Pct8
Contents
Africa RISING program coordination team meeting
5 June 2015 09:00 - 13:00
IFPRI, Washington DC[edit | edit source]
Participants[edit | edit source]
Jerry Glover
Irmgard Hoeschle-Zeledon
Peter Thorne
Carlo Azzarri
Bernard Vanlauwe
Siboniso Moyo
Peter Ballantyne
sara
kindu
asamoah
Notes from the meeting[edit | edit source]
File:AR_retreat2015_notes.docx
Logistics[edit | edit source]
Immediately following the program retreat
Agenda[edit | edit source]
- Overall action points
- USAID Update
- Africa RISING Project updates
- 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 updates
- Communication updates
- SAG: new chair, conflicts of interest?, remuneration
- Next PCT meeting - first thursday of every month. gotomeeting. 9 am washington DC.
- AOB:
Overall action points[edit | edit source]
ESA review and planning (Jul)External Review
Symposium
PMMT trainings - feedback sessions with farmers - Carlo to co-plan with country scientists
Action | Status | Notes and Actions update |
Theory of change and impact pathways | Adopt a program level ToC - Clean and finalise this - expose to teams and scientists, getting feedback. Irmgard, PeterT, chief scientists. By end July. Elaborate ToC for 'project' activities/protocols in regions. Start in Ethiopia with project ToC - groundtruth. PeterT. Feedback/learning by end August. |
action/discussion points |
'Systems' research futures | These issues and concerns need to be addressed in the phase 2 proposal Develop and document a strong evidence based storyline; breadth, focus .. unique selling point. |
action/discussion points |
Phase 2 proposal | Constitute small design group - petert, irmgard, chief scientists, carlo, bernard impact pathways piece |
this whole thing to be discussed in the pct design retreat |
Program Agenda/Calendar | ||
action/discussion points | ||
Engaging farmers into program activitiesMalawi (Dedza, Ntcheu) |
we have engagement guidelines / circulate and perhaps revise/ common principles needed take stock how this happens in different countries - chief scientists |
action/discussion points |
[Advisory Group] | SAG membership - need replacements for Maggie Gill (livestock) as chair and Dave Harris (farming systems) or economist. PT to lead. Convene special PCT virtual session on SAG members by mid July; nominate new names by end June. |
3rd meeting virtual in June 4th meeting in Ethiopia in Nov |
SI framework and indicators | 2 postdocs getting involved - thru MSU and Columbia U; first results in July 2016. partners meetings, validation, visits all planned, also with AR sites. July 2015 start. Vara to send concept notes to Jerry to circulate. Post-San Jose steering committee led by SI lab (Vara) the main vehicle to take this agenda forward. |
action/discussion points Carlo, IHZ and PT to continue active involvement in the steering committee. |
Internal-commissioned Project and program reviews and issues arising | Included into work stream of the program workshop Projects to act on the recommendations, as appropriate |
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[commissioned external evaluation] | Suggest projects provide responses/commentaries on the review reports. Useful for the USAID reviewers. PT/IHZ Starts September 2015; Ethiopia, Ghana, program workshop, then Mali |
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[typologies work] | Report needs to say that AR learned, has a new framework has more focus, etc. CA - wants to hold a meeting to take this forward (in europe) with WUR. Carlo to lead the typologies followup. Need to link with HT discussions, embed into experimentation, engaging with farmers. |
action/discussion points Work on Farm typologies - Carlo to lead follow up |
Africa RISING program strategy workshop | Included into work stream of the program workshop Agreed that the symposium needs to be more of a strategic workshop. |
action/discussion point |
Data management and sharing | We decided to use the ILRI CKAN platform. Data sharing policy was approved during the Arusha meeting (lNovember 2014). |
Need to ensure that country data are contributed
How do we get all the data submitted Next ESA review and planning meeting Follow up in washington - make space for this |
USAID Update[edit | edit source]
Enter MAJOR ongoing/planned and completed tasks
Task | Status | Notes for PCT review |
Links with other funders | Funding for scaling up | SI Innovation Laboratory |
ESA Update[edit | edit source]
Task | Status | Notes for PCT review |
2014-2016 workplans and budget | Workplans and budget are with Steering Committee for approval IHZ: WORKPLANS ARE IMPLEMENTED | |
Technical report to USAID | NEXT REPORT (OCTOBER 14 TO MARCH 15) UNDER PREPARATION; Report submitted to donor | |
Project document | Will be prepared before review in February (IHZ) IHZ: DONE; revision not done | |
IP establishment | R4D platforms in several locations IHZ: 2 IN TANZANIA AND 2 IN MALAWI AT DISTRICT LEVEL OPERATIONAL | |
New partnerships | USAID Africa Bureau has provided US$ 350k to IITA for contracting MSU to carry out a desk study with Zambian national partners to provide the scientific evidence base for the links between field and farm level SI interventions and climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation. Project is implemented, inception workshops held. System Dynamics Model developed and introduced to partners during a workshop for feedback. Currently revised. IHZ: PROJECT RECEIVED NO COST EXTENSION UNTIL END OF AUGUST 15.
