Monthly Bulletin of the West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research and Development
Number 06
JUNE 2009
RAILS/DONATA: meeting of stakeholders
2009 first session: the Governing Board approves the 2008 financial year
rom 11th to 14th May 2009, the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) organized, in Accra, a consultation workshop on the « Access to knowledge and technology » that was aimed at stakeholders
ix months after they held the 2008 second session in Dakar, the Governing Board met in Abuja for its organisation’s 2009 first ordinary session. During two days, from 25th to 26th May, gathered into subcommittees and in plenary sessions, the Governing Board Members reviewed the 2008 audit and financial year reports and debated on the progress report of the Executive Secretariat activities from December 2008 to May 2009.
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About forty participants from CORAF/ WECARD, ASARECA, SADC, and from some focal points of the RAILS and DONATA projects as well as delegates of ROPPA, WARDA, ISICAD and RUFORUM were invited to review and to formalize the implementation framework of the RAILS and DONATA projects. During four days, through workgroups and plenary sessions, the participants agreed on mechanisms that would help strengthen activities related to agricultural information management and agricultural technology dissemination. They were trained in the use of « Outcome Mapping », a planning, monitoring and evaluation tool that would help in the effective monitoring of the RAILS and DONATA projects’ activities. CORAF/WECARD was represented by the Planning Officer and the ICT Assistant. It must be noted that CORAF/ WECARD plays a coordination and monitoring role in the management of the RAILS and DONATA projects’ activities. This workshop facilitated (Continued on page 2)
After two years of hard work, the Governing Board believes in the future of CORAF/WECARD
At the end of this session, the Board approved CORAF/WECARD’s 2008 financial statement. The Governing Board promised to meet during the last week of November 2009 for its second session of this year that will allow them to review the organisation’s programme of activities and budget for 2010.p
ECHO IN BRIEVE
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inventory taking of some difficulties in the field and also of possible solutions for to improve promotion of science and technology in the CORAF/ WECARD sub region.p
All ACP commodity Programme: the mid-term assessment he all ACP commodity programme was assessed at the mid-term of its execution during a workshop held from 12th and 13th May 2009 in Brussels.
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The experts from the European Commission, ACP countries, the FAO and the Common Fund for Commodities (CFC) convened to review the draft review report by consultants and for the development of an action plan for the Programme’s second phase. Some difficulties were pointed out in the first programme’s execution phase that were related, among others, to insufficient communication and monitoring and evaluation strategies, insufficient coverage of all the countries involved in the programme and the low involvement of producers’ organisations and the private sector in many activities. The workshop then recommended the implementation of effective communication, monitoring and evaluation strategies, and the alignement of the programme’s activities to the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Pro-gramme (CAADP).p
Rural Hub: a workshop for the relaunch of activities workshop aiming at relaunching the activities of the rural hub was held from 5th to 6th May 2009 in Dakar.
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The participants from the Senegalese Agriculture Ministry, WAEMU, ECOWAS and partner organisations had to review the 2009 – 2010 intervention framework in West and Central Africa, to analyze the financial statements and the provisional budget for the 2009 May – December period and finally to review the terms of reference for the Executive Director position. CORAF/WECARD, with the help of its planning expert, contributed to the improvement of the work aiming at relaunching the activities of the Rural Hub.p
Dr Demba Farba Mbaye, the new Head of the Centre for the Development of Horticulture. r Demba Farba Mbaye, a Phytopathologist at the Senegalese Institute of Agricultural Research (ISRA) and also member of CORAF/WECARD Scientific and Technical Committee has recently been appointed the head of the Centre for the Development of Horticulture (CDH), one of ISRA’s 11 centres. The whole CORAF/ WECARD family wishes him the best in his new appointment.p
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Standards on Food Security in Europe: Implications for ACP countries’ agricultural exportations he European Commission recently held a workshop in Brussels aiming at discussing the involvement, the challenges and the opportunities for ACP countries with respect to the standards on food safety in Europe on 11th May, 2009.
