Dr. Silim Nahdy, Executive Director AFAAS & Dr. Dan Kisauzi, Management Consultant AFAAS

1. AFAAS Increasing Agricultural Productivity Through More Effective AAS Dr. Silim Nahdy, Executive Director AFAAS & Dr. Dan Kisauzi, Management Consultant AFAAS Brussels, 20-22 March 2012 www.afaas-africa.org

2. Outline Challenges in AAS and role of AFAAS Experience Strategic Plan Achievements Resource mobilization What worked well and why Looking into the future Sustainability

3. Challenges Facing African Agricultural Advisory Services (AAS) Unsupportive Policies Inappropriate AAS delivery approaches Widening scope of AAS Inappropriate funding approaches Low organisational & Institutional Capacities ?! Inability to target poverty and gender Environmental degradation and climate change Ineffective demand for AAS Farmers who are not empowered Poor Market Orientation

4. Why AFAAS? • Support to the country AAS to ensure that FAAP principles are applied within the CAADP process • Support sharing of experiences, information and knowledge on AAS • Backstop country-level AAS to organize themselves to focus on AAS issues • Represent AAS at continental and international fora

5. Experience Success factors for organizational and institutional development: • Sustained demand • Championing • Institutional support by NAADS and FARA • Brokerage and Advocacy • Seed Resources • Foundation building • Achievements

6. Experience (cont): Sustained Demand Sub-Saharan African Network on Agricultural Advisory Services (SSANAAS), First networking Symposium and General Assembly Kampala, 2004 (7 countries) • African Forum for Agricultural Advisory Services (AFAAS) Second Symposium & General Assembly Kampala, 2006 (14 countries) • Strategic Plan • Constitution Third Symposium & General Assembly Accra, 2011 (36 countries)

7. Experience (cont): Brokering and Advocacy for AFAAS • NAADS - at national and regional levels • SROs - sub-regional stakeholders • FARA - within African R&D institutions • GFRAS at a global level World bank and DPs as catalysts

8. Experience cont. Seed Resources received • From 2004 to 2010 supported by Uganda’s National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS) through its operational budget • A EUR 1.5 Mio grant from the EU obtained in 2008 to support AFAAS for 2.5 years • effective utilization started in May 2010 after establishment of the MDTF and ended in June 2011

9. Experience cont. Organizational and Institutional Foundation Building • Establishment as a legal entity in Uganda • A constitution under which AFAAS shall obtain legal status in other countries • Governance arrangements comprising of the General Assembly and the Board • A Strategic Plan • Procedures for Finance and Administration, Procurement and Human Resource Management • Fully functional Secretariat • Start-up staff with Executive Director & supported by consultants

10. Strategic Plan (2011-2016)

11. Achievements 1. Engagement with CAADP • Strategy for AAS engagement in CAADP embedded in the strategic plan for CAADP Pillar IV developed jointly with FARA • Developed capacity of eight AAS experts who shall backstop the CAADP process from an AAS perspective • Guidelines for AAS to engage with country CAADP

12. Achievements (cnt.) 2. Information and Knowledge Management • Three Symposia organised; • A website, and a virtual social networking platform; • A conceptual framework for lesson learning developed; • A guide for Piloting Market Oriented AAS; • Study on targeting Women Advisory Service Providers in Capacity Development Programmes; • Study on how issues of Climate Change are being addressed in AAS

13. Achievements (cont.) 3. Country Fora • Guidelines on how to engage with AAS stakeholder in a country to bring about the emergence of CF that are aligned with CAADP. • Country Foraestablished in seven countries (Benin, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Uganda) • Six countries in the process of developing their own Strategic Plans aligned with that of AFAAS

14. Achievements (cont.) 4. Partnerships • A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between FARA and AFAAS signed in June 2008 • Partnership with CORAF, ASARECA to be established at sub regional level • GFRAS – Advocacy and Inter-continental networking • ICRA – Country Fora • NRI – Climate change • National Systems e.g. NAADS; national AAS capacity strengthening

15. Resource Mobilization • FARA - USD 0.7 Mio core support from July 2011 to December 2012 • GFRAS – USD 90,000 for KM • SDC – USD 200,000 in kind over two years (2 country fora) • Pledges • EC – EUR 5 Mio over 5 years (through a WB managed MDTF), core support • IFAD – USD 1 Mio over two years (5 country fora) • CORAF – support of country fora and possibly staff position (not yet quantified)

16. Budget

17. What Worked Well and Why • Ownership by stakeholders • Collaboration with continental AAS networks in Asia and LA • Partnership with FARA and GFRAS • Brokering role by the World Bank • Establishment of functioning organizational structures Key for success has been the demand and need expressed by various actors and stakeholders

18. Challenges • AFAAS is still a very young organization expected to demonstrate its added value • Time required to put governance and management systems in place • Stakeholders want to see impact but resources, governance and management systems are required first to work towards impact

19. Looking into the Future AAS providers have sufficient capacity to effectively support value chain actors towards increasing agricultural productivity and food security in a sustainable manner • Improvement in skill levels and competencies of AAS service providers • Skilled professionals delivering AAS addressing the priority areas (climate change, market access, gender etc.) • Value chain actors satisfied with quality of AAS

20. Sustainability AFAAS is sustainable because: • it links and integrates with national (including donor-funded) programs • AAS is perceived as a key building block of R&D together with agricultural research and education

21. Thank you for listening http://www.afaas-africa.org http://networking.afaas-africa.org