WA_StakeholderMeeting_Jan2013

= West Africa Stakeholder meeting =
 * 23 January 2013 **
 * Alisa Hotel, Accra, Ghana **


 * Objectives ** :
 * Review the achievements from year 1 in Ghana and Mali
 * Review and comment research plans for year 2 in Ghana and Mali


 * Agenda **


 * ** Session 1: Opening and introduction ** ||  ||
 * 08:30-09:00 || Registration ||  ||
 * 09:00-09:20 || Welcome and opening addresses ||  ||
 * || Director, West Africa, IITA; and Chair Africa RISING WA Steering Committee || R. Asiedu ||
 * || Activity Manager, USAID || J. Glover ||
 * 09:20-09:40 || Workshop objectives, processes, and participants’ introduction || E. Le Borgne ||
 * 09:40-10:00 || Overview of Africa RISING Program - See the [[file:West Africa Stakeholder Intro_Jan2013.pptx|presentation]] || J. Glover ||
 * 10:00-10:30 || Group photograph and coffee/tea break ||  ||
 * ** Session 2: Africa RISING West Africa project and implemented work ** ||  ||
 * 10:30-11:00 || Overview of year 1 activities in West Africa - See the presentation || I. Hoeschle-Zeledon ||
 * 11:00-11:30 || Research Framework - See the presentation (including Ghana year 1) || A. Larbi ||
 * 11:30-12:30 || Implemented work 2012 ||  ||
 * || Ghana (See presentation on the research framework above) || A. Larbi ||
 * || Mali - See the presentation || E. Weltzien ||
 * 12:30-13:30 || Lunch ||  ||
 * ** Session 3: Planning for years 2-5 ** ||  ||
 * 13:30-14:30 || 2013 workplans and feed back ||  ||
 * || Ghana - See the presentation || A. Larbi ||
 * || Mali - See the presentation || T. van Mourik ||
 * 14:30-15:00 || Coffee/tea break ||  ||
 * 15:00-15:30 || Feedback/responses || Plenary ||
 * ** Session 4: Final remarks and closure ** ||
 * 15:40 || Director, Partnerships and Capacity Building, IITA ; and Chair Africa RISING Program Committee || K. Dashiell ||
 * || Coordinator, Africa RISING West Africa Project || I. Hoeschle-Zeledon ||
 * 16:00 || End of meeting ||  ||
 * 13:30-14:30 || 2013 workplans and feed back ||  ||
 * || Ghana - See the presentation || A. Larbi ||
 * || Mali - See the presentation || T. van Mourik ||
 * 14:30-15:00 || Coffee/tea break ||  ||
 * 15:00-15:30 || Feedback/responses || Plenary ||
 * ** Session 4: Final remarks and closure ** ||
 * 15:40 || Director, Partnerships and Capacity Building, IITA ; and Chair Africa RISING Program Committee || K. Dashiell ||
 * || Coordinator, Africa RISING West Africa Project || I. Hoeschle-Zeledon ||
 * 16:00 || End of meeting ||  ||
 * 15:40 || Director, Partnerships and Capacity Building, IITA ; and Chair Africa RISING Program Committee || K. Dashiell ||
 * || Coordinator, Africa RISING West Africa Project || I. Hoeschle-Zeledon ||
 * 16:00 || End of meeting ||  ||


