Australia Awards Africa Fellowships - Agriculture

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1 Australia Awards Africa Fellowships - Agriculture Increasing the development impact of agricultural research Context: Agricultural research for development is the largest pillar of Australian aid funding to agriculture in Africa - ACIAR, the Australian International Food Security Centre (AIFSC), CSIRO and DFAT have major research commitments in Africa to increase agricultural productivity, and build the capacity of African institutions. African governments and research networks, and other donors, are also increasingly active in agricultural research for development in Africa. Australia has world leading agricultural institutions and expertise, and a rich history of agricultural innovation in the development of the domestic agricultural industry, from which there are valuable potential lessons for Africa. While the technical quality of research outputs are important, the extent to which these can be taken to scale and impact on development outcomes is also dependent on other factors, including the relevance of the research to local priorities and the extent to which innovations are actually adopted by smallholder farmers. Effectively addressing these other factors requires the engagement of a potentially wide range of players from beyond the research community including farmers organisations, private agribusiness, civil society and public policy-makers. A more system-based approach to agricultural innovation involving many stakeholders and partnerships the International Agricultural Research for Development (IAR4D) approach is being increasingly applied across Africa. IAR4D is central to the approach advocated by the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) the key umbrella body for agricultural research in Africa. Many research programs in Africa are consequently working to establish multi-stakeholder partnerships or platforms with non-research actors. However the skills to analyse the broader innovation system, and the soft skills necessary to effectively broker, structure, manage and maintain such partnerships are limited. Building this capacity is seen as critical to maximising the uptake of new innovations and the development impact of the research investment. The objective of this course is to address this gap, with a particular focus on practical skills that alumni will be able to clearly demonstrate on return in planning, brokering, managing or evaluating research for development programs in Africa that increase the impact of research on development outcomes and poverty reduction. The primary target groups for the training would include: research leaders from African research institutions and programs that are committed to an IARD4D approach; organisations or individuals that broker relationships between research and development stakeholders in Africa value chain actors including agribusinesses, farmer organisations and civil society organisations that seek access to new innovations and research products; and national and regional agricultural policy makers. Ideally course cohorts would have a mix of participants from these different sources. However, the Managing Contractor will be responsible for participant selection. Awardees linked to partners in the Australian-funded programs ACIAR, CSIRO and AIFSRC will be strongly encouraged though demand is also expected from other donor-supported agricultural research programs, from regional policy bodies such as COMESA and the EAC, from FARA and its members, from African universities and national

2 research and policy institutions and from broader agricultural development programs. Consideration could be made to making individual annual course cohorts either sub-sector or country/region specific. Participants would be expected to be in a position to apply the skills gained on the program on return on specific, pre-identified activities that are supported by their employing institutions, agencies or programs. There is considerable scope for creativity from bidders in regard the detailed design approach, content, participant selection, delivery methods and downstream mentoring of this capacity building program, in order to meet the objectives outlined in the previous section. The following are examples of training content that could be considered: i) Innovation systems and agricultural research for development approaches in Africa: Understanding experience with innovation systems in African agriculture that seek to broaden adoption, engage with farmers and value chain actors and target impact. This could include, inter alia: revisiting the impact logic of R4D projects; examining evolving views of how change takes place and how results are scaled up under different circumstances; analytic techniques to understand the systems in which research and development issues are embedded, including value chain analysis and the wider institutional and policy environment; and the gathering experience with the use of innovation platforms. (For examples of potential content areas, see or ii) iii) iv) Partnership brokering skills: Developing individual skills to effectively broker, establish and manage multi-stakeholder partnerships between researchers, private sector, civil society and public sector development agents - including aspects of partner selection, group facilitation, leadership, negotiation, and dispute resolution (for example see Evidence-based policy influence: Approaches to providing research evidence to influence policy that takes innovation to scale. Research-industry relationships in agriculture and agribusiness how have other countries done it? For example, what lessons relevant to Africa can be learned from the interaction between research and industry in Australian agriculture? v) Monitoring and evaluation and performance management for impact. vi) Cross-cutting issues: incorporating and addressing issues such as gender equity, inclusive development, ethics and transparency, and intellectual property.

