Monthly Bulletin of the West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research and Development
Numéro 01
JANUARY 2009
Partnership With APS: for Improved Visibility of CORAF/WECARD
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ecember 23, 2008, Dakar. CORAF/ WECARD decided to strengthen its relationships with the media in the subregion. The goal is to ensure improved visibility of itself and its activities, in Senegal and outside as well. A convention has been signed, in this regard, between the authorities of the Agence de presse sénégalaise (APS) and CORAF/WECARD. APS, producer of information for the national and international press organs, has a website internet (www.aps.sn), regularly updated, and promoting companies and associations. Through this partnership, one can see henceforth on this website, a window ear-marked for CORAF/WECARD. This is so much interesting that it is visited by more than 10,000 internet users. This partnership has been welcomed by the officials of the two organizations, Mr. Paco Sérémé, Executive Director of CORAF/WECARD, and Mr. Mamadou Koumé, General Director of APS. p
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FARA and its SROs consult together
ovember 30, 2008, Maputo. On the eve of the third General Assembly in Africa of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) that was held, from 1 to 5 December 2008, in the capital city of Mozambique, the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) has organized a meeting for its four Sub(Continued on page 3)
Left to right: Dr. Simon Zok, Chairman of CORAF/WECARD Governing Board, Dr. William Dar, Director General of ICRISAT, and Dr. Paco Sérémé, Executive Director of CORAF/WECARD, hands in hands for the development of semi-arid areas of West and Central Africa.
CGIAR’s General Assembly
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CORAF/WECARD And ICRISAT Sign a Parthership Agreement
rom 1 to 5 December, 2008, Maputo. A high-powered delegation of CORAF/ WECARD signed a cooperation agreement with the International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) on the semi-arid tropical cultivation. Dr. Paco Sérémé, CORAF/WECARD Executive Director, and Dr. William Dar, ICRISAT Director General, signed it, on December 1, 2008, sealing the willingness of the two institutions to jointly carried out research activities and look for partners to the benefit of West and Central Africa semi-arid areas. Dr. Simon Zok, Chairman of CORAF/WECARD Governing Board, commended the partnership that will contribute to agricultural development in semi-arid area within CORAF/WECARD space. Additionally, our delegation met with the responsibles of the Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement (CIRAD), the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the European Union, and the Forum européen sur la recherche agricole et le développement (EFARD), with a view to reaffirming their respective partnerships. Our delegation comprised with Messrs Simon Zok, Paco Sérémé, Marcel Nwalozie, Program Director, Anatole Koné, Information and Communication Manager, Madam Remileku Rakey Cole, Technical Advisor of the Executive Director. p
ECHO IN BRIEVE
CORAF/WECARD Institutional Reform: Consultants’ Team Meets With Staff
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rom 8 to 11 December, 2008, Dakar. Messrs Terry Green and John Sutherland, both from IDLgroup, the firm selected to perform the institutional reform of CORAF/WECARD, had working sessions with its Staff, in order to agree on the working program and update the terms of reference of such an important activity. They met each Staff members, for more clarifications on some of their concerns. p
Livestock: PROGEBE Implementation Reviewed at CORAF/WECARD
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ecember 3, 2008, Dakar. Dr. Moustapha Diaw, Regional Coordinator of the Regional Project on the sustainable management of endemic rumnant livestock in West Africa (PROGEBE), and Dr. Mamadou Diop, the National Coordinator for Senegal, paid a working visit to CORAF/ WECARD headquarters. Together with the responsibles of this latter, they have done the Project assessment.
Covering Gambia, Mali, Senegal, and Guinea, and based in Gambia, the Project aims at protecting genetic resources for endemic livestock production, improving its productivity and, finally, building the capacity of producers, researchers, and other professionals. The six-year Project is founded by the Banque africaine de développement (BAD). p
Intellectuals Reflect on Africa’s Development
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rom 3 to 6, December 2008, Johannesburg. ‘‘The Role of Universities in Development’’ is the theme of a three-day meeting attended by decision-makers,
stakeholders, and partners from the University and agriculture sectors.