 * Participants **
 * Institute || Name || email address ||
 * IITA-Ibadan || Robert Asiedu || R.ASIEDU@CGIAR.ORG ||
 * IITA-Ibadan || Ken Dashiell || k.dashiell@cgiar.org ||
 * IITA-Ibadan || Irmgard Hoeschle-Zeledon || I.Zeledon@cgiar.org ||
 * IITA-Ibadan || Katherine Lopez || K.Lopez@cgiar.org ||
 * ICRISAT-Bamako || Tom van Mourik || tom.vanmourik@icrisatml.org ||
 * ICRISAT-Bamako || Eva Weltzien || e.weltzien@cgiar.org ||
 * AVRDC-Bamako || Abdou Tenkouano || abdou.tenkouano@worldveg.org ||
 * IWMI-Accra || Fred Kizito || f.kizito@cgiar.org ||
 * Africa Rice || Olupomi Ajayi || o.j.ajayi@cgiar.org ||
 * IFPRI || Carlo Azzarri || c.azzarri@cgiar.org ||
 * ILRI || Abdou Fall || a.fall@cgiar.org ||
 * Facilitator || Ewen Le Borgne || E.LeBorgne@cgiar.org ||
 * ICRAF || Joachim Binam || j.binam@cgiar.org ||
 * USAID-Ghana || B. Mengistu || bmengistu@usaid.gov ||
 * USAID-Mali || Marry Norris || mnorris@usaid.gov ||
 * USAID-West Africa || Jorge Oliveira || joliveira@usaid.gov ||
 * USAID-West Africa || Robert Buzzard || rbuzzard@usaid.gov ||
 * USAID-DC || Jerry Glover || jglover@usaid.gov ||
 * USAID-DC || Tracy Powell || tpowell@usaid.gov ||
 * CORAF-Dakar || Ernest ASIEDU || E.ASIEDU@CORAF.ORG ||
 * AGRA-Accra || Kehinde Makinde || kmakinde@agra.org ||
 * JIRCAS-Accra || Tetsuji Oya || oyatet@affrc.go.jp ||
 * Innovation for Poverty Action || Elizabeth Schultz || eschultz@poverty-action.org; ||
 * YARA || Henry Otoo-Mensah || henry.otoo-mensah@yara.com ||
 * World Vision || Harry Addor || Harry_Addor@wvi.org ||
 * SADA || Charles Jabuni || charles@cepa.org.gh ||
 * CSIR-Headquarter || AB Salifu || ab_salifu@yahoo.com ||
 * CSIR-Headquarter || Mama Entua-Mensah || mamaae@yahoo.com ||
 * CSIR-SARI || Saaka Buah || ssbuah@yahoo.com ||
 * CSIR-Animal Research || N. Karbo || minongkordam@yahoo.com ||
 * U. of Dev. Studies || Glady Gamor || gladgamor@yahoo.com ||
 * U. of Ghana-Accra || Kwame Offei || offei@ug.edu.gh ||
 * KNUST-Kumasi || Robert Abaidoo || r.abaidoo@cgiar.org ||
 * Seed Producers-Tamale || Zakaria Iddrisu || Heritage.zdd@gmail.com ||
 * MoFA-Dir. Crop Serv. || Asante Krobea || krobeaasante@yahoo.com ||
 * MoFA Grains Development Board || Robert Asuboah || asuboah@hotmail.com ||
 * Ghana Health Services || Amadu Patricia .S. || amadupat@yahoo.com ||
 * IITA Tamale || Asamaoh Larbi || a_larbi@hotmail ||
 * MoFA-Dir. Animal Prod. || Margaret Sumah || megsumah@yahoo.com ||
 * MoFA-NR-Tamale ||  ||   ||
 * MoFA-UWR-Wa || Joe Faalong || joefaalong2000@yahoo.co.uk ||
 * Embrapa || Erich Schaitza || erich.schaitza@embrapa.br ||
 * ILRI-Ethiopia || Peter Thorne || p.thorne@cgiar.org ||
 * ILRI-Ethiopia || Ian Wright || i.wright@cgiar.org ||
 * CSIR-SARI || James Kombiok || kombiokjm@yahoo.com ||
 * USAID Washington || Merdith Soule || msoule@usaid.gov ||
 * FAO-Ghana || Brendan Brown || Brendan.Brown@fao.org ||
 * ACDI/VOCA Advance || Emmanuel Dorman ||  ||
 * ACDI/VOCA Advance || Kweku Koranteng ||  ||
 * USAID Ghana || Samson Konlan || skonlan@usaid.gov ||
 * SMIL-KSU || Timothy Dalton || TimothyDalton@agecon.ksu.edu ||

**Notes of the meeting**
Important to leverage the potential from the three Africa RISING projects in West Africa, East Africa and the Ethiopian Highlands and in relation with the Monitoring and evaluation plans. This forum is an opportunity to share the activities from the first year and to introduce activities for this year.
 * Address by Robert Asiedu - IITA West Africa director and Africa RISING West Africa steering committee manager**

