pct3

Program coordination team meeting #3 27 September 2013 Venue: ILRI campus, SofOmar meeting room Time 10:00am -13:00 pm EAT

toc =Agenda=
 * See June meeting [outstanding action points are on THIS page]
 * USAID Update
 * Africa RISING Project update
 * Eastern and southern Africa and West Africa
 * Research update
 * Staff update
 * Work plans and priorities
 * The Ethiopian highlands
 * Research update
 * Staff update
 * Work plans and priorities
 * M & E update
 * Communication update
 * Participation of Africa RISING in the ASARECA General Assembly, Scientific Conference and Exhibition to take place 9-13 December in Bujumbura
 * Formation of small working group on sustainability to come up with a framework and indicators
 * Progress/decision towards a science advisory body

=Overall action points= person in place || Annet Mulema (Ethiopian Highlands Gender Specialist) has further developed the original document. This has been circulated to the PCT for review. Simret to distribute the draft engagement to the members and they give feedback in two weeks time. Agreed to have the revised program framework by including the rules of engagement as well as communications. Simret in charge to make sure that the program document is communicated. ||
 * || **Action** || **Status** || **Notes** ||
 * 1 || Develop program-level good practice ‘rules of engagement’ with farms and households (including data practice); || TOR drafted on the rules of engagement at a program level. We have a gender
 * 2 || Revisit the program logic in one year + organize a learning event around this. || **Learning event planned Addis in September** || Much of the program focused around the program framework ||
 * 3 || Develop the regional logframes || Peter ,Irmgard met with key scientists on 27 September || Peter and Irmgard to further work on this and make it ready the end of October and share it with the PCT, steering committee ||
 * 6 || Update online events lists || See events list. Send updates to Simret

we need to restructure this. Better identify different types of events (project versus program); link to relevant external event calendar. Action Simret, || Suggestion the Communication team to discuss how the Wiki and the calendar events are structured and also to have a separate event page for each project and also a program on the wiki

Irmgard – to make sure the WA and ESA events are regularly updated || science advisory group. || The ESA Steering Committee suggested that the HumidTropics Advisory Committee also covers Africa RISING. This body should assure the donor that we are going into the right direction. I (IHZ) talked to the Director of Humidtropics and he said that the members could create space for projects under Humidtropics to look how partnerships work between the projects and HumidTropics. The HT advisory committee members are not used to review projects (as suggested by the ESA Steering Committee). I posed this question to the Chair of the HT advisory committee. She said they would discuss it. Have not heard back. It is a science and management advisory committee.In the meantime, I drafted ToRs for a Africa RISING science advisory group.
 * 7 || Science Advisory mechanism || Peter and Irmgard have seen the Humidtropics advisory committee ToR and Irmgard drafted a TOR for Africa RISING
 * The ToR is well endorsed by the PCT members.some possible candidates were proposed for the comittee . it was agreed that the PCT cto onsult with relevant team a members on possibel candidates in three weeks.
 * it was agreed the PCT chair(Iain wright)to write a letter for those who will be selected - by the end of October. and it is hoped that we get their repsonses by the end of November . Tracy volunteered to lead on finalizeng the slection process ||
 * 8 || Gender strategy || This needs to be made more explicit and concrete. We could draw from other CRPs.

ET just recruited a gender scientist (50%) from august.Maybe ask Annet to lead a strategy on this for ARISING?

Need something very specific for ARISING and associated to FTF indicators.That helps guide activities on the ground. Beyond data collection.

Annette to try and develop a preliminary draft (draw from Humidtropics model) for the learning event; and have a session on this in the learning event and at the M&E meeting. Final draft for December PCT meeting. || Annet has been in post for almost a month now. For Ethiopin Highlands, she will be developing a gender plan; a practical set of guidelines on how to mainstream gender with AR-Et rather than a "strategy". Annet is also involved in formulating a more complete gender strategy for CRP 3.7 (I think, or is it 1.2?). This could be reviewed for its relevance to AR.

