Building CAPACITY on ASTI systems : CTA’s EXPERIENCE

1. Building CAPACITY on ASTI systems : CTA’s EXPERIENCE Michael Hailu and Judith Francis CTA

2. About CTA CTA is a joint international institution of the ACP Group of States (79) and the EU (27). It operates under the framework of the Cotonou Agreement. CTA is funded by the EU.

3. Our Mission To advance food and nutritional security, increase prosperity and encourage sound natural resource management by providing access to information and knowledge, facilitating policydialogue and strengthening the capacity of agricultural and rural development institutions and communities in ACP countries

4. Strategic Plan 2011- 2015 3 Strategic Goals • To support well informed, inclusive agricultural policy processes and strategies in each ACP region to empower smallholder producers, women and youth • To promote priority value chains in the ACP, especially for smallholder producers • To strengthen the information, communication and knowledge management capacities of ACP institutions and networks

5. Themes & Activities • Food security, climate change, regional trade & markets, agricultural innovation, ACP generated content • Multi-disciplinary/multi-stakeholder knowledge platforms • Integrated information systems and communities of practice • Tools, methods and approaches to facilitate policy formulation and analysis • Case studies & synthesis studies for evidence-based policy & decision-making • Publications – print and electronic, websites

6. Challenges for ACP Agriculture • Little diversification in products or services • Increasing hunger and food insecurity • Inability to compete in domestic, regional and international markets • Sector is under-resourced (human & financial capital) • Low investments in S&T & limited capacity to respond to challenges e.g. climate change and achieve sustainable development • Limited engagement of S&T experts in policy processes • Africa's increasing population • Africa has the lowest on expenditure on R&D • SOURCES: http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind10/c4/c4s5.htm

7. R&D Investment in Sub-Saharan Africa Scenario Just 8 countries of 31 countries for which data is available met the 1% of total GDP national R&D investment target put forward by NEPAD.

8. African Universities Ranking • Africa’s top university is 324th • Most significant barrier to innovation in Africa is lack of qualified people Source: Webometric, world university ranking http://www.webometrics.info/top100_continent.asp?cont=africa

9. Innovation System A complex network of policies, institutions and actors

10. CTA Capacity Building on ASTI Systems in ACP Countries • 2003 – Sensitization of key decision makers to gain buy-in (e.g. CORAF, FARA) • 2004 - Initial training of 6 ACP experts (e.g. ISRA, IRAD) on understanding innovation processes and applying the innovation systems approach (ISA) to analyzing the ACP agricultural, science, technology and innovation (ASTI) system • Development of TOT manual, conducting regional ASTI System training workshops & incorporating ACP experts in the training (e.g. 2010CTA/ANAFE /CORAF/Université Abdou Moumouni de Niamey Niger workshop) • Support for national case studies (>20) – led by ACP experts (e.g. Rice and fisheries in Senegal, plantain & fisheries in Ghana, cassava in Cameroon & Nigeria) • Piloting the development of ASTI system performance indicators

11. Key Partners (EU & Africa only) Photo: 2010 CTA/ANAFE /CORAF/Université Abdou Moumouni de Niamey Niger workshop

12. Lessons from CTA Case Studies (1)

13. Lessons from CTA Case Studies (2) Linkages among actors

14. Lessons from CTA Case Studies (3) Cassava Innovation System Cameroon (IRAD)

15. Lessons from CTA Case Studies (4) Environment for Innovation

16. Conclusions Major Lessons • ISA is relevant but not well understood • National policies exist but implementation is weak • Little innovation is taking place (except at farm & SME level) • Knowledge infrastructure is inadequate – universities and research organizations outside of the innovation system & extension is weak; • Low investments & limited access to funding for research, training and new technologies for key commodities that are important for food security etc; • Competencies are lacking in critical areas for innovation • Small holder farmers not valued as allies in the fight against hunger and poverty

17. Recommendations • Enhance the policy & institutional framework • Invest in research, tertiary education & extension • Improve science & technology infrastructure • Develop human resources (youth and women) • Facilitate access to information – technical, financing and marketing (local, regional, international) • Optimize the use of ICTs Innovation is essential 4 Development

18. CTA & ASTI in the Future • Integrate training material into existing university programmes (ANAFE, FARA & RUFORUM as partners) • Support further training and case studies with a focus on French West and central Africa (ANAFE, CORAF/WECARD as partners) • Publish the outputs of ACP case studies on CTA K4D website • Build a community of practice of ACP experts on innovation systems • Link CTA innovation systems and value chain development work

19. www.cta.int http://knowledge.cta.int/ http://agritrade.cta.int/ cta@cta.int