Africa RISING is part of the Feed the Future initiative. The participants to this meeting will likely be around at other Africa RISING events. This program welcomes the involvement of other donors and the integration with other USAID mission activities and initiatives. It is important to avoid duplication of efforts and we hope that this kind of meetings helps integrate activities. The discussions today will inform subsequent meetings over the next 2 days. We want active participation and adapt to changing circumstances. Don't look at this meeting for the end of the road, we look into future opportunities.
 * Address by Jerry Glover - activity manager at USAID**

Alignment with CAADP, other donors, the USAID mission investments. Impact imperative; an R&D model around coordination, alignment, integration with impact that is scalable and adaptable e.g. in the CGIAR research programs, including how budgets are allocated to various instittutions etc.
 * Presentation by Jerry Glover about Feed the Future**

October 2011 development of a concept note; Jan. 2012 kick-off workshop; Feb. 2012 disbursement of funds to AfricaRice and ICRISAT and decision on program approach and on the name; February-March stakeholder workshops in Ghana and Mali; April set up of project office at SARI in Tamale; May: Community analysis in Northerh Ghana; June work plans in Mali.Ghana with partner sub-agreements; June to December implementation of activities; October Year 1 review; December Site characterization and selection in Mali + workplans developed for 2013. Throughout: strategic program documents developed (research framework, M&E plan, communication strategy, management structure). Research framework: 5 research hypotheses, a flexible plan to allow site specific adaptation while generic enough to be applicable across all Africa RISING regions...
 * Presentation by Irmgard Hoeschle-Zeledon**


 * Presentation by Asamoah Larbi about the research framework**


 * Q&A**:
 * Q: Will there be a research framework?
 * A: Yes. Details will be at regional level. This is more of a guideline. We started to prepare a program level logframe. At project level there are lots of details. This is a guide for each of the regions but e.g. in Ethiopia it would be good to have a project level logframe. The teams have the USAID logframe guidelines and this will be further detailed.
 * Q: I see a sequence in your research outputs: from situational analysis to scaling up. What is the sense of timing for this?
 * A: We have done a community analysis and in most cases we will be done. Since we are not starting from scratch we are building on existing research activities. We are working on e.g. issues on delivery because we have results about that.
 * Q: What is the relationship between FtF indicators and this program? To what extent is it required to target and improve on specific indicators. This is sthg to consider.
 * A: This is a research program, but most FtF indicators are on the development side. Scientific research starting today will likely not have significant impact on poverty reduction in a 4-year timeframe. Real important indicators e.g. soil carbon infiltration etc. are not in FtF but are important for the research. There is also a reform process in the CGIAR and we want to align our efforts with that. M&E is not solely focused on USAID indicators. Other donors could help e.g. DfID might align some indicators with Africa RISING. The indicators should also reflect adaptive research which can bring significant results. We are working on extension tools - scientific work that can achieve effects but perhaps at a more limited scale.
 * Q: This is a research project but looking at outputs, if the latter are properly framed they will bring about real research outputs. The way they are framed makes it difficult to see if they will bring about results. I find it difficult to look at outputs and to see real research outputs. We need to clarify this. What could help link this project with other projects in the region?
 * A: The details will emerge from focused discussions around activities in Ghana and Mali. It is difficult to visualize what abstract guidelines mean. But it was important to present that as the general guidelines.
 * Comment: I thought RO3 needed a work plan and that could be incorporated.
 * Q: Scaling is about partnerships, capacity development etc. Is that right? Our project is going to ask other organizations to scale?
 * A: Broadly that's correct but some of our research will be at scale. We are attempting to make use of the major value chain projects from the USAID missions e.g. in Tanzania USAID is funding a maize and rice project and we can co-locate our efforts to link suppliers with markets and there are research needs there that can inform planting strategies to be taken up by 1000's of farmers. We are using counter-factual communities to research on adoption etc.
 * Q: Technologies that are present and were already present. What happens to those technologies? What will you do with those technologies. A lot of these technologies seem similar. Will we need to evaluate these technologies again?
 * A: When looking at action and control sites we are doing something different to the past. IFPRI needs quantitative data. Africa RISING is an integrated project at systems level. What is happening? We are pulling together all technologies from commodity projects but now we want to go from field level to household and community. Most past activities took place at field level.
 * Q: The impression is that we will start to farm/household and then will move to community etc. If that's right, will the same team work on farm/hh and on landscape/regional level or are we considering different teams?
 * A: We are going from some commodities etc. to different levels and we need different partners. Animal / crop research, extension services, Ghana health department are all involved.