Faced with multiple difficulties undermining Africa’s development, Africans must definitely find solutions by and for themselves. On this account, the African intelligentia has been appealed by the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NePAD) to come up with new development solutions. CORAF/WECARD, as a participant, came up with relevant inputs for the enrichment of the sessions. p
PPAAO: Fruitful Exchanges Between CORAF/WECARD and World Bank
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member countries to brainstorm on the common agricultural policy and strategies for hunger reduction. CORAF/WECARD Executive Director, Mr. Paco Sérémé, has took part in the sessions and met with some decisionmakers, as part of the advocacy on the mobilization of resources useful for the implementation of the Strategic Plan and operational Plan of the institution he guides. p
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Director General of IRAG at CORAF/WECARD Headquarters
rom 22 to 23 December, 2008, Dakar. The World Bank periodically organizes supervision missions, for the following up of the West Africa agricultural productivity improvement Program (WAAPP). A work session, grouping its team led by Mr. Abdoulaye Touré, WAAPP Team Leader, and CORAF/ WECARD Executive Secretariat Staff, is held then at the headquarters of the Institution, on the assessment of 2008 activities.
rom 22 to 23 December, 2008, Dakar. The new Director Generals of the Institut de recherche agronomique de Guinée (IRAG), Dr. Famoi Béhavogui, and the Coordinator of the Technical Secretariat of the National Agricultural, Zootechnical, and Fisheries Research System of Guinea, Docteur Sékou Oumar Kéïta, have had a working session with the Executive Director of CORAF/WECARD, Docteur Paco Sérémé, to exchange on funding possibilities for their research projects, within the framework of the West Africa agricultural productivity Program. p
So, they finally agreed on planned activities for 2009. p
FAO: Capacity Building and Extension in Four Countries
To that end, the both parties reviewed the regional coordination, monitoring and evaluation, advocacy, administrative and financial management, and difficulties faced over the year.
West Africa: Agriculture Ministers and Experts Consult together
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rom 8 to 10 December, 2008, Paris. The European Union and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have invited agriculture ministers and experts from this latter’s
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ecember 3, 2008, Dakar. The agricultural productivity improvement Project, through the capacity building of National Agricultural Research and Extension Systems has been officially launched, during an information workshop for national, regional, and international partners, aimed at exchanging views with them. Covering Mali, Senegal, and Mauritania, the Project is being implemented by FAO and funded by the Spanish International Cooperation Agency (AECI). p
ECHO FROM NARS
SCARDA: Stakeholders at School of Agricultural Research
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Management
rom 1 to 6 December, 2008, Kumasi, Ghana. A training on the management of agricultural research has been organized for twenty agricultural research managers, coming from Gambia, Congo, Mali, and Ghana. There happened within the framework of the Strenghtening Capacity of Agricultural Research and Development in Africa (SCARDA). That training aimed at boosting and driving the respective NARSs towards effective and relevant research.
To this effect, they examine change management; research-based business development planning, the human resource financial management, monitoring and evaluation techniques, research approaches and patterns, and effective communication. Let’s remind that SCARDA is a FARA initiative, implemented by the Subregional Organizations, with the financial support from the Department for International Development (DFID) of Great Britain. p
ECHO FROM HEADQARTERS
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regional Organizations (SROs). The theme was formulated as an answer to the emerging questions in Africa able to contribute to strengthen the partnership between FARA and the CGIAR. The panel was composed of Docteur. Monty Jones, Executive Director of FARA, Docteur. Sen Wang, Director of CGIAR, and Docteur Paco Sérémé, Executive Director of CORAF/-WECARD on behalf of the SROs, addressed the theme "Collaborating for change" in response to the CGIAR reform management process. At the end of the debate and working groups that followed, the participants stressed the necessity to implement the results of the different reforms. Likewise, they recommended that key institutions be retained to guide the reforms and serve as models. Therefore, these reforms should be implemented under the comprehensive Africa agriculture development Programme (CAADP) and the Framework for African agricultural productivity (FAAP) which are fundamental
instruments for the promotion of partnership. They also addressed the issue on the establishment of the Sub-regional Organization for Northern Africa. This new SRO will enable its member NARSs to get involved in the institutional reform, which has been welcomed by all the actors and partners of FARA who attended the meeting. p
CGIAR General Assembly: Providing Means and Strengthening Researcher-Producer Links
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ecember 1, 2008, Maputo. The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), established in 1971, comprises 15 International Centers, worldwide. It is this “big machine” that initiated a week long meeting with over 500 delegates, the managers of agricultural research structures, researchers, and partners, during its third General Assembly in Africa
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WAAPP: Monitoring-Evaluation and Planning
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Experts Consult Each Other
rom 11 to 13 December, 2008, Bamako. To ensure an effective monitoring of the West Africa agricultural productivity improvement Program (WAAPP) activities, monitoring, evaluation, and planning experts from, CORAF/ WECARD, Mali, Senegal, and Ghana met, in Bamako, to agree on indicators for effective monitoring, evaluation, and planning of research and development activities within WAAPP. p
Authorities of CORAF/WECARD, ASARECA, and SADC around the Executive Director of FARA, Docteur. Monty Jones (3rd from your right), bear witness to the unity between FARA and its SROs.