Note: Annet is employed for 50% of her time on AR-Et. I wold be concerned if there was an expectation that major tasks at programme level - such as the formulation of an overall AR gender strategy - were expected to be underwritten by the Ethiopia project.
 * The PCT believes the importance of Gender strategy
 * Peter will coordinate with Annet to pull out some thoughts from the CRP gender strategy she is now developing – may be around the beginning of next year.
 * The project coordinators to look in to the action points from the Africa RISING leanring event and report back on the next PCT meeting ||
 * 9 || Framework for livestock integration || Would a program-wide framework be useful. To help explain. Is action needed on this?

Current participatory baselining etc (in ET) will show livestock up where they are important.

Explore formation of a working group.

Try to pull out what livestock research is actually happening in ARISING.

ARISING could be a good vehicle for AID to develop such a framework; but not sure this is actually needed by ARISING for own activities.

Jerry to further specify and focus this (with PeterT and Irmgard) || Tracy will pass on to Jerry to update where we are with this ||
 * 10 || Guaranteed funding for partners || Some CG partners not interested to participate as budgets were too small. They seek a minimum guarantee of income per year, over 3 years.

Need to determine plans based on needs and demands.

=USAID Update= Enter MAJOR ongoing/planned and completed tasks
 * Problem solved on a case to case basis.** || This has been resolved case by case ||
 * || Participation of Africa RISING in the ASARECA General Assembly, Scientific Conference and Exhibition to take place 9-13 December in Bujumbura || **Simret and Catherine to follow up with ASARECA. IRMGARD to provide contact.** ||  ||
 * || Formation of small working group on sustainability to come up with a framework and indicators ||  || We have made some progress on this during the learning event. TP to brief on possible next steps following afternoon discussion with PT? ||
 * || UNEP Case study on South-South Collaboration (partnerships) || Kathy Lopez will present to Comms team on Monday 23 September. PCT to take a decision. || **PCT decided to drop this.** ||
 * || Preparation for project program review? || Shall we do an internal review mid 2014? || **Yes, we want a internally commissioned review. Could be task of the new science advisory mechanism.** ||
 * || New fund allocation || when? how much? Program Comms Budget? || **no info yet from USAID** ||
 * **Task** || **Status** || **Notes for PCT review** ||
 * Tracy to report on discussion about FtF indicators for Africa RISING - and all of us in the project to share possible questions to Tracy for that discussion. ||  || Several interviews with USAID commissioned companies held; Tracy will need to follow up later on this

Is IFPRI collecting FtF indicator data? Will IFPRI enter data in FTFMS in future?


 * IHZ and Carlo agreed that IHZ will continue entering the data for ESA and WA. IHZ will request access to FTFMS for IFPRI colleagues.** ||
 * **Other news:** || 1. ||  ||
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 * || 6. ||  ||
 * Oral update
 * || 6. ||  ||
 * Oral update

Jerry to continue updating ||  ||   ||

=ESA Update= Enter MAJOR ongoing/planned and completed tasks Irmgard will review the final report which then be shared through wiki and Cgspace ||
 * **Task** || **Status** || **Notes for PCT review** ||
 * Annual review and planning meeting || 3-5 September, Malawi || Meeting took place; report prepared,
 * Finalise regional logframe || will be done before the next season, after completing new workplans. || discussed 27 September in Addis with key scientists. ||
 * April 2013 - Sep 2013 report || will be prepared and submitted in October || Awaiting reports from partners to allow preparing the report. Reminders sent to partners. ||
 * 2013 -2014 workplan and budget || will be prepared after Review and Planning meeting in September || A timeline for steps towards dissemination of updated research proposals and workplans has been agreed upon while at the Review and Planning meeting. Deadline for submission of to Mateete and me has passed. Not received. Several reminders were sent. ||
 * Africa RISING - SIMLEZA || First meeting took place end of May to get to know the two projects and explore potential areas of collaboration.
 * Africa RISING - SIMLEZA || First meeting took place end of May to get to know the two projects and explore potential areas of collaboration.
 * Africa RISING - SIMLEZA || First meeting took place end of May to get to know the two projects and explore potential areas of collaboration.

