Pct8

Africa RISING program coordination team meeting
5 June 2015 09:00 - 13:00
IFPRI, Washington DC

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PCT page

Participants

Jerry Glover
Irmgard Hoeschle-Zeledon
Peter Thorne
Carlo Azzarri
Bernard Vanlauwe
Siboniso Moyo
Peter Ballantyne

sara
kindu
asamoah

Notes from the meeting

File:AR_retreat2015_notes.docx

Logistics

Immediately following the program retreat

Agenda

• 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

ESA review and planning (Jul)
External Review
Symposium
PMMT trainings - feedback sessions with farmers - Carlo to co-plan with country scientists

Overall action points

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. Early Sept - organize a cross-region discussion - Bernard to lead For current phase use any existing planning tools/instruments Review approach and plans in the symposium. Find the wider FtF/USAID 'zone of influence' numbers and include as targets (from scaling and partners not from direct research). Add thru the IPs. Carlo/IFPRI with heavy inputs from country teams. Ready in time for the external review - mid Oct latest	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. Ready in time for the external review - mid Oct latest Included into work stream of the program workshop Proposal to be submitted - April/May 2016 estimate Develop and document a strong evidence base for the scaling approach; partnerships; numbers; impact pathways Have something around the 5+2 SI indicators ready Perhaps need to have 3 projects - linked - to avoid usaid financial ceilings	action/discussion points
Phase 2 proposal	Constitute small design group - petert, irmgard, chief scientists, carlo, bernard impact pathways piece systems piece numbers piece [dates: 1-4 september in Wagenngen) Consider ways other initiatives can co-support AR; or we co-support them (eg BMGF-ICRISAT sep 2015 drylands WA convening) Need to consider 2 other issues in the phase 2 proposal: partnerships; climate-smart ag Any CRP association? Or not? What focus and how to get there?	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 Included into work stream of the program workshop ? Third meeting with current membership later in June: dates, location. PT to contact chair.	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. We are using these in the new program framework	3rd meeting virtual in June 4th meeting in Ethiopia in Nov Invited to the Oct symposium
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. Also need more comms around the agenda and all the various activities to wider groups (eg the san jose group). Evolving into a SI CoP.	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
[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 ESA in March 2016 Final report April 2016 Interim report Nov 2015 Make clear it is 3+1 projects
[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. To be held 6-8 October in Mali co-locate with learning/M&E events	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). Policy is already binding for researchers on the ground; also for partners. Partners are mandated to share Need to solve the problem of efficient workflow IFPRI-ILRI-outside world through the access and sharing permissions. Action: review final policy? It is accessible on the wiki: http://africarising.wikispaces.com/program_moneval	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

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USAID Update

Enter MAJOR ongoing/planned and completed tasks

Task	Status	Notes for PCT review
Links with other funders	Funding for scaling up	SI Innovation Laboratory

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ESA Update

Enter MAJOR ongoing/planned and completed tasks

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). Project approved ($2,000,000 for year 1). Workplans currently finalized IHZ: SCALING EXPERT EMPLOYED IN FEBRUARY; GIS POSITION RE-ADVERTISED, INTERVIEWS ON 22 APRIL; GIS position filled on 1 June	action/discussion points Will this project continue beyond August 2015?teams

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WA Update

Enter MAJOR ongoing/planned and completed tasks

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

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Ethiopia Update

Enter MAJOR ongoing/planned and completed tasks

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? Good initial meetings with GAIN around nutrition (dairy and household nutrition; biofortification)	action/discussion points Fertilizer proposal did not come to fruition. Interesting indications of ground up adoption for scaling of AR initiatives (e.g. S. Tigray Zone / AGP inputs). Facilitated by IPs.
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'? Several documents and guidelines produced	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. A comparison of campaign based approaches to promote the scaling of AR innovations. Exploring links with Digital Green and Farm Radio

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M&E Update

Enter MAJOR ongoing/planned and completed tasks

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 training on consistency-checks embedded excel template for offline data compilation (for uploading onto the PMMT and then FtFMS)	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 Tanzania under revision Malawi and Ethiopia next in the agenda	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 Biosight/IAMM (water, land, ecosystem integration) Bioversity	Ongoing Ongoing Ongoing Dialogue initiated
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
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?

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Comms Update

Enter MAJOR ongoing/planned and completed tasks

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 77 in 2014 IITA will join cgspace as its own repository
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
Messaging		Link to 'science' meeting in October Prepare slide decks of data, evidence, stories; also climate-smart ag and private sector

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