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ECHO FROM HEADQARTERS around the central theme of institutional reform. The proceedings were opened by the Mozambican President, Mr. Armando Emilio Guébuza, prior to which a ministerial roundtable had been held on “the Global Food Crisis, an Opportunity to strengthen the Agricultural Research for Food Security in Africa “.
The panel consisted of the former Nigerian President, Mr. Olusegun Obasanjo, the Mozambican Ministers of Agriculture and Sciences and Technologies, Messrs Soares Nhaca and Venancio Massingue, along with
Monthly Bulletin of the West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research and Development
Director of Publication Simon Zok
the Chairwoman of CGIAR, Mrs Katherine Sierra. From their discussions, we have retained, in substance, there is no food crisis in Africa. Thus, to enhance its agriculture, the national agricultural research has been given more means and the collaboration between researchers and producers have been strenghtened. Because the researchers are used to staying in their laboratories.
General presentations on the global agricultural research challenges, that of the green revolution in Africa along with the agriculture contribution to curbing the current financial crisis were made, before the holding of the open conference dedicated to Sir John Crawford, animated, this year, by Mr. Olusegun Obasanjo. p
ECHO TO COME
Director of the newsroom Paco Sérémé
Editor-in-Chief
Anatole Yékéminan Koné
Newsroom
Julienne Kuiseu Ernest Assah Asiedu Josuah Elmer Ndjekounda
Layout
Ngor Sarr On line Alioune Mbow
French version available
CORAF/WECARD, BP 48 Dakar RP CP 18523, Sénégal Tel.: + 221 33 869 96 18 Fax: + 221 33 869 96 31 E-mail: paco.sereme@coraf.org anatole.kone@coraf.org Internet: www.coraf.org
From 13 to 15 January, 2009, Saly Portudal, Senegal. The Ministry of Agriculture, Senegal, organizes an experience sharing workshop on the study of the refered situation of the second phase of the agricultural services Program and the farmer organizations (PSAOP2). The key purpose will be, during this meeting, to exchange with the stakeholders as whole, the objectives, methodology, and results of a survey, and to define strategies and approaches of adopting technologies for the improvement of agricultural productivity. From 15 to 16 January, 2009, Dakar. CORAF/WECARD organizes a launching workshop on the regional agricultural investment Program for the implementation of the Common Agricultural Policy of ECOWAS, one of the main expected results is the selection
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of 16 national consultants to work in 8 countries concerned, ie Benin, Togo, Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Guinea, and Niger. From 15 to 17 January, 2009, Ibadan, Nigeria. CORAF/WECARD holds the meeting for the selection of the Coordinator of the Kano-Katsina-Maradi learning pilot site Project, and this, under the auspices of the sub-Saharan Africa Challenge Programme of FARA. January 20, 2009, Dakar. Senegal organizes the national workshop of the launching of the rice production Initiative. This will be about sharing with the agricultural stakeholders, the content of the “emergency Initiative for the improvement of rice production in subSaharan Africa" program. From 20 to 21 January, 2009, Entebbe, Uganda. CORAFWECARD is invited to take part in an international consultation workshop by the Agricultural Science and Technology Indicator Initiative (ASTI). The experts will identify, discuss, and determine performance indicators to be helpful to decision-makers. From 20 to 23 January, 2009, Banjul. Aregional workshop on the official launching of the regional Project for the sustained management of endemic ruminant livestock in Africa (PROGEBE) is scheduled for this date. CORAF/WECARD will take part in bringing its experience into the Project. From January 29 to February 4, 2009, Niamey. CORAF/WECARD is invited to participate in the regional forum on the development for livestock production in the Sahel and West Africa. p