Next meeting will take place 6-7 September. Workplan cannot be developed until funding level for SIMLEZA is known. A proposal will be developed in August and brought to the meeting for discussion. || Meeting took place and agreement on collaboration has been achieved. Africa RISING ESA will invest $350k to support ongoing SIMLEZA activities and add some new ones such as farming systems analysis, introduction of doubled up legumes systems; introduction of additional legumes, trade-off analysis of CA technologies; analysis of constraints to adoption of innovations. http://africa-rising.wikispaces.com/Africa+RISING+-+SIMLEZA+collaboration+meeting Issues such as technical/financial reporting,branding and marking, data sharing, M&E, leadership discussed. Reporting on FTF indicators, reporting frequency and template, role of Mateete as Africa RISING ESA Chief Scientist still to be worked out. SIMLEZA will amend their existing project proposal with inputs from Africa RISING to cater for the new situation. First draft has been received. Needs further work.

IHZ to prepare a paragraph on this type of partnerships (with ongoing projects) for the Program Document.

The PCT welcomes the collaboration ||
 * New partnerships ||  || Africa Bureau of USAID, office of Global Climate Change interested in investing in Africa RISING - SIMLEZA. A visit to some CA sites and partners in Eastern Province took place on Monday 9 September.
 * New partnerships ||  || Africa Bureau of USAID, office of Global Climate Change interested in investing in Africa RISING - SIMLEZA. A visit to some CA sites and partners in Eastern Province took place on Monday 9 September.

Tracy– will share the documents outlining the scope of work. PCT supports such kinds of collaboration ||

=WA Update= Enter MAJOR ongoing/planned and completed tasks
 * **Task** || **Status** || **Notes for PCT review** ||
 * Annual review and planning meeting || 23-25 January 2014, Sikasso or Bamako, Mali ||  ||
 * Finalise regional logframe || 26 September meeting Irmgard/PeterT in Addis ||  ||
 * April 2013 - Sep 2013 report || will be prepared and submitted in October || Awaiting reports from partners to allow preparing the report. Reminders sent to partners. ||
 * Scientist visit || implementers from Ghana will visit field work in Mali 21-25 October || preparations in progress, needs to accommodated space for USAID visit to the mission and AVRDC sites of separate grant to AVRDC, and for talks with ICRISAT on how to align new mission funded project with Africa RISING ||
 * USAID visit to project sites in northern Ghana || From 6-9 July Jerry, Tracy, Biniam, together with Justice (M&E officer), Asamoah, Irmgard and partners visited project activities in Upper East and Northern Region ||  ||
 * Implementation of workplan || Field work started late (early July instead of early June) because of delayed onset of rainfall. Trials now in good shape. ||  ||

=Ethiopia Update= Enter MAJOR ongoing/planned and completed tasks Field work completed at all eight sites. Currently completing data entry and have started analysis and typology identification (one site complete - the approach appears to work delivering a meaningful and interpretable typology) ||  ||
 * **Task** || **Status** || **Notes for PCT review** ||
 * Development of SLATE tool || Reasonably stable version of software now available (contact PT). Will be used at HT action sites too. Does this qualify as an example of scaling innovation by AR? ||  ||
 * Sustainable Livelihoods Analysis at AR field sites || Limited progress since last report due to time constraints.
 * Participatory community assessment (PCA) || Completed. Draft report available. Final report to be posted on Cgspace following approval. ||  ||
 * On farm research || All field plots established. Mid-season field days currently being implemented at all sites. Focused study of forage trade offs in bean field (Lemo) undertaken and currently being analysed. Enset production system study initiated (Bioversity / Hawassa University) with a view to designing systems interventions. ||  ||
 * Indigenous knowledge (IK) study || Training and data collections completed. ICRAF teams currently completing reports. ||  ||
 * Market and Value chain study || Training completed September 2013. Teams currently in the field. ||  ||
 * Quantitatve dataset for ex ante impact assessment || Data from the 70 farms participating in the on-farm demos currently being collected using a cut down version of the Impact LITE survey instrument. These data will be used to support modeling of potential impacts of a range of impacts. ||  ||
 * Finalise regional logframe || 27 September meeting Irmgard/PeterT in Addis ||  ||
 * Oct 2012 - Mar 2013 report || Awaiting internal approval. Will be submitted next week hopefully ||  ||
 * April 2013 - Sep 2013 report || In preparation ||  ||
 * 2013 -2014 workplan and budget || Some review of the most appropriate form for this is required. Difficult to reconcile plans with budgets / sub-contracts. ||  ||
 * Field visits || Focused one-day field visit before learning event (23 sept) Completed in Debre Birhan.

