ESA phase2 proposal writeshop

Africa RISING East and Southern Africa
Phase 2 proposal Writeshop
24-26 February - Arusha - Tanzania

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Objectives

• Review Phase 1 research and achievements
• Draft Phase 2 research proposal
• Map research and development partnerships for implementation
• Discuss any other issues

Participants

1. Victor Afari Sefa
2. Job Kihara (CIAT)
3. Fred Kizito (CIAT)
4. Patrick Okori (ICRISAT)
5. Ben Lukuyu (ILRI)
6. Regis Chikowo (Michigan SU)
7. Mulundu Mwila (ZARI)
8. Simon Langan (IWMI)
9. Andreas Gramzow (AVRDC)
10. Apurba Shee (IFPRI)
11. Gundula Fischer (IITA)
12. Haroon Sseguya (IITA)
13. Jonathan Odhong IITA
14. Irmgard H.- Zeledon (IITA)
15. Mateete Bekunda (IITA)

Wednesday, 24 February 08:00 Registration 08:30 Session 1: Welcome address and introduction

• Welcome and objectives of the meeting - Mateete
• Guidelines to regional proposal structure - Irmgard
• Discussion

9:30 Group task 1 - characteristics of the project region, challenges and opportunities Instructions:

• List out key characteristics of East and Southern Africa – focus on Tanzania, Malawi and Zambia
• List 1-5 key challenges in the region for farming systems intensification/diversification
• List 1-5 key opportunities in the region for farming systems intensification/diversification

*Refer to ESA project document, look at the challenges identified and seek to add value. As much as possible also provide literature to back the characteristics, challenges and opportunities listed

Group 1: Irmgard Chikowo Okori Mwila Afari Sefa Langan Shee Group 2: Kihara Kizito Lukuyu Sseguya Gramzow Fischer Mateete

10:30 Break
11:00 Reporting back
11:30 Group task 2 - Phase 1 achievements, loose ends, new research topics & themes
ü Mateete provide a brief description of what loose ends & new topics are
( see brief slide to explain the task here)

Instructions:

• List key achievements of Phase 1 in Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia
• What are the loose ends in Phase 1 that must be tied up
• What are the new research topics to focus on in phase 2
• Organize the loose ends, new research topics into research themes

Group 1: Kihara Afari Sefa Sseguya Fischer Mateete Group 2: Okori Lukuyu Gramzow Shee Irmgard Group 3: Chikowo Kizito Mulundu Langan Jonathan

12:30 Lunch
14:00 Group task cont’d
15:30 reporting back
16:00 Break 16:30 Consolidation of themes new research topics and loose ends

Thursday, 25 February 08:00 Group task 3 - phase 2 objectives and research questions (based on loose ends and new topics) Instructions:

• o List 2-3 Objectives for each research theme
• o List research questions to test each of the objectives identified by the group

Themes:

• Food and feed safety and post harvest management
• Markets Institutions and Partnerships
• Productivity enhancement
• Research on out scaling of technologies and networking
• Sustainable Land and water management at varying scales

10:30 Break
11: 00 Report back on group activities & consolidation of objectives & research questions

*Themes modified to outcomes by participants

12:30 Lunch
14:00 Group task 4 - Phase 2 research outputs and activities
Instructions:

• List the expected outputs linked to the research questions
• List the activities addressing the research question

16:00 Break
16:30 Report back on research outputs & activities
17:30 Consolidation (in plenary) of phase 2 outcomes, research questions, outputs and activities

• Outcome 1
• Outcome 2
• Outcome 3
• Outcome 4
• Outcome 5

See other background presentations to consolidation of the outcomes, outputs, research qstns and activities by Mateete Bekunda Patrick Okori and Jonathan Odhong

Friday, 26 February
08:00 Group task 5 - mapping of research and development partners (based on research activities) Instructions:

• List current local & international research partners & their roles – use template provided
• Identify new local & international development partners & their roles

Group 1Malawi and Zambia: Irmgard Chikowo Okori Mwila /spanspan stylefont-size: 13.3333px Mateete Group 2 Tanzania: Kihara Kizito Lukuyu Sseguya Gramzow Fischer /spanspan stylefont-size: 13.3333px Afari Sefa Langan Shee

10:30 Break
11:00 Group task 6 - Discussion of cross-cutting issues (plenary)

Monitoring and evaluation

• Develop common monitoring tools – coordinated by IFPRI
• SI indicator framework
• Monitoring officer needed in each country/each region each should be budgeted for it

Communication

• Proper budgeting at lower level
• Updated communication strategy including action plan
  

Capacity building

• Coordination between teams should improve, especially in capacity building at beneficiary level. Mono-discipline training should stop
• Capacity building for gender and for communications
• Comprehensive capacity building strategy
• Include more young scientists, farmers, other stakeholders to transfer it to the next generation
  

Gender

• Capacity building for researchers in gender
• Systematic approach to gender for better coverage (more West Africa, more Malawi)
• Using the existing gender action plan to guide our work
• Proper budgeting at lower level
  

Instructions

• o What are the 3 main issues that need to be changed/improved in phase 2 with regards to (a) M&E, (b) communication, (c) Capacity building, (d) project management and coordination
• o How do we improve these issues in phase 2
  

12:00 Group task 7 - going into draft groups

• Characteristics of the project region challenges and opportunities and separate section on partnerships (Writing group: Sseguya, Mateete & Mwila)
• Outcome areas and objectives (Writing group: Kihara, Langan, Afari Sefa, Lukuyu)
• Research questions (Writing group: Okori, Gramzow, Fischer, H-Zeledon)
• Outputs and activities (Writing groups: Kizito, Shee, Chikowo, Mateete)

*Group leader’s names in bold

12:30 Lunch
14: 00 Draft groups cont’d
16:00 Reporting back by the draft groups
16:40 Next steps and closing – Mateete

• The writing groups to help in finalizing the work by 10 March, 2016
• The writing group leaders to take charge of ensuring finalization of the write ups
• Chief scientists will follow up, take the documents and work with Sieg Snapp to finalize it into a flowing proposal document

19:00 cocktail