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Standards on Food Safety in Europe: Implications for ACP countries’ agricultural exportations. This was the issue that gathered many experts from ACP, European countries and partner organisations. During a whole day, these experts analyzed the new standards on food safety in Europe and proposed new approach for ACP countries’ exportations. Participants noticed that the European market still offers opportunities for the ACP countries products; however these countries must comply with the new standards set up by the EU. The capacity of exporting organisations must be strengthened so that they can master these new standards.p
ECHO FROM NARS
Households’ conditions: feedback on studies rom 12th to 15th May, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) organi-
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zed a regional workshop in Accra aiming at presenting the outcomes of the studies, on the agricultural sector and households’ living conditions in West Africa. The study was conducted by ECOWAS in collaboration with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA). During three days, the participants, coming from the 15 ECOWAS countries and partner institutions, discussed the results of the national studies, the methodologies used to conduct these studies, the national plans to reduce poverty and the protocols and modalities for data – gathering and sharing. As a conclusion to these studies, it can be remarked that regarding households’ living conditions, important efforts have been made to supply drinking water but many households in rural areas have still not good drinking water. It was then recommended to States to harmonize the methodology used for the calculation of poverty indices between countries and to use the same survey techniques with the view to ensure the necessary comparison of indicators between the different surveys. It was recommended to ECOWAS to advocate for the funding of agricultural statistics at the level of the states.p
Consultation on Cotton strategies: the first meeting of stakeholders n the framework of the activities of the « all ACP Agricultural Commodity Products », a first consulta-
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tion workshop on Cotton strategies in West and Central Africa was held in Ouagadougou from 6th to 7th May 2009. The main objective was to take an inventory of each Commission’s strategy: the Economic Community of Central African States (CEMAC)’s and the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU)’s and to define a workplan for drafting, updating or adapting of the various strategies. The stakeholders of the cotton sector in Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali and Senegal participated in this meeting. At the end of this consultation, the following conclusions and recommendations were made: (i) the acknowledgement of the action plans of the stakeholders’ organisations (ii) the identification of the textilecotton and clothing value chains and of the main segments to invest (iii) and the programming of technical and financial partners’ roundtable.p
ECHO FROM HEADQARTERS
Change Management: Governing Board trained fter the training of Heads of some National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS), CORAF/ WECARD Governing Board members were also train-ed in Abuja, from 21st to 23rd May 2009, in the
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framework of the ongoing Change Management in the Association. With the assistance of the IDLgroup consulting Firm through the resource persons, John Sutherland and Harry Machin, the Governing Board shared the new guidelines for the Association’s operational system. They were updated on the main institutional changes and on the required or ongoing change process and, above all, on their role and responsibility in achieving this change. Through plenary sessions and group works, the Governing Board showed a great interest in this training that was the first to have been held since the Board’s renewal of 60% of its membership. This orientation session focused on the new paradigm which is the rationale of the new Strategic and Operational plans. Among the main changes in which the Governing Board was trained, were : (i) the new research paradigm that considers a great number of stakeholders in the planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation aspects and in the various ways in which research for development can be conducted; the programme approach that concentrates resources on priority areas and adopts the principles of institutions’ networking and finally (iii) the introduction of non traditional areas of research such as policies/markets, knowledge management and initiatives aiming at strengthening stakeholders’ capacity.p
AusAIDCORAF/WECARD: the partnership is becoming more precise he partnership between the Australian Government Overseas Aid Programme (AusAID) and CORAF/WECARD is becoming more precise every day.
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Dr Paco Sérémé and his colleagues the possible areas of collaborating, partnership and arrangements funding mechanisms of research activities. AusAID ex-perts discussed with managers and scientists to learn more about needs and the areas
that need external support for sustainable development of agricultural activities. At the end of this visit, the following priority areas were retained: livestock, soil fertility, biotechnology and capacity strengthening.p
After Australian missions to the CORAF/WECARD headquarters and laboratories in Thies that aimed at discussing on points of interest likely to be the object of the partnership, a final mission visited CORAF/ WECARD from 4th to 6th May 2009, to finalize this partnership. On behalf of AusAID, Dr Peter Carberry and Dr Bruce Pengelly, both scientists, discussed with
Dr Paco Sérémé and his colleagues during a working session with the Australian mission. The West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research and Development’s Monthly Bulletin
Director of Publication Simon Zok
ECHO TO COME
Director of Edition Paco Sérémé
Editor-in-Chief Anatole Yékéminan Koné
Editing and Reading Committee Julienne Kuiseu Ernest Assah Asiedu
Layout Ngor Sarr On line publication Gorgui Alioune Mbow
A French version is available CORAF/WECARD, Po. Box 48 Dakar RP CP 18523, Senegal Phone: + 221 33 869 96 18 Fax: + 221 33 869 96 31 E-mails: paco.sereme@coraf.org anatole.kone@coraf.org Website: www.coraf.org
1st – 5th June, Dakar. World Bank’s oversight mission at CORAF/ WECARD in the framework of the WAAPP Programme. 1st – 17th June 2009, Dakar. Working session between the World Bank and CORAF/WECARD Executive Secretariat for the implementation of the Multi-Donor Trust Fund. 8th – 9th June 2009, Dakar. Presentation of the study on the Agricultural Information System (AGRIS). 8th – 15th June, Bamako. Monitoring and Evaluation mission of the
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activities of the West Africa Agricultural Productivity Programme (PPAAO/WAAPP). 22nd – 24th June 2009, Dakar. Training of CORAF/WECARD Programme Managers and NARS trainers in the framework of the Change Management ongoing in CORAF/WECARD. 24th - 26th June 2009, Abuja. Workshop in the framework of the WAAPP involving at the current beneficiary countries and at the seven prospective beneficiary countries.p