3 2. Inclusive Agribusiness Context The combination of Africa s rapidly growing population, high rates of urbanisation and increasing incomes is driving the one of the fastest growing markets for food and food products in the world. According to the World Bank 1, agriculture and agribusiness, including food retailing, together account for nearly half of Africa s GDP and are projected to be a US$ 1 trillion industry in Sub-Saharan Africa by more than treble the figure in Clearly, agribusiness is a major economic driver in Africa. The challenge is to harness the substantial interest from private investors in ways that generate jobs, provide opportunities for smallholders, enhance food security for the urban poor, and respect local communities and the environment. Taking advantage of the inclusive growth potential of agribusiness will also require addressing Africa s very low levels of competitiveness and productivity in the agribusiness sector, and addressing gaps in managerial capacity. Australia has an international reputation in agribusiness across a range of sub-sectors, and a proven track record of value addition to agricultural products for domestic and international markets. This success has been built on a strong partnership between the private sector, government and research providers. A number of Australian universities offer higher level degrees in agribusiness - which many Masters students from Africa have pursued under the Australia Awards in recent years. In addition to leveraging Australian expertise to assist African agribusinesses to meet demand, this fellowship course can also help expose Australian agribusiness expertise to the rapidly expanding market in Africa. Several international donors, and African institutions are supporting training in the agribusiness sector, though demand far outstrips supply. Many of these programs focus on executive leadership or specific sectoral agribusinesses. Course participants would be expected to gain skills to stimulate, establish and/or manage commercially viable agribusinesses in Africa that have broader impact on poverty and development. Given the breadth of the sector, and the engagement of several donor and African agencies in agribusiness training, bidders should consider where Australia s niche contribution could best be placed based in this context. Specifically, consideration could be given to building on DFAT s existing investment in the Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund (AECF - which provides funding to increase commercial viability of agricultural SMEs. AECF now has close to 200 grantees, and screens thousands more applicants. Consistent feedback from AECF has indicated the need for general agribusiness capacity-building among grantee and applicant organisations. The primary target groups for the training would include owners and senior management of African SMEs along the value chain of agribusiness sector (processors, value addition, exporters); organisations/ programs engaged in providing business development services; or public or private agencies engaged in stimulating agribusiness development in Africa. An explicit emphasis should be given to women s economic empowerment and the engagement of women in business. Participants would be expected to be in a position to apply the skills gained on the program on return on specific, pre-identified activities or business plans. Bidders are expected to show creativity in relation to the detailed design of the program, in order to meet the objectives outlined in the previous section. It is anticipated that the course would include a mixture of practical training, exposure to successful agribusiness and possibly job placements in both Australia and 1 World Bank (2013). Growing Africa: unlocking the potential of agribusiness.

4 Africa, and be specifically relevant to conditions facing agribusinesses in Africa. Areas of focus could include elements of: i) operational training relevant to SME owners or managers (such as those targeted by the AECF), including topics such as business planning, managing scale-up, marketing, accessing finance, financial management and use of technology; ii) analysis of value chain and potential for value additions within supply chains (e.g. seeds and fertiliser) and product markets; iii) forming strategic partnerships with farmer or civil society groups to link smallholders into markets, reduce transaction costs and broaden impact; and/or iv) import and export markets, including addressing constraints to market integration and trade and tackling policy and institutional deficiencies. This list is not exhaustive. Consideration could be given to providing a different emphasis in different annual cohorts on the basis of topics, sub-sectors, or regional focus.

5 3. Irrigation and Sustainable Water Resource Management for Agriculture Context Water is a major constraint to increased agricultural production in Africa, and most of the area under production is rain-fed. Managing scarce water resources and adapting to water scarcity and climate variability critical to sustainable agricultural production in much of Africa. In addition to water management in rainfed agriculture, there are a number of existing irrigation schemes whose agricultural productivity is low due to institutional, management and market constraints and many African governments seek to expand irrigated agricultural production and increase water use efficiency. Many countries in Africa lack the institutional and technical capability and tools to effectively manage the competing demands on water. Australia is well placed to assist. Australia and east/southern Africa share similar, often dry and highly variable climates, and Australia has internationally recognised comparative advantage in water management, based on decades of experience in, inter alia: reforming the domestic water sector to increase the efficiency of water provision; introducing better systems for allocating water between competing uses; and establishing appropriate institutional arrangements while ensuring the sustainability of water use. Previous short-course fellowship programs for Africa have included coverage of water resource management, small scale irrigation, dry-land farming and related topics, and have attracted considerable demand. Given the importance of the issues and increased priority accorded to water in the new Australian aid policy, continuation of support to this area is warranted. The Australian International Food Security Research Centre has launched a project to increase the productivity of existing irrigation schemes, which provides a further potential anchor for the course. The course would focus on building capacity in areas of systemic failure, leveraging Australia s technical and practical experience. The focus should be on a mix of technical information, and practical demonstration adapted to African smallholder farming systems. The target groups for the training could include: government officials that have a critical role either technical capacity and extension/outreach and/or in resource management and planning; officials from water user associations or farmer organisations that provide a conduit between farmers and other stakeholders; civil society programs focusing on water resource use; or potentially private sector players from across the local value chain, including those engaged in irrigation input supply and agricultural inputs and output marketing. Bidders are encouraged to be creative in the development of course content and delivery methods based on their experience with water-related agricultural issues in Africa and with Australia s areas of comparative advantage. Material covered in previous SCAs has included, inter alia: the design and management principles for small scale irrigation and water harvesting; integrated watershed management and planning; and soil and water conservation and conservation agriculture practice; institutional and policy challenges. Consideration could be given to varying the emphasis of the course for different annual cohorts between a primary irrigation focus, a broader water resource management and/or a dry-land agriculture focus, as these would attract somewhat different participants.