Highlights: seed multiplication, on-farm demonstration about drought-tolerant maize, cowpea responses to planting dates, rice-based systems characterized, vegetable seed production, soil moisture responses to management, maize water productivity, economic rations, improved sheep/goat husbandry, household nutrition, capacity building, farmer field days...
 * Presentation by Asamoah Larbi about year 1 activities in Ghana**

The Mali activities were inf ormed by the project outcomes. Key events in Mali also involved the stakeholder workshop in February which drove decision-making on activities and facilitated collaboration of various partners (ICRISAT, ICRAF, ILRI and AVRDC). Working in Koutiala district with AMASSA and AMEDD, and in the Bougouni district with Mobiom as well as with consultants on e.g. land use conventions, on farmer-to-farmer videos. Research approach: AR main research has to happen on-farm. We looked at how we can structure our work to have the local institutional context right for joint learning on sustainable intensification. Entry points work provides framework to collaborate with target communities with a specific purpose and generates a benefit for participating farmers from year 1 + provides opportunities for intermediate impacts and allows comparison and sequencing for studying specific outcomes. A great challenge we are facing: Young population (50% under 20) growing rapidly bringing about issues of youth employment etc. Key issues for sustainable intensification: access to agricultural implements/inputs/credit, risk mitigation on climate variability, information systems and training on improved agronomy etc. Possible strategies: crop-livestock integration and better soil fertility management, managing working calendars and agreement on activities and income repartition, diversification activities (e.g. livestock fattening, vegetables, banana production)...
 * Presentation by Eva Weltzien about year 1 activities in Mali**

__Intervention by Jerry Glover and Irmgard Hoeschle-Zeledon__: Are we taking into account previous initiatives, partners, work etc.? Yes but we know we needed a year to compile and develop on the basis of what was there before. We looked at developing important information and relationships. What we've done this past year may not be what we are going to do next year, it's a set of building blocks. How do we put these together will be presented this afternoon. The sites we presented may not be the same as the ones we worked on. We have to integrate activities around sites where that is possible so we can talk about farm productivity improvements.

//Other comments from cards//:
 * Feedback on year 1 presentations**
 * Congratulations to all on a very productive year 1 - All the meetings and consultations etc. that have given us clearer directions were required. Well done!!
 * There are opportunities for Africa RISING and Humidtropics to share and learn from each other. We need to interact a lot.
 * NARS are not visible in Mali, why? --> due to the political situation (ICRISAT cannot contract them at the moment)
 * For Ghana and Mali the acknowledgement of NARS is faint - where is their acknowledgement?
 * The site selection does not reflect the voice of the NARS between what was discussed and what happened
 * For Ghana, the constraints identified so far are real and present real opportunities to address farmer problems
 * On upscaling, the similarities in the constraints at household level present opportunities for regional upscaling
 * How will activities will be prioritized against year 1? Those were implemented without our research framework etc. completed. Year 2 activities will fit with the research framework.
 * Importance of extension services: without involving them we won't achieve long term impacts/outcomes
 * What is farming systems research and we are still on the pathway. It's more about multi-components and needs to be addressed
 * Access to credit: we need to go beyond that and look into cost of credit (interest rates) and how this impacts profits. Perhaps credit is a poverty trap. We could look at value chain analysis for inputs on credit and payback in kind
 * The lessons from year 1 would help design year 2 - it was difficult to tell if the strategy was adapted in the light of those lessons.
 * Real results are not that clear - perhaps it's too early?
 * M&E has a key role to play to ensure that the data that is available is in line with the monitoring & eval strategies that IFPRI is going to take. There are opportunities and challenges in this alignment. Many opportunities with existing databases and results coming in. IFPRI are very constrained to do M&E in Mali due to travel restrictions and are considering to subcontract M&E to on the ground partners.
 * For both presentations and esp. for the Ghana one, there appears to be a very wide range of activities - how does this fit in with the research framework. The Mali presentation showed better how it could be integrated.
 * What are opportunities to organise collaboration on the ground with this wide range of partners: how to do priority setting, ensure the right expertise is there, the right research results are achieved etc.
 * Ghana:
 * Soil moisture measurement - was it done in the farmers' field? How will the results be utilized by farmers? This is very important and interesting!
 * I see very many activities but no indication of the scale of activity, no reference to which activities are done on-farm. Some early results of the number of farmers trained/reached would be good.
 * The rice-based systems component also conducted diagnostic surveys of constraints and opportunities in the 2 rice sector development hubs
 * How to facilitate the collaboration of centres at the sites in Ghana?
 * Mali:
 * Program-wide:
 * Nutrition: GLEE; RING (USAID Ghana), linkages - evidence for activities being undertaken - hypothesis that producing more diverse foods will improve nutritional outcomes is not a proven hypothesis, is it being tested?
 * Development hypothesis: FtF indicators + custom indicators > program logic / theory of change > outcomes e.g. increased hh income (gross margins), decreased stunting. Targets i.e. gender disaggregated where appropriate
 * Gender: needs to be woven throughout the research program framework. Training and participation of women should be at all levels: researchers, extensionists, farmers, other producers, private sector... We need to set targets for womens' participation (how well was gender integrated in year1? What can be done to improve this in future years?)
 * Have you screened the entry points for scalability?
 * Labor use/productivity is an important element for system intensification/integration. It needs to be built into the design.
 * Urgent: for output 3 we need to have clear action points and plans on how we can facilitate that partners (delivery, dissemination and development) will or can deliver or scale out the research outputs (knowledge)
 * What is the approach for integrating the different components and making them accessible to farmers?
 * What is the approach for integrating the different components and making them accessible to farmers?