Concept note to the USAID mission in Tanzania is under preparation for scaling technologies for rice, maize, beans, vegetables, soil fertility (fertilizer), strengthening seed systems, post harvest handling (4.5-5m for 3 years). |
action/discussion points Will this project continue beyond August 2015?teams |
WA Update[edit | edit source]
Task | Status | Notes for PCT review |
Scientist visits to other countries | IHZ: IN APRIL SCIENTISTS FROM WA AND ESA WILL VISIT LANDSCAPE MANAGEMENT ACTIVITIES IN ET; Very successful visit | |
Project document | under preparation, will be ready for the project evaluation Prepared but needs revision - end of December 2014 IHZ: NOT DONE;Revision still not done | |
2014/15 Workplan implementation | PLANNING OF FIELD ACTIVITIES TO BE CONCLUDED SOON; Workplan updated and partner contracts signed | |
Technical report to USAID | REPORT FOR PERIOD OCTOBER 14 TO MARCH 15 UNDER PREPARATION, Submitted | |
IP establishment | 6 DISTRICT LEVEL PLATFORMS IN PLACE IN GHANA AND 2 IN MALI; FARA to be contracted to help with Platforms in Ghana |
Ethiopia Update[edit | edit source]
Task | Status | Notes for PCT review |
Meher season action research | 30 research protocols implemented across all sites after participant selection meetings. | |
New partnerhships | Fertilizer project initial concept note approved, finalising proposal with mission (Ethiopia mission, led by ILRI) Follow up with BMGF? |
action/discussion points Fertilizer proposal did not come to fruition. |
2014-2015 workplan implementation | action/discussion points Follow up and new protocols currently being submitted for implementation June 2015. Shift away from survey / diagnostics to on-farm action and scaling. | |
Technical reports to USAID | October 2014 - March 2015 report in preparation | |
IP establishment | Training of local facilitators in IP maintenance and comms tools; IPs established at different levels IPs as potential locus for 'research on scaling'? |
action/discussion points |
External review | Took place March/April 2015; report in preparation | action/discussion points |
Planning meeting | Took place early December 2014; Reviewed protocols; focus on scaling and led to draft scaling plan | |
Monthly CGIAR meetings | Well attended with regular info sharing and reporting | |
Scaling | Draft scaling plan produced Initial conversations with local comms partners (video/radio) to explore scaling support | Evidence already crystallising of "spontaneous" scaling. Two specific research protocols in preparation: Mapping the diffusion of Africa RISING innovations via spontaneous scaling activities. |
M&E Update[edit | edit source]
Task PMMT |
Status | Notes for PCT review |
Actions: 2 days of PMMT training in all countries/sites | Main point is the data sharing and management - ensure (meta) data is shared | |
Updates to the tool, among other things, separation of the mapping application from the data entry application (to make the system faster). | Ongoing | BVL: whose job is it to analyze the data? - the projects all together. Up to each project to do own analysis. |
This round of training on the PMMT will include: training on the FtF indicators |
Coordination of training ongoing | |
IFPRI is working with AR colleagues to identify AR researchers for these training, as this round of training be given to selected AR researchers willing to serve as Points of Contacts (PoCs), to jointly address questions that may arise post training, | Ongoing, ready by mid-June in time for the training | IFPRI needs to alert project scientists that the baseline data is available. send a reminder. -> done |
IFPRI also proposes that all Ftf data get uploaded onto the PMMT by October 31st or a month before the FtFMS portal closes, to give time for checking and aggregation of WP-level data to mega-site level |
