Project Reports

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14659/200

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    Country level (Kenya) third-party projects supervisory/monitoring mission: Back to office report
    (FARA, 2023-12) FARA
    Prompted by problems found in an earlier Uganda mission, and because third-party projects hold 65% of AIRTEA's budget, FARA and EAFF visited the Kenyan projects to check technical and financial compliance with approved work plans and contracts and to resolve conflicts. The team met lead institutions, visited beneficiaries and held debriefings with TPP004 (Koppert), TPP001 (JKUAT), TPP008 (University of Nairobi), TPP010 (Cooperative Alliance of Kenya) and TPP009 (KeFAAS), and reported on the TPP003 potato site in Nyandarua. Projects were generally on track: hybrid solar fish dryers were working, certified potato seed and drought-tolerant maize had reached farmers, cassava processors were linked to growers, and digital connectors had started businesses. Weaknesses included financial reporting gaps (no malfeasance found) and "IPs" that were really farmer groups. Lessons call for routine meetings, financial reporting training and regular backstopping.
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    AIRTEA Project Implementation Plan
    (FARA, 2021-08) ASARECA, EAFF, FARA
    The Project Implementation Plan sets out how the consortium and its stakeholders, including the OACPS and the EU, will deliver AIRTEA's objective of sustainable agrarian livelihoods and rural transformation in East Africa through inclusive research and innovation. It restates the project's theory of change: a research–policy interface creating a conducive policy environment for knowledge exchange, technology transfer and business development. The plan gives an indicative half-yearly work plan for Year 1 and a work plan for the following years, organized by task and activity across the four work packages: institutionalizing innovation platforms and virtual research–user platforms (WP1); collective learning and capacity development of women and youth as advisory service providers (WP2); Agribusiness Learning Alliances and agribusiness incubation (WP3); and partnerships, governance, calls for proposals, communication and M&E (WP4). Each activity names its implementing body and timing.
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    AIRTEA agribusiness and private sector training workshop: Consultancy to test Agribusiness Learning Alliances (ABLA) proof of concept towards enhancing the economic value derived from innovation platforms
    (FARA, 2024-06) Buruchara, Robin
    FARA held a three-day agribusiness workshop in Nairobi with 33 participants from the consortium, third-party projects, IP facilitators and private-sector partners. It combined two days of agribusiness training to support ABLAs with a one-day business consultative forum on mentorship and innovative financing for agricultural research businesses, and engaged projects in identifying women and youth to train as business development support personnel. Sessions covered the IP concept and its gaps, agribusiness opportunities, gap analysis and action planning per project, and a synthesis of a FARA learning event. Conclusions ask digital extension projects (TPP004, TPP007 and TPP009) to extend services to more IPs, and call for a central support platform for IP leaders, simpler training materials, direct market links, reporting of unexpected outcomes, and FARA–ASARECA action plans and tools to assess IP functionality and maturity.
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    Report of the third-party selection process of the AIRTEA project
    (FARA, 2021-11) FARA
    The report documents how AIRTEA selected the multi-stakeholder partnership projects it would fund. A call for proposals for grants of EUR 150,000–400,000, from a third-party envelope of EUR 2,652,000, opened on 10 June 2021 and closed on 9 August 2021, with a virtual information meeting on 8 July. Of 112 applications, 75 passed eligibility and administrative checks and 37 were rejected. An Independent Evaluation Committee scored the eligible proposals. The Project Steering Committee then applied affirmative action for youth-, women- and private-sector-led proposals and raised the number of grants from six to up to fifteen. It approved 12 projects on 8 November 2021, subject to OACPS and EC no-objection. The report lists the selected projects and their distribution by lead institution type and country.
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    Proceedings of the AIRTEA project closeout and capitalization meeting: Final capitalization and evaluation meeting
    (FARA, 2026) EAFF, FARA
    As the first phase of AIRTEA ended, the consortium met to synthesize evidence from its pilots, assess progress against results frameworks, and prepare scaling proposals for a possible AIRTEA II. The meeting brought together 61 participants (40 men, 21 women) from the eleven third-party projects, the FARA–ASARECA–EAFF consortium, value-chain partners and the OACPS Research and Innovation Technical Assistance Unit; the guest of honour was the Acting Director General of KALRO. Methods included TPP results presentations, pitch sessions with expert panel review, clinics on theory of change, impact pathways and resource mobilization, and peer learning. Outcomes were refined scaling concepts for all eleven projects, draft outlines for an AIRTEA II proposal, stronger theories of change, and agreed schedules for reporting, audits and asset handover. Lessons stress quantified impact, private-sector engagement, institutionalizing IPs beyond project cycles, and co-financing.
