Pct33

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Africa RISING PCT #33
22 January 2019
Skype call
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Present

  1. Siboniso Moyo (SM)
  2. Bernard Vanlauwe (BV)- Chair
  3. Peter Thorne (PT)
  4. Carlo Azzarri (CA)
  5. Jonathan Odhong' (JO) - Secretary
  6. Irmgard Hoeschle-Zeledon (IHZ)
  7. Beliyou Haile (BH)


Apologies

  1. Jerry Glover (JG)


Agenda

1.Data management plan
2. Follow up of action points from previous PCT meeting [[1]]
-Authorization to spend 2019
-Soil health consortium
-Feed the future indicators and targets
-Overview of Africa RISING web presence
-Internally commissioned external review
-Taskforce to promote harmonization across Africa RISING and SI domain stewards
-SRA advocacy document
3.Annual learning event plans

Data management plan


Summary
Automation of the data request process through dataverse is the single item pending to finalize the data management plan. At the moment dataverse doesn’t have the capability to embed the data user agreement automatically so that the individuals requesting to use another person’s data can fill up all the details about their request for review by the data owner. BH & CA are still following up with the dataverse team about this. So far it seems there are two options to achieve this automation:

  1. An approach approved by the Board of Trustees at Harvard: Any data request goes through the dataverse team at Harvard who then forward the request to IFPRI team before it finally gets to the owner.
  2. Keep the automation process and data request process entirely inhouse: Have the data request form on Google Spreadsheet, with all the required details for the request filled out there. Once a requestor fills out all the details then the request alert goes to CA/BH for forwarding to the data owner who will then decide whether to grant access or not.

The second option is preferred because it reduces the layers to data request. BH is working with the IFPRI Knowledge Management team to operationalize this.

Conversation

  • IHZ – Document is still silent on data sharing for data that is not confidential. The document currently only talks about sharing of confidential data. Probably this section in the updated data management plan should be split to address these two issues separately.
  • BV – We need to fix a date for finalization of this data management plan and the other changes that come with it like the automation of the data request form.
  • CA – The use of Google Spreadsheets will be an interim option. There are efforts (internally) by the IFPRI Knowledge Management team to work with dataverse to accommodate very specific requirements by institutes and programs like Africa RISING.

Action

  • The way forward proposed by BH & CA to use Google Spreadsheets is adopted.
  • BH to circulate the revised data management plan to all PCT members via email. She will also share a completion timeline for the data management plan.

Authorization to spend in 2019


JG to provide new updates/information on this when available.

Soil health consortium


BV – I attended the meeting, but the soil health consortium was not launched as planned. I will share with PCT members a draft output document we generated at the meeting. Please keep it confidential at this stage. The vision for the consortium is big and initial perception is that the consortium still needs to include more organizations, considering its vision. Discussions at the meeting focused on: the initial steps to get the consortium up and running, what is the niche of this soil health consortium considering all the soil research work that is ongoing presently within the continent, and finally what would be the first actions for the consortium. The consortium is led by Kansas State University.
Action
BV to share any updates on this item whenever available.

Feed the Future indicators and targets


Action

IHZ, PT and CA to share an update about this at the next PCT meeting.

Overview of Africa RISING web presence


JO – Most of the restoration work on the wiki is complete, there are just a few aspects that will be addressed/completed by 30 January 2019. Some progress has also been made with the process of website revamp and a draft site will be shown to PCT members and Africa RISING partners for initial feedback during the upcoming learning event in Lilongwe.

