African Forum for Agricultural

Advisory Services

Presentation to AEAS stakeholders- Liberia

Silim Mohammed Nahdy (PhD)

&

Max olupot

3 July 2014- Monrovia

www.afaas-africa.org

OVERVIEW OF AFAAS AND KEY ACHIEVEMENTS

Setting the context

• Nwaze, 2013, …“But we must recognize that technology

is only a tool. It is not an end in itself. As a scientist, I

understand the excitement of new discoveries. But as a

development practitioner I have seen the miracles that

take place when we give farmers the tools to enhance

existing – and sometimes quite traditional technologies.”

• The need for Extension and Advisory Services to

bridge the missing link, albeit being constrained!!!

Widening

scope of

AEAS

Targeting

poverty

and gender

Environment

al

degradation

and climate

change

Market

Orientation

?!

Appropriate Policies

and institutional

arrangements

Appropriate

methods,

approaches and

tools (e.g ICT)

Supporting

pluralism

and

Partnership

AEAS Demands- Pillars

PRODUCT INNOVATION PROCESS INNOVATION

Technology transfer, especially for the staple food crops

Training farmers how to intensify & diversify their farming systems

Training farmers how to

organize into producer and

self-help groups

Training farmers how to use sustainable NRM practices

Improving Rural LivelihoodsMaintaining National Food Security

PRODUCT INNOVATION

PROCESS INNOVATION

AIS- Comprehensive Agricultural Extension System

Why AFAAS?

• Support sharing of experiences, information and

knowledge on AEAS

• Support to the country AEAS to ensure that FAAP

principles are applied within the CAADP process

• Mobilize a pool of experts from within Africa and

strengthen their capacity to respond to the specific

demand of AEAS at different levels

• Backstop country-level AEAS to organize themselves to

focus on AEAS issues

• Advocacy and lobbying - policy, investment etc

• Represent AEAS at continental and international fora

…AUC, GCARD, FARA

AFAAS VISION AND MISSION

• Vision: AAS that effectively & efficiently contribute to

sustained productivity, profitability & growth of African

agriculture for poverty reduction

• Mission: Promote lesson learning & add value to

initiatives in AAS thru sharing of information & increased

professional interaction

5. A continental African

Organisation that can sustainably

support national

1. AAS are integral part

of CAADP

2. Information and knowledge management

system

3. Country level multi-

stakeholder fora

4. Partnerships between AASP

and other relevant partners

Results/Outputs

AAS providers have sufficient capacity to effectively support value

chain actors towards increasing agricultural productivity and food security in a sustainable manner

Purpose/Outcome

Enhanced utilization of improved knowledge and technologies by agricultural value chain actors for improving productivity oriented towards

their individual and national development objectives

Goal

AFAAS engagement in CAADP agenda

Engagement in Science Agenda for African Agriculture;

Capacity Strengthening in AEAS

Guidelines for integrating AEAS in CAADP

Supporting national AEAS Systems

Pool of experts

Knowledge Management Three Symposia organised ( 2004, 2016 & 2011);

One Africa Agricultural Extension Week in 2013 in

Botswana; Second planed for 2014 in Addis Ababa in

partnership with AUC and MoARD Ethiopia;

A website & a virtual social networking platform;

A conceptual framework for lesson learning developed;

A guide for Piloting Market Oriented AEAS;

Study on targeting Women Advisory Service Providers &

Capacity Development Programmes;

Study on how issues of Climate Change are being addressed in

AEAS

Country Fora

Guidelines on how to engage with AAS Stakeholder in a country to bring about the emergence of CF that are aligned with CAADP

AFAAS membership 40 African Countries by 2013 - General Assembly

Country Fora established in a number of countries e.g., Benin, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Sudan, Uganda etc

Six countries in the process of developing their own Strategic and operational Plans aligned with that of AFAAS

Linkages with other ARD actors at national level

Research Systems

and Institutions

Farmer

Organisation

Agricultural

Training

Institutions

Agri-businessFinancial

Services

Social ServicesPublic sector at

all levels

Building Strong Partnerships

AEAS

Who are the AFAAS Strategic partners?

