This document outlines the World Agroforestry Centre’s (also referred to as the International Centre for Research in Agroforestry – ICRAF) strategy for capacity development for the period 2013-2018. The strategy is based on a rigorous analysis of ICRAF’s context within the reformed CGIAR, as well as on the synthesis of recommendations from ICRAF’s Centre Commissioned External Reviews (CCERs) and External Programme and Management Reviews (EMPRs). In addition, the results of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analyses of capacity development at ICRAF undertaken through consultations with ICRAF’s research staff in early 2012, and with ICRAF’s partners in East Africa and South Asia regions in 2012 and 2013, respectively are incorporated. The background information to this strategy is available as a supplement.
Tag: capacity building
BASIC: Building Africa’s Scientific and Institutional Capacity in Agriculture and Natural Resources Education
From 23-25 November 2005, FARA convened a meeting of key agricultural networks involved in capacity building in Africa. This was done as part of the process of developing the FARA-led programme for Building Africa’s Scientific and Institutional Capacity (BASIC). The goal was to achieve harmony and complementarity among the different capacity building initiatives, projects and networks. The meeting was hosted by ANAFE at the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) in Nairobi. BASIC is aimed at strengthening Africa’s ability to build capacity with special emphasis on undergraduate programmes in agriculture and natural resources. It is responding to major weaknesses in agricultural education programmes that affect the quality and relevance of agricultural graduates and impede the development of Africa’s predominant industry. BASIC will restore the capacity of African universities in the delivery of high quality and relevant agricultural education that prepares competent graduates for rural development and endogenous scientific and technological innovations. BASIC is a medium-term programme to which various components that address priority needs will be progressively attached. African universities will set the priorities and agenda and as far as possible assist one another. Additional resources for developing teaching and training approaches, methods and tools may be drawn (as needed) from non-African partners in conjunction with ICRA, NATURA and NASULGC among others. Up-to-date and locally relevant course materials will be developed in collaboration with the Training Community of Practice of CGIAR centres and National Agricultural Research Institutes (NARIs). The BASIC initiative is reaching out to the many already existing networks and scientific associations involved in building capacity in agriculture and naturalresources management in Africa. The purpose is to ensure that current experiences are taken into account and used in further development of the BASIC programme, and that the collaborative advantages of the various networks and associations are fully exploited, especially to fill gaps, minimize conflicts, and eliminate unproductive competition and duplications of effort. The main achievements of the meeting are: 1.The thematic and geographic coverage of each network was mapped and made known to peer networks. 2.The objectives, funding mechanisms, modus operandi and strategies of the various networks were shared and opportunities for synergy were identified. 3.Recommendations and action plans were formulated to enable the complementary networks to contribute to and benefit from BASIC. 4.This was the first ever meeting of networks involved in capacity building in agriculture and natural resources in Africa. The participants confirmed that further meetings would result in significant collaborative benefits. They agreed to hold similar conferences annually to enhance sharing of information and experiences, especially on agenda and strategies, and to build upon the achievements of this meeting. The BASIC Interim Implementation Committee (BIIC) attended the meeting and gained a great deal of information and encouragement for advancing BASIC in the wider context of the mandates and products of existing networks and projects. BIIC members informed participants about BASIC and provided guidance on future collaboration with the networks and projects.
Capacity development manual and training workshop report
The SHARED is a comprehensive framework tailored to specific decision needs, which brings together processes, evidence and tools to assist in shifting the decision paradigm towards more inclusive, inter-sectoral and inter-institutional integration.
Cross Border Exchange Visit to Strengthen Capacity of Stakeholders on Collaborative Biodiversity Management
The visit aimed at building capacity in biodiversity conservation envisaged to contribute towards expected activity result linked to project Log frame indicator (LFI) 2.4: Cross border exchange visits are organized to strengthen the skills of stakeholders from the selected demonstration sites in collaborative biodiversity management by Q4_2015”
Reconnaissance visit to eastern Uganda in preparation for the commencement of the project on participatory knowledge integration on indicators of soil Quality
The aim of this activity was to assess and select sites with soil fertility constraints, which shall be used in the study. Furthermore, local contacts were to be identified that will help during mobilization of stakeholders and establishment and maintenance of demonstration plots. Finally, during the trip, the team identified potential venues for both the National and sub national workshops.