USAID field visit (8 - 10 Nov or 14-18 Nov) site visits before or after M&E meeting. To be planned (Simret/PeterT) ||  || =M&E Update= Enter MAJOR ongoing/planned and completed tasks
 * Planning meeting || Early November to include synthesis session to jumpstart the synthesis and joint interpretation of the data generated by SLATE, PCA, IK, Value chain, quantitative baselines. ||  ||
 * Staff update || Four newly staffs have joined Africa RISING in the Ethiopian hihglands as site coordinator for the four regions ||  ||
 * CG partners meeting || We have conducted two CG partners meeting (One through virtual and the other face to face). We have planned to do this frequently to update on what is taking place under the Africa RISING project activities and share plans. ||  ||
 * **Task** || **Status** || **Notes for PCT review** ||
 * Joint Africa RISING (AR)-Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) M&E meeting:

AR-related AR/CSISA-related So far 25 people confirmed and hope to get more confirmation ||
 * review and planning of AR M&E activities
 * baseline survey results (Tanzania and Malawi) and planning (Ethiopia, Ghana, Mali, Zambia)
 * coordination between Wageningen, IFPRI, and research teams on modeling efforts (crop-modeling, livestock modeling)
 * innovating on conventional approaches to technology promotion and extension, i.e., what is/is not working at the field level;
 * managing valuable data and information collected from the field level for use in project monitoring, management decision-making, and stakeholder outreach;
 * assessing project interventions, with a focus on the household and landscape level outcomes of both technologies/practices and promotion/extension modalities;
 * addressing challenges related with M&E and impact assessment needs and efforts, including design of quantitative household surveys;
 * evaluating impact, either in an ex post manner or in an ex ante; and
 * enabling cross-hub (cross-mega-site) learning of success stories and lessons learned. || Planned for Nov 11-13 2013 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia || Carryover funds?
 * Web-based monitoring platform (Project Mapping Tool PMT)
 * upload data onto the monitoring platform by authenticated users (M&E team and research teams)
 * view sites and community-level reports, including FtF indicators, baseline survey data, and bio-physical characteristics
 * edit project- and site-specific information by authenticated users
 * download data (summary of FtF indicators, baseline survey data, bio-physical characteristic, and maps)
 * linked with AR wiki