Another main point the evolving IFPRI scope of work in AR -SoW circulated | |
Data | ||
Malawi ARBES published on IFPRI internal platform (Dataverse): Tanzania next | Ongoing | |
Data cleaning and documentation for Malawi, Tanzania, Mali, Ghana, and Ethiopias | Data cleaning done for MWI, TZA. | |
Reports under preparation: Ghana and Mali reports to be shared with field research teams by 4/30 |
Ghana report shared, Mali ongoing | |
Actions | ||
Follow up with Zambia and Wageningen team (for SIMLEZA data access); with Thom Jayne (MSU) (for RALS data access) | Not yet pursued due to lack of time in analyzing Zambia data | |
External collaborations | ||
Wageningen team FAO: Memorandum of Understanding signed |
Ongoing Ongoing |
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Internal collaborations | ||
IFPRI-IITA collaboration on research output for Ghana (and possibly Mali) IFPRI-IITA collaboration on data collection in Babati (with Job Kihara and Gundula Fischer) |
Ongoing Dialogue initiated |
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Staffing | ||
Talks b/n IFPRI, IITA and ILRI for Ghana, Mali, and Ethiopia M&E data managers. Asamoah's proposal is to hire nationally recruited M&E officers for Ghana and Mali with IFPRI's total contribution of $50k; Peter T. proposal is to hire a data manager in Ethiopia with IFPRI's contribution of $35k. IFPRI is proposing that Ethiopia/ILRI data manager be responsible for both monitoring of EH project and managing of AR data through CKAN | Under discussion | |
Annual M&E meeting preparation and organization in Bamako, (October 2015) jointly with the Science Symposium | Ongoing | |
Paper on targeting and expected impact in Malawi submitted to ICABR and ICAE; poster presented at Humidtropics conference | Done, presented at several conferences | |
Paper on Sustainable Intensification and Dietary Quality: How sensitive is crop income to dietary quality in Malawi? Abstract submitted to the 2nd International Conference on Nutrition, October 2015, Cornell | Ongoing | |
IFPRI Scope of Work circulated. Discussion completed with USAID | Approved by USAID with comments | |
How many agr. trials do we have in AR? | ||
Do we hold back funding from people not delivering data | ||
http:www.agtrials.org] | Ongoing | Chief scientists have important roles |
Culture of sharing and awareness, capacity development necessary | ||
Improve the workflows for CKAN? widen access to CKAN? |
Comms Update[edit | edit source]
Task | Status | Notes for PCT review |
Publicity materials | ||
Briefs | CGIAR | Now 18 completed (all ethiopia); converting another 10 or so from other regions with same template |
Virtual comms team catchups | Irregular | |
Half-yearly comms metrics/stats | [webstats] | |
Web site updates | 32 updates and posts this year (from all regions) 12000 views this year (9000 same period last year) |
Need to go thru and update descriptive info on ESA and WE |
Wiki gardening/management | 25000 views from 9000 visitors | |
Documents to CGSPACE | 288 documents/products online 19 in 2015 |
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Use of yammer for internal updating | We are seeing regular posting and reactions | Do we need more systematic/regular internal updates from coordinators? |
Photo sharing on flickr | regularly updated | |
Presentations shared on slideshare | regularly updated | |
ARISING calendar updating | regularly updated | |
Photojournalist 2016 ESA Learning Event 2015 |
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Messaging | Link to 'science' meeting in October Prepare slide decks of data, evidence, stories; also climate-smart ag and private sector |