This brief puts the focus on the postharvest (PH) losses in Mozambique. According to the authors the glaring lack of data loss for major food commodities in Mozambique should move the government, development agencies, donors and research institutions to invest more on rigorous and systematic field-based studies to assess losses, and to identify matching loss mitigation innovations. The authors also assert that building local capacity and strengthening policy on PH will be of essence.
When designing projects, it is important to engage local stakeholders as early as possible to ensure that capacity development (CD) activities are truly relevant to their needs. Multi-Stakeholder processes (MSPs) can also lead to greater ownership of project activities and outcomes. This case study gives an example from Sudan of successful MSPs for developing Food Security and Nutrition Information Systems (FSNIS) in four states.
The impressive performance of improved varieties of high-yielding, heat-tolerant wheat developed in Sudan has convinced Nigerian decision makers that a viable solution to their country’s growing dependence on wheat imports is domestic production – a policy shift that will protect Nigerians from the vagaries of global commodity markets and strengthen national food security. The brief describes this solution.
Innovation platforms can be complex and challenging so effective monitoring is critical to ensure that they function effectively and achieve their intended purposes. A monitoring system is a collection of methods and tools to track and measure innovation activities, processes among partners, and the results of these processes. This brief describes what a monitoring system does, who is involved, how it works, and what to do with the findings. It is available in Chinese, English, Hindi, Thai and Vietnamese.
Vertical linkages occur among innovation platforms organized at different levels: community, district and national. Horizontal linkages occur among platforms situated at the same level (e.g. in multiple districts) to strengthen their bargaining position or for learning. This brief discusses ways to facilitate learning and problem solving across innovation platforms at different levels (vertical linkages) and between initiatives located at the same level (horizontal linkages). It is available in Chinese, English, Hindi, Thai and Vietnamese.
The International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) implements participatory monitoring and evaluation (PM&E) systems as a means of strengthening learning, self-reflection and facilitating institutional learning and change (ILAC) processes within Research and Development (R&D) institutions and local communities in Africa.
Members of the Pan-Africa Bean Research Alliance were working to improve their capacity in planning and management through the introduction of participatory monitoring and evaluation (PM&E) systems to national agricultural research and extension institutes (NARES) and their partners in Eastern and Southern Africa. The national bean programmes within NARES in six countries had been successful in institutionalising PM&E and in encouraging partners involved in the dissemination of bean technologies to incorporate PM&E systems in their projects.
This brief outlines why it is needed an index to measure and monitor women’s access to the services, markets, policies and other aspects constraining their ability to contribute to and benefit from opportunities in agriculture and agribusiness, especially in the developing world. This would allow policy-makers, women’s development advocates and development partners to better focus their efforts so they make agriculture work for women
This brief argues that youth-inclusive investments to modernise the agricultural sector will unleash its huge potential, offer attractive employment opportunities and create a level playing field for rural girls and boys. It sets out several youth-inclusive approaches that will help agricultural value chain development programmes meet the needs of young people.
This brief argues that policy-makers in ACP countries must engage with young people to ensure that the policy environment reflects their interests and makes the sector attractive to them. Policies that work for and with youth are more likely to attract young people to the sector, injecting dynamism, growth and transformation.