__Mali presentation__
 * Presentations of work plans year 2**

__Ghana presentation__


 * Questions from the Africa RISING project team to the external stakeholders and feedback from in-project discussions**
 * We discussed budget issues and we realized the importance to reintegrate work. We need to design a way to make integration happen or we will miss the whole concept of on-farm integration.
 * Someone suggested working along themes and teams that convene regularly.
 * Working with NARS: we are still not doing this very well and we need to find a way to do this.
 * The threat of alternative sources of income (e.g. fishing, mining) - how do we go about this?
 * Baseline studies: did we develop work plans on the basis of these studies?
 * The word 'integration' is very important but we are wondering if we all have the same understanding about what that means: How do you see the nature of integration / how do you define integration:
 * Linking technologies to Value chains?
 * Combining technologies at field scale?
 * Combining local with exogenous Knowledge/technology?
 * Combining components of the system?

//Other feedback collected on cards//:
 * Feedback from the external stakeholders to the Africa RISING project team**
 * This is a very complex project - these are thoughts and comments, not criticism
 * Very good! What you've done is to build a network of experimental sites that could also be used by other partners in the future. You have been building a basis for cooperation. MoFA was also involved which is very good.
 * Embrapa has a research centre (CERADO) that takes an eco-regional approach that involves talking to people - opportunity to work with them?
 * Sustainability? How does this continue when the project is over? We need to connect with the CORAF seeds and fertilizer project supported by USAID/WA. There are community and production models that can be used i.e. seed delivery models (IITA/DTMA) manual coming out.
 * Opportunities to work with other projects?
 * Community seed production models? There are 6 seed models that can be shared with Africa RISING
 * Use what we already know - don't test it again (we already know that supplementation is good for livestock growth, so don't test it again, but integrate this with improved cropping to analyze whole-farm interactions. SARI has much information and knowledge about this already.
 * Crop-livestock integration should be tested by the overall implementer (IITA) and not by 2 implementers as 2 separate components
 * The Mali's 1st year presentation was a better model to continue to follow rather than the 2nd year model from Mali or Ghana?
 * It was very good that women's constraints were taken into account in devising technologies. This needs to continue, in Ghana also.
 * How do you integrate - can you take current practices and add new varieties? With so many components, if you add more it explodes when it comes to testing. Looking at a whole new farm system, is that similar to the Millennium Project model?
 * In Mali, there were 6 components, then villages choose the top 2-3 for integration, but what if the villages choose the same 2 or 3 components? This needs more prioritization from the start.
 * System components should be integrated before development and work plans - how can so many components be integrated and tested at once? Perhaps do sequencing? Start with 2-3 integrated components and add one new component each year? Or use simulation models to choose components for integration?
 * Test: current farm practice + new maize variety + soybean innoculent vs. whole new model farm (new maize, cowpeas, innoculants, manure, intercropping, timing + workload planning, irrigation, vegetables) to see if income increases vs. Millennium village testing?
 * What Asamoah is proposing for integration is actually combining component technologies (additive). Is this really integration?
 * Mali: What is the experimental design? Mother - baby trials / RCT? --> It depends on the demand
 * Are there innovations on fodder production and use planned for Mali? --> Yes, components 2.1, 2.4 and 2.5
 * Mali: It will be useful to start the market activities earlier than the planned 2015. Markets should lead production
 * How will the selection of future activities be prioritized, based upon what was presented on year 1?