East and Southern Africa Forest Observatory: Fostering regional data sharing
The objective of the observatory is to produce a comprehensive and harmonized regional dataset on the latest trends and threats to forests, and to make information useful and easily accessible to policymakers, funders, forestry practitioners and citizens.
Capacity building for ACM: Lessons learned from training in distinct contexts
Capacity building should be an integral component of adaptive collaborative management (ACM) approaches to give participants the skills, awareness, and confidence to understand and implement ACM methods. This chapter examines our insights from 20 years of work in ACM by looking at three cases from Bolivia, Nicaragua, and Ghana in which we introduced ACM methods in distinct contexts to assist local stakeholders in addressing forest management challenges. In each case, an initial capacity-building phase was necessary to facilitate ACM processes. We argue that training should be approached through an ACM lens to generate social learning processes, placing experimentation and reflexivity at the core of such capacity-building programmes. Training in ACM is not simply about teaching a new methodology, it is about building an ethos of experimentation, learning and collaboration. Our goal in training was to create self-reinforcing cycles in which participants reflected on their learning so that they could consciously facilitate learning with others. This not only allowed us to gauge the effectiveness of the capacity-building exercises and whether key messages were being captured by trainees, but also to successfully introduce the ACM approach to ongoing initiatives.
خطوط توجيهية تكميلية — التصدي للحراجة والحراجة الزراعية في خطط التكيف الوطنية
ﯾﻘﺪم ھﺬا اﻟﻤﻨﺸﻮر ﺑﻌﻨﻮان ”اﻟﺘﺼﺪي ﻟﻠﺤﺮاﺟﺔ واﻟﺤﺮاﺟﺔ اﻟﺰراﻋﯿﺔ ﻓﻲ ﺧﻄﻂ اﻟﺘﻜﯿﻒ اﻟﻮطﻨﯿﺔ: اﻟﺨﻄﻮط اﻟﺘﻮﺟﯿﮭﯿﺔ اﻟﺘﻜﻤﯿﻠﯿﺔ“ إرﺷﺎدات ﺗﻘﻨﯿﺔ ﺑﺸﺄن دﻣﺞ اﻟﻐﺎﺑﺎت واﻟﺤﺮاﺟﺔ اﻟﺰراﻋﯿﺔ واﻷﺷﺠﺎر ﻓﻲ ﺻﯿﺎﻏﺔ ﺧﻄﻂ اﻟﺘﻜﯿﻒ اﻟﻮطﻨﯿﺔ وﺗﻨﻔﯿﺬھﺎ. ﻛﻤﺎ ﯾﺴﻌﻰ إﻟﻰ إﺣﺎطﺔ ﺻﺎﻧﻌﻲ اﻟﺴﯿﺎﺳﺎت واﻟﻤﻮظﻔﯿﻦ اﻟﺤﻜﻮﻣﯿﯿﻦ اﻟﻤﺴﺆوﻟﯿﻦ ﺑﺎﻟﻮﺿﻊ اﻟﺨﺎص ﺑﺨﻄﺔ اﻟﺘﻜﯿﻒ اﻟﻮطﻨﯿﺔ وﻋﻤﻠﯿﺎﺗﮭﺎ، وﻛﺬﻟﻚ أﺻﺤﺎب اﻟﻤﺼﻠﺤﺔ اﻟﻤﻌﻨﯿﯿﻦ ﺑﺎﻟﻐﺎﺑﺎت واﻟﺠﮭﺎت اﻟﻔﺎﻋﻠﺔ اﻷﺧﺮى اﻟﻤﻌﻨﯿﺔ، ﺑﺸﺄن اﺣﺘﯿﺎﺟﺎت اﻟﻐﺎﺑﺎت واