and institutional development:

• Sustained demand• Championing• Institutional support by NAADS and FARA• Brokerage and Advocacy• Seed Resources• Foundation building• Achievements

Sub-Saharan African Network on

Agricultural Advisory Services (SSANAAS),

First networking Symposium and General Assembly

Kampala, 2004 (7 countries)

Second Symposium & General Assembly

Kampala, 2006 (14 countries)

Third Symposium & General Assembly

Accra, 2011 (36 countries)

Strategic PlanConstitution

African Forum for Agricultural

Advisory Services (AFAAS)

Experience (cont): Sustained Demand

Experience (cont): Brokering and Advocacy for AFAAS

• NAADS - at national and regional levels

• SROs - sub-regional stakeholders

• FARA - within African R&D institutions

• GFRAS at a global level

World bank and DPs as catalysts

Experience cont. Seed Resources received

• From 2004 to 2010 supported by Uganda’s National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS) through its operational budget

• A EUR 1.5 Mio grant from the EU obtained in 2008 to support AFAAS for 2.5 years

o effective utilization started in May 2010 after establishment of the MDTF and ended in June 2011

Experience cont. Organizational and Institutional

Foundation Building• Establishment as a legal entity in Uganda• A constitution under which AFAAS shall obtain

legal status in other countries• Governance arrangements comprising of the

General Assembly and the Board• A Strategic Plan• Procedures for Finance and Administration,

Procurement and Human Resource Management• Fully functional Secretariat• Start-up staff with Executive Director &

supported by consultants

5. A continental African Organisation that can sustainably support

national AAS to continuously enhance their contribution to

national, regional, continental and global

development objectives established

1. AAS are integral part

of CAADP roundtables

and post-compact CAADP

processes

2. Information and knowledge

management system capable of networking

AFAAS stakeholders

and embedding them into global knowledge hubs

developed

3. Country level multi stakeholder fora with

capacity to act as a platform for

information and knowledge sharing

amongst actors involved in AAS

established

4. Partnerships between AAS

service providers and other relevant

institutions with similar mandates

and interests established

Results/Outputs

AAS providers have sufficient capacity to effectively support value chain actors towards increasing agricultural productivity and food security in a sustainable manner

Purpose/Outcome

Enhanced utilization of improved knowledge and technologies by agricultural value chain actors for improving productivity oriented towards their individual and national

development objectives

Goal

Strategic Plan (2011-2016)

Achievements

1. Engagement with CAADP• Strategy for AAS engagement in CAADP

embedded in the strategic plan for CAADP Pillar IV developed jointly with FARA

• Developed capacity of eight AAS experts who shall backstop the CAADP process from an AAS perspective

• Guidelines for AAS to engage with country CAADP

Achievements (cnt.)2. Information and Knowledge

Management• Three Symposia organised;• A website, and a virtual social networking

platform; • A conceptual framework for lesson learning developed;• A guide for Piloting Market Oriented AAS;• Study on targeting Women Advisory Service Providers

in Capacity Development Programmes;• Study on how issues of Climate Change are being

addressed in AAS

Achievements (cont.)

3. Country Fora• Guidelines on how to engage with AAS

stakeholder in a country to bring about the emergence of CF that are aligned with CAADP.

• Country Fora established in seven countries (Benin, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Uganda)

• Six countries in the process of developing their own Strategic Plans aligned with that of AFAAS

Achievements (cont.)4. Partnerships• A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)

between FARA and AFAAS signed in June 2008• Partnership with CORAF, ASARECA to be

established at sub regional level• GFRAS – Advocacy and Inter-continental

networking

• ICRA – Country Fora• NRI – Climate change• National Systems e.g. NAADS; national AAS

capacity strengthening

Resource Mobilization

• FARA - USD 0.7 Mio core support from July 2011 to December 2012

• GFRAS – USD 90,000 for KM

• SDC – USD 200,000 in kind over two years (2 country fora)

• Pledges

– EC – EUR 5 Mio over 5 years (through a WB managed MDTF), core support

– IFAD – USD 1 Mio over two years (5 country fora)

– CORAF – support of country fora and possibly staff position (not yet quantified)

Budget

ResultsResources

required (SP)(in USD ‘000)

Funds committed(in USD ‘000)

Funding Gap(in USD ‘000)

CAADP Integration 2,835 - 2,835

Information & KM 5,624 90 5,534

Country Fora 1,745 - 1,745

Partnership 765 - 765

Institutional Dev. 5,997 700 5,297

Total 16,984 790 16,194

What Worked Well and Why• Ownership by stakeholders • Collaboration with continental AAS

networks in Asia and LA• Partnership with FARA and GFRAS • Brokering role by the World Bank• Establishment of functioning

organizational structures Key for success has been the demand

and need expressed by various actors and stakeholders

Challenges

• AFAAS is still a very young organization expected to demonstrate its added value

• Time required to put governance and management systems in place

• Stakeholders want to see impact but resources, governance and management systems are required first to work towards impact

Looking into the Future

• Improvement in skill levels and competencies of AAS service providers

• Skilled professionals delivering AAS addressing the priority areas (climate change, market access, gender etc.)

• Value chain actors satisfied with quality of AAS

AAS providers have sufficient capacity to effectively support value chain actors towards increasing agricultural productivity and food security in a sustainable manner

Sustainability

AFAAS is sustainable because:

• it links and integrates with national (including donor-funded) programs

• AAS is perceived as a key building block of R&D together with agricultural research and education

Thank you for listening

http://www.afaas-africa.orghttp://networking.afaas-africa.org