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    Report of the AIRTEA Third-Party Kick-off Meeting, Nairobi, 28th March – 1st April 2022
    (FARA, 2022) FARA
    The five-day kick-off meeting launched implementation of AIRTEA's eleven third-party projects. It aimed to build a shared vision of the project, review EC/OACPS contracting and reporting rules, strengthen the projects' logical frameworks and the overall M&E framework, revise Year 1 work plans and budgets, explain communication and visibility requirements, and let the KCB Foundation present co-financing opportunities. The report summarizes opening speeches by the leaders of FARA, ASARECA, EAFF, the OACPS Technical Assistance Unit, the KCB Foundation and Kenya's Ministry of Agriculture. It records each project's presentation with participants' comments, plus sessions on M&E, fiduciary rules, ABLA and communication strategy. Agreed actions included revised logframes, work plans and budgets by 15 April 2022, contracts by 30 April 2022, consortium agreements and project fact sheets.
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    Final report on Agribusiness Learning Alliances workshop: Feedback and recommendations from stakeholders
    (FARA, 2024-03) Buruchara, Robin
    AIRTEA found that private-sector involvement in its innovation platforms was weak, and adopted the Agribusiness Learning Alliance (ABLA) approach to co-create business solutions and strengthen entrepreneurship in third-party projects. This report consolidates stakeholder feedback from three activities used to build an ABLA proof of concept: a brainstorming meeting in Accra (28–29 August 2023), a baseline assessment of AIRTEA projects, and the Agribusiness and Private Sector Engagement training workshop (17–19 October 2023). It traces the approach to FARA's IAR4D concept and PABRA's demand-led bean model. Consolidated recommendations call for a stronger commercial focus with off-takers and financiers, business-skills training, structured knowledge exchange, strategic partnerships, an M&E framework built on the baseline, policy advocacy for private-sector engagement, support tailored to IP maturity, stakeholder mapping, clearer governance, and incentives for commercialization.
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    Geographical Locations and Information on AIRTEA innovation platforms in Eastern Africa (Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda)
    (ASARECA, 2023-02) Okonya, Joshua Sikhu
    The inventory records the location, value chain and membership of every innovation platform under the AIRTEA project in Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. Value chains include silver cyprinid (omena) fish, ware and seed potato, maize, dairy, avocado, cassava, African indigenous vegetables, pumpkin, tomato, rice and aquaculture, plus e-extension hubs. Platforms range from groups of 14 members to cooperatives of over 5,000. The data support mapping, sampling and monitoring of the project's IP network.
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    Institutionalization of innovation platforms, strategic pathways and government incentives for priority commodity value chains in Uganda, Kenya & Rwanda: Workshop report
    (ASARECA, 2022-06) Okonya, Joshua Sikhu; Odeke, Moses
    Under AIRTEA Work Package 1, ASARECA, FARA and EAFF convened IP strategic meetings in Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda in June 2022. The meetings aimed to sensitize stakeholders on the role of IPs in agricultural research for development, identify strategic pathways for mainstreaming the IP approach in research institutions, and identify policy incentives for adopting it along commodity value chains. Participants included directors general of national research institutes, ministry directors, scientists, universities and NGOs. The report records that agricultural subsidies of 30–70% exist in all three countries, alongside VAT exemptions on inputs, matching grants (Rwanda and Uganda) and crop and livestock insurance. Participants stressed local ownership, funding beyond project cycles, commodity-based IPs, agreed bylaws and governance structures, and capacity building for facilitators. For institutionalization, they called for a regulatory framework, implementation guidelines, integration of IPs into local development plans, and laws that incentivize innovation.
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    Assessing the status of innovation platforms in Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda: Report 2021
    (ASARECA, 2021) Agole, David; Ochatum, Nathan; Asiimwe, Willy
    The study characterized existing innovation platforms (IPs) in Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda, assessed their functionality, and identified the stakeholder groups taking part in them. It used a consultative, qualitative case-study design. The authors assessed 102 IPs and selected three for detailed documentation: Huguka Mudende IP (Rubavu, Rwanda), the Soroti Sweet Potato Producers and Processors Association (Serere, Uganda), and the Bungoma South Farmers Innovation Platform SIMLESA (BUSOFIPS, Kenya). Findings were validated at a virtual meeting with 18 participants. The study found that IPs foster collaboration among diverse actors and have helped smallholder farmers raise on-farm production and productivity. It recommends that governments adopt IPs as a framework for improving farmers' market participation, that a policy brief on the IP approach be produced, and that policies encourage private-sector partnership with IPs