Internally commissioned external review


PT, IHZ and CA had drafted and shared with all PCT members proposed terms of reference [ins.link] for internally commissioned external review. No feedback yet received from PCT members apart from BV. Names of possible reviewers have also been shared via email.
Tentatively, plans for the review are planned as follows:
Activity Document reviews Key informant telephone interviews Travels to countries to meet with key informants and field visits Interim report with key findings and draft recommendations Debriefing meeting with PCT (in Dar es Salaam) Final Report writing
Ethiopian Highlands Project May/June 2019 June/July 2019 October 2019 November 2019 March 2020 (after conclusion of field trips in Tanzania) July 2020
West Africa Project [Ghana, Mali] May/June 2019 June/July 2019 September 2019 November 2019 March 2020 (after conclusion of field trips in Tanzania) July 2020
East and Southern Africa Project May/June 2019 January 2020 February/March 2020 Soil erosion March 2020 (after conclusion of field trips in Tanzania) July 2020
Action
-JO to put together a separate wiki page for documenting discussions about the internally commissioned external reviews.
-IHZ, CA, PT to review comments/suggestions from BV and then revise the ToR as necessary. Also, to review the list of proposed reviewers and trim down a shortlist with justifications.
-Updated ToR and shortlist of proposed reviewers to be reviewed during next PCT meeting and next steps agreed.

Taskforce to promote harmonization across Africa RISING and SI domain stewards


IHZ and PT had a meeting together with the 3 Chief Scientists and came up with various proposals for adoption by the PCT.

(a)Promoting harmonization and implementation of the SI Assessment Framework.
The following approaches are recommended:
i.Common publications focusing on five topics:
-Cross-country watersheds experience (led by Kindu Mekonnen)
-Process paper (led by Kindu Mekonnen)
-Program-wide livestock paper (led by Augustine Ayantunde)
-Approaches, challenges and experiences in scaling (led by Million Gebreyes)
-Intercropping (led by Sieg Snapp)
ii.Reflections on science quality within and across regions.
Since there is no longer a SAG, the internally commissioned external review is a kind of review of the quality of science – although it is one off. However, continuous peer review/self-check of AR science will be achieved through mechanisms like science write shops, executive research committees at project levels to help in reviewing the quality of workplans submitted by partners and getting a common/consistent support from biometrician to support AR scientists.
(b)SI domain stewardship
The idea of appointing staff as SI domain stewards -however well intended – is once again a top down approach. Some of the individual proposed to take charge as domain stewards have declined due to various factors including: ‘lack’ of ‘specialist’ knowledge about some of the domains and possible conflict of interest. Chief Scientists need to take leadership roles in ensuring implementation of the Sustainable Indicator Assessment Framework.
(c) Minimum data sets to be collected for each SI domain
A taskforce to be set up to review the proposed minimum data sets that project partners should collect across the five SI domains. Some of the data sets proposed during the extended PCT meeting in October 2018 need to be reviewed because measuring some of them (for example soil erosion) is not easy.

Conversation

  • BV – We know that the SI Assessment Framework implementation will not happen automatically. Can you live with not implementing them? We probably shouldn’t drop the engagement of projects with the SIAF. We need to show progress with integration of the SIAF.
  • IHZ – The partners in ESA & WA have been asked to show on their workplans which data (from each domain) they are planning to collect. This is a new approach that we are yet to see how this will work out.
  • BV – If we drop the SI domain stewards because of being top-down, then we should consider adopting an incentivized approach for encouraging people to collect data for each domain of the SIAF. Implementing the SIAF is what sets Africa RISING apart from the other projects.
Action
-PT to develop the terms of reference for the taskforce to review the minimum data sets to be collected across the SI domains.
-Decisions about how to proceed with harmonization and the SI Assessment Framework to be taken at the next PCT meeting.

SRA advocacy document


Feedback from JG needed on this. To be revisited at the next PCT meeting.


Annual Learning Event 2019


  • JO – All logistical arrangements for the learning event are on course. The agenda for the meeting is near final. A guest speaker from USAID-BFS (to talk on resilience) was supposed to have been invited, but we still don’t have a name. PT has approached an alternative speaker from ILRI.

Action

  • PT to follow up with the alternate speaker on resilience. If we don’t get a confirmation from him, then the agenda item on resilience should be shelved.

Any Other Business


  • IHZ – We were expecting funds to come in January 2019, but it is apparent that this is not going to happen. For both ESA and West Africa projects we have funding available until March.
  • BV – We made some progress with Regis in drafting the resilience statements / “medicine labels”. Maybe we can discuss this issue at the next PCT meetings.

Next PCT meeting


  • Secretary to send out a doodle about the next PCT meeting.