Comment P. Thorne: There are different aspects of integration that we need to address. We may have to establish some principles about integration. We talked a lot about typologies but that allows us to do peer-to-peer transfer. We can look at similarities and where exogenous knowledge can support cross-typologies (??). Despite the absence of consensus on integration it's a very important aspect. We really might want to establish principles of engagement.

Comment Karbo: Thank you very much. Talking about procurement... the nature of partnerships is that one partner works with another and there may be a need (capacity building). In the case of equipment, how is that addressed? Right now, most NARS work with international centres but I'm feeling that if I get equipment it will give an edge to the efforts we're putting. There is no window for international centres to see that... Procurement rules are not clear. National centres do not know where to turn to procure a vehicle. Otherwise it seems we need to hide behind certain budget lines.


 * Close**

__Statements from K. Dashiell__
 * It's been a very intensive and productive day.
 * We have an excellent overall picture of where we want to go. The details are what we need to know where we will be in the next 6-8 weeks. If we are ready to go in March/April it would be great.
 * We have some really tough work to do to implement these plans in Mali and Ghana. I know we have good ideas about what we want to do, now we have to figure out how. In many ways we know we have to address all these components. But taking that leap to integrate these components means we can't have the rice people working here with 20 farmers and the livestock people working there with 20 people. If we don't get together and get some really detailed and intensive planning meetings this is what we will end up doing. I don't see any way around than to work with these meetings.
 * The key is team! We are a pretty good talking team. It's now time for action.
 * I'm very optimistic. We are in the right place right now. I wouldn't expect further but we have to look at the details of vehicles, seeds, fertilizers etc. We have strong leaders in Mali and Ghana to lead this process. I will ask our partners to be very patient with them. They will ask you to do things you've never done before. You're going to have to work with some new friends. It will all be worth it.
 * I wish you great success.

__ Statements from Irmgard Hoeschle-Zeledon __
 * I thought we would be a bit further today. Maybe I was unrealistic.
 * What was important is that I heard over and over again that we need to integrate better, work better and on the same sites. I've tried to communicate that in the past but with some resistance. There are habits and long term plans etc. But this is really clear again today and it's reemphasized by friends, colleagues etc. It's not only my wish any longer.
 * Asamoah and I will take your feedback on the presentations very seriously. The work plans have not been presented in details - it couldn't be done in a day, there's a lot more planned than what was presented today. We will go through these detailed plans and make sure that we address our objectives and outputs as stated in the program document. We will do this together with you.
 * Tomorrow we have a steering committee meeting and my draft budget - which includes a part for the program component - will be included in tomorrow's meeting. We have made a fair allocation between Ghana and Mali.
 * This year we have a more prominent component on sorghum & millet in Ghana compared with last year.
 * I'm thankful to everybody who came, particularly to our close Africa RISING partners who have been here for 3 meetings over the past few months - that is the nature of a multistakeholder program. We will harvest the fruits of this cooperation after this frustrating process.
 * Thanks to our guests who have joined us today for the first time and hopefully not the last time. One of the purposes was to inform you about what we do and to include you (as actors in agric research) and see where we can integrate with you and vice-versa and how you can help us in getting our process going.
 * Nothing is carved in stone yet, it never will. The dialogue with you goes on.