Learning event 2019

Africa RISING program learning event
04 - 09 February 2019
Lilongwe, Malawi

Themes

1. Resilience/risk reduction in Africa RISING and beyond
2. Experiences in implementation of the Sustainable Intensification Assessment Framework
3. Systems research for agriculture in practice
4. Common understanding of terminologies used within the Africa RISING program

General agenda overview

Date	Activity
4 February	Participants arrival
5 February	08:00 - 17:00 - Learning event opening day [Sunbird Capital Hotel, Viphya Meeting Room] 19:00 - Welcome cocktail by the poolside
6 – 7 February	Field visit to Africa RISING project sites 6 February 07:30 - Depart hotel, visit project sites in Linthipe EPA, Dedza 13:00 - Lunch in Dedza 14:00 - Drive to Liwonde, spend night at Hippo Lodge 7 February 07:30 - Visit project activity sites in Ntubwi EPA 12:00 - 12:30 - Lunch on transit - by the mountain side with a nice view of Zomba mountain and the dry Lake Chirwa!! 12:30 - 15:00 Visit to more project sites at Matandika EPA 15:00 - Return trip to Lilongwe
8 February	08:00 - 15:00 - Learning event close-out day [Sunbird Capital Hotel, Viphya Meeting Room] 15:00 - ESA project steering committee
9 February	Participants departure Africa RISING Communications Team Meeting

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4 February [Day 0]

• Participants arrival
  

5 February [Day 1]
08:00 Registration
08:20 Participant intro’s
08:50 Welcome & opening remarks
09:10 Agenda overview & housekeeping issues
09:25 Updates from Africa RISING PCT meetings – B. Vanlauwe/S. Moyo
09:55 Resilience and food production in smallholder farming systems - perspectives from USAID
10:30 Break & participants group photo
11:00 Systems Research in Agriculture – a call to action. - P. Thorne
11:45 Experiences with implementation of the Sustainable Intensification Assessment Framework [SIAF]

• [11:45 - 13:00] Perspectives from FtF SI Innovation Lab [SIIL] – Vara Prasad, Director SIIL

13:00 Lunch
14:00 Experiences with SIAF cont’d..

• [14:00 - 15:00] Case studies from Africa RISING projects. 3 Posters by Lulsegad Desta [Ethiopia], Lieven Claessens [ESA] , Nurudeen Abdul Rahman [WA]
• [15:00 - 15:45] Mainstreaming implementation of the SI Assessment Framework discussion - what have we learnt so far?
  

15:45 Break
16:15 Plans for next day’s field trips

• What to expect in the field - Regis Chikowo
• Assignments for participants to follow up on during the field trips
• Logistics - departure time, buses, agenda for the field trip, any other business + ethical guidelines?
  

16:45 Day 1 summary and wrap-up
17:00 End of day

19:00 Welcome cocktail by the poolside

6 - 7 February [Day 2 - 3]
Field visit to Africa RISING project sites

6 February

07:30 - Depart hotel, visit project sites in Linthipe EPA, Dedza

13:00 - Lunch in Dedza

14:00 - Drive to Liwonde, spend night at Hippo Lodge

7 February

07:30 - Visit project activity sites in Ntubwi EPA

12:00 - 12:30 - Lunch on transit - by the mountain side with a nice view of Zomba mountain and the dry Lake Chirwa!!

12:30 - 15:00 Visit to more project sites at Matandika EPA

15:00 - Return trip to Lilongwe

8 February [Day 4]
08:00 Reflections on the field trips
08:30 Cross-learning and harmonization in Africa RISING - Irmgard Hoeschle-Zeledon
09:00 Common understanding of terminologies across Africa RISING – Haroon Sseguya
10:00 Break
10:20 Monitoring and Evaluation session

• General M&E presentation - 15 mins. pres. + 20 mins. Q&A
• Break-out discussions led by regional M&E officers - 30 mins.
• Reporting back in plenary [led by regional M&E officers - 15 mins.
  

11:40 Communication session
12:40 Lunch
14:00 How can research partner with development partners better? Insights from Africa RISING - CRS partnership in Malawi - Heinrich Geoffrey, CRS
14:45 Closing – S. Moyo & J. Glover
15:00 Africa RISING ESA Project Steering Committee meeting // Other parallel meetings & discussions

9 February [Day 5]

• Participants departure