Partnerships and Collaborations contd...• GFRAS- Global Forum for Rural Advisory Services

• FARA, Multiple with focus on continental ARD agenda

• ASARECA; MoU signed

• CORAF ; Concept being developed

• NRI- Climate change

• CABI- Plantwise ( Plant Clinics) scaling up and out

• Helvetas , FANRPAN, Agridea International – Post Harvest

Management Project for SSA( Mozambique and Benin) – on going

• INNODEV- Knowledge Management component

• COMPACI- capacity development for AAS providers

• KIT- Royal Tropical Institute on MOAAS

• icipe - capacity, scaling out innovations -

Sustainability

• Recognition by AUC

• Integration into national (including donor

funded) programmes

• Maintaining anchorage in to the broader R&D

agenda including S3A

• Support from the national ARD systems

• Catalyse and Facilitate establishment /

Strengthening of CF

AFAAS Thrusts • Championing Knowledge Management in

AEAS in the Continent

• Strengthening Country Fora for national level

engagement

• Partnerships and collaboration with all ARD

actors for scaling up and out innovations

• Capacity Strengthening for AEAS

• Policy and advocacy for AEAS

• Conducting strategic studies

www.afaas-africa.org

AEAS Country Fora Formation Process,

Sustainability and Role of AFAAS Secretariat

Why CF?• Brings together AEAS actors

• Supports/ Leads AEAS development at national

level

• Strong linkages of AEAS stakeholders with

CAADP process

• Exchange of information and Knowledge

• Shares lessons

• Identifies opportunities for providing services to

each other- learning process

• Innovation on AEAS

• Capacity and professionalism

• Identifies areas of joint studies in AEAS

Process of establishment of CF

Approach

• Aligning to FAAP principles

• Analysis on a need for the forum

• Facilitating the identification of

existing structures for networking

• Identifying champions

CF establishment Process.....

• Interest expressed from AEAS

stakeholders in the country to engage

with AFAAS

• Sensitisation and awareness raising

• Assessment of status of organisational

and institutional status of AEAS

CF establishment Process

• Identification of existing entity for

country forum or setting up a new

entity if this does not exist

• Facilitation of the process of

establishing a country forum

• Facilitation of a CF to develop a

strategic and operational plan

FAAP Principles 1. Empowerment of end-users

2. Planned subsidiarity

3. Pluralism in the delivery of AEAS

4. Evidence based approaches to AEAS

5. Integration of AEAS with research, the private sector, training,

capacity building and education programmes

6. Explicit incorporation of sustainability criteria

7. Systematic utilisation of improved management information systems

8. Introduction of cost sharing with end-users

9. Integration of gender considerations at all levels

Legal recognition

The level of legal recognition required

depends on the functions that the CF is

expected to perform

Independent entity

Hosted by a legal organisation

Partnerships and alliances

• For the CF to be effective, it is important

that it is appropriately connected to other

networks and initiatives with overlapping or

side-lined objectives that can strengthen

the national efforts in providing effective

AEAS

Leadership and hosting

• It is important that the entity has a clear

and effective leadership:

– for example as an Executive Committee, and

that this is recognised and accepted among

all the stakeholders in such a way that all

have confidence in the Forum serving their

interest

– Political support

– Strong membership – constituency

Facilitation of the Process

• National workshop for AEAS

stakeholders

• Establishing or launching meeting

• Resource mobilisation

Research Systems

and Institutions

Professional

Associations

Agricultural

Training

Institutions

Agri-business

Financial

Services

Social ServicesPublic sector

AAS stakeholders……..

AEAS

Farmer

Organisation

Establishment Meeting

• scoping meeting/workshop:

– Establish leadership (for example an

Executive Committee), roles and

responsibilities

– Operational guidelines for functions and

communication

– Discuss the establishment of a charter

• Make a plan for the next steps: Strategic

and operational planning

Experience on successful CFs

For more information contact :

email: secretariat @afaas-africa.org/ molupot@afaas-africa.org

www.afaas-africa.org

&

www.g-fras.org

Thank you for Listening

http://www.afaas-africa.org

http://networking.afaas-africa.org