Pct43
Africa RISING PCT #43
23 September 2020
Skype call
Present
- Siboniso Moyo (SM) - Chair
- Bernard Vanlauwe (BV)
- Jerry Glover (JG)
- Irmgard Hoeschle-Zeledon (IHZ)
- Carlo Azzari (CA)
- Peter Thorne (PT)
- Mateete Bekunda (MB)
- Fred Kizito (FK)
- Kindu Mekonnen (KM)
- Jonathan Odhong' (JO) – Secretary
Agenda
- Follow up on pending action points from #PCT42 meeting
- Discussion about the AR mini-workshop
- We need to agree on a date. Two options proposed for consideration: (a) 27, 28, 29 October 2020 or (b) 3, 4, 5 November 2020
- Inputs to the draft agenda required. The latest draft is available on this google docs link
- Quick updates about actions taken from the Internally Commissioned External Review
- Updates on actions taken at the regional project level to be given by the Chief Scientists/Project Managers
- Task sharing among PCT members for recommendations that were labeled ‘PCT responsibility’. See attached word file.
- Any other Business
Action points from PCT 42
- There were no follow-up action points registered.
AR mini-workshop
- Mini-workshop date fixed for 3, 4, 5 November 2020. All Members are available.
- Feedback on the agenda draft:
- JG: What I am going to bring up may go into the sessions for day 1 or may fit better into that very last small session about the way forward. In terms of envisioning where Africa RISING is 2 years from now, at least by then we will have some dramatically changed how it's funded and the partnerships involved.I believe we will have to report back in some way the impact pathways in that graph that was presented in Phase II proposal. That impact pathway graph showed things like the targeted number of beneficiaries, the path and how to get there. I think if we frame our final report around that then we would come up with things like a scaling narrative - describing how things were scaled, the success of it or not, the numbers of beneficiaries reached, the potential benefits to those beneficiaries including economic, and then something around the return on investment (RoI) of the research investments. Now I know, that is not exactly what the agenda for this meeting is designed to do, but if we go through the workshop at least or even as we plan towards this workshop we should at least start thinking about how we are going to do that either as the separate regional projects or as the program together. So maybe at least in the upcoming meeting/retreat we start working through some of those issues. This can be done as the regional projects are presenting on their outputs/outcomes and lessons learned, how we might go through the next couple of years to revive that. This a very high-level priority right now within USAID to document the RoI through our research investments. I have a few ways to propose on how we do that , which I can bring out during the retreat. So let's at least start thinking about it and if we can present some outcomes during the retreat then it will be part of the way forward.
- PT: Thank JG, that sounds like a helpful steer for us. I like the idea that it is grounded on the Phase II proposal and what we envisaged then. As everyone knows, there have been some rocky times, but I think we have a general lay on how we would proceed along that impact pathway. I guess we are talking about 18 months or so to deliver some evidence-based observations on that and that is doable. We've been trying to think about how to pick up some of these impacts , especially some of the ones that don't come out through the FtF indicators, so I think that can sort of be firmed-up during this proposed retreat/workshop.
- BV: Thanks JG, I think this is a good comment. In terms of making progress would it make sense for some people to start thinking about this already so that we have some content that can be presented during the workshop. Just to move this forward in a more efficient way.
- IHZ: Yes, BV, that would be a more efficient way to go about it.
- PT: I think we have probably have some of the information around some of the specific components of the impact pathway that may be related to technologies and other kinds of value chains. I think that would give us an idea about kind of whether it is feasible that that could be discussed at this meeting. We could take some case studies and present some of those? It wouldn't be the full picture, but it will be a start.
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ACTIONS:
- Revise draft agenda and add a session to discuss progress on AR impact pathways and AR RoI
- The Program Managers and Chief Scientist to put together region-based presentations to highlight AR progress along the impact pathways (as indicated) in phase II proposals and RoI.
- JG to share a proposed outline for the elements to be highlighted in the presentation.
- An initial meeting to agree on a common approach to be adopted by each project for this presentation to be convened/agreed upon by IHZ and PT.
Actions taken from the Internally Commissioned External Review
Any other Business
