REPORT: Developing capacities for agricultural innovation systems

Toillier A., Guillonnet R. Bucciarelli M. & Hawkins R., 2020. 116 pages. Developing capacities for agricultural innovation systems: lessons from implementing a common framework in eight countries. Rome, FAO and Paris.

This document provides a transversal analysis of the outcomes of the application of the TAP Common Framework (TAP CF) across the eight pilot countries of the CDAIS project (Angola, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Honduras, Lao PDR and Rwanda): whether and how the TAP CF was used, and how usable and useful it proved to be.

• A transversal analysis of the project outcomes ‘validates’ the common framework, meaning to verify hypotheses underpinning the TAP CF and to verify how changes happened in the eight countries in relation with the mode of operationalization of the TAP CF by the CDAIS project. 
• It sought to understand how the project produced outcomes, what these outcomes were in each country, so as to propose recommendations for upgrading the TAP Common Framework across its theoretical and practical dimensions. 
• It started in early 2020, once project activities were completed and reported in the eight countries. 
• It was conducted by a core team of four individuals who led the design and implementation of the MEL (Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning) system during CDAIS project implementation. The publication of the transversal analysis report was financially supported by CIRAD and FAO.

Background:

• The Capacity Development for Agricultural Innovation Systems (CDAIS) project, financed by the Directorate-General for International Cooperation and Development of the European Union (DG-DEVCO), was implemented jointly, from 2015 to 2019, by Agrinatura (the European Alliance on Agricultural Knowledge for Development) and the Research and Extension Unit (OINR) of FAO (The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations). 
• It provided support to the Tropical Agriculture Platform (TAP), a G20 initiative the main focus of which is the development of national capacities for agricultural innovation in the tropics. 
• The CDAIS project was designed to strengthen TAP through the development of a common framework for Capacity Development for Agricultural Innovation Systems (CD for AIS) which sets concepts and guidance for the promotion of agricultural innovation system (AIS) thinking and collaborative learning, and for the strengthening of capacities for AIS in tropical countries. 
• The project tested this common framework (or so-called ‘TAP CF’) in eight pilot countries, offering a variety of situations across three continents.    
• Since August 2019 the EU supports TAP through the project "Developing capacities in agricultural innovation systems: scaling up the TAP Framework" (TAP-AIS), implemented by FAO

VIRTUAL EVENT

16 - 20 November 2020. SEVENTH TAP PARTNERS ASSEMBLY 

Since August 2019 the EU supports TAP through the project "Developing capacities in agricultural innovation systems: scaling up the TAP Framework" (TAP-AIS), implemented by FAO. 

Side events:

16 November 2020. Developing Capacities for Agricultural Innovation Systems: Lessons from Implementing a Common Framework in 8 countries. Organised by: FAO’s Research and Extension Unit (OINR) and Agrinatura.

19 NOVEMBER 2020 14:00-16:00 CET | Assessment of Agricultural Innovation Systems and Development of Country Profiles: Sharing Experiences from the Inception Phase of the TAP-AIS Project, organized by FAO 

20 NOVEMBER 2020 

13:00-14:30 CET | Agricultural Science and Technology Indicators: a Critical Resource for Agricultural Innovation System Capacity Development, organized by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) 

15:00-17:00 CET | Regional Dialogue on Capacity Development in Agricultural Innovation Systems in Asia, Africa and Latin America, organized by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), together with the Latin American Rural Extension Services Network (RELASER), the Asia-Pacific Association of Agricultural Research Institutions (APAARI), the Asia-Pacific Islands Rural Advisory Services Network (APIRAS), the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) and the African Forum for Agricultural Advisory Services (AFAAS)