Actions: Web interface to be ready early september Organize training/awareness session on the platform for ARISING (end August). eg: In the ESA review and planning meeting? || Under update || FtF indicators to be compiled by the research teams || When can this be done?
 * AR baseline surveys (planning)
 * July/August, 2013 - Malawi and Tanzania (CAPI surveys, interviewer training in Malawi on 8th of July)
 * Nov/December 2013 - Ghana and Ethiopia
 * Dec 2013/Jan 2014 - Mali
 * Zambia-possibly in the summer of 2014 (?) || ongoing || The issue of data use agreement (between AR and SIMLEZA) needs to be settled asap for the M&E team to deliver accurate site characterization result to guide the selection of SIMLEZA sites for AR intervention
 * The one in Malawi is done, Tanzania has not started due to staff number imitation
 * Beliyou to follow on the actions that was presented by the M& E team ||
 * Collaborations
 * FAO/ Economics and Policy Innovations for Climate-Smart Agriculture (EPIC)--reviewed AR survey tool, contributed questions on climate smart agricultural practices, likely to provide funding for a survey in Zambia (MoU)
 * ACDI/VOCA--ongoing discussions with M&E managers at headquarters and in Ethiopia--possible collaborations in data collection efforts in Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Ghana where ACDI/VOCA sites overlap with AR sites
 * Vital Signs--reviewed AR survey tool and provided feedback, potential collaboration ??
 * MSU (meetings w/ Thomas Jayne, Mywish Maredia et al.)--MSU provided resources on household/community/quantitative agricultural surveys, they reviewed AR survey tool, M&E team is expecting feedback on the tool (e.g., how to measure cultivated area/yield accurately with intercropping) || ongoing ||  ||
 * Site/field visits
 * Tanzania, Malawi (2), Zambia, Ethiopia
 * Ghana, Mali (local M&E coordinator) || done

TBD ||  ||
 * Carlo, PeterT and Irmgard to decide about the custom indicators

We are still tied to the 9 principle ones. Or do we want to look for more? We can decide later.

Action: Need to link these in the PMT. || not done ||  || =Comms Update= Enter MAJOR ongoing/planned and completed tasks Suggest regular review and update as part of each annual learning event (living document) ||  ||
 * **Task** || **Status** || **Notes for PCT review** ||
 * Program brochure en and fr || En and fr ready || Finalized ||
 * Program poster en and fr || En and fr ready || Finalized(printing will remin for the fr) ||
 * ESA poster || preparation will start soon || May follow the one from Ethiopia ||
 * WA poster || preparation will start soon || May follow the one from Ethiopia ||
 * ESA brochure || preparation will start soon ||  ||
 * WA brochure || preparation will start soon ||  ||
 * Malawi video || in preparation || On agro-ecological intensification options to be used in training workshops for extensionists and development partners ||
 * Program generic presentation en and fr || not yet started ||  ||
 * Ethiopia generic presentation || Finalized ||  ||
 * Wiki usage guidelines || Not yet started ||  ||
 * Program framework || Version 1 published
 * Program framework || Version 1 published
 * Program framework || Version 1 published
 * ‘Matters ARISING’ newsletter || Issue 1 circuated || a second isssue will be prepared after the leanring event ||
 * Photo journalist visit 2013 || End September and early october in Ghana || Photographer and journalist contracted, travel to Ghana in October; Asamoah working on program ||
 * IITA comms person for ARISING || Being recruited by IITA || Will start on 1 November ||
 * Virtual comms catchups || Irregular || Simret/Ewen/ comms people ||
 * Half-yearly comms metrics/stats ||  || Latest report ||
 * Blog updates || ongoing || need regular stories from all regions ||
 * Wiki gardening/management || regular ||  ||
 * Documents to CGSPACE || regularly updated || IITA to join cgspace training late october (tbc) ||
 * Use of yammer for internal updating || initiated || needs wider promotion and buy-in ||
 * Photo sharing on flickr || regularly updated || Simret to follow with Catherine and Katy - to inform partners to send four-five pictures with captions ||
 * Presentations shared on slideshare || regularly updated ||  ||
 * ARISING calendar updating || regularly updated ||  ||
 * Comms tools awareness ||  || Held at the learning event ||
 * Africa RISING annual learning event || 24th -26 th sept 2013 completed || Conducted and PCT congratulated for the success ||
 * Branding Guidline ||  ||   ||
 * **Next PCT :** second week of January, Simret to discuss and fix a time with Iain and check with the rest of the team ||  ||   ||
 * Africa RISING annual learning event || 24th -26 th sept 2013 completed || Conducted and PCT congratulated for the success ||
 * Branding Guidline ||  ||   ||
 * **Next PCT :** second week of January, Simret to discuss and fix a time with Iain and check with the rest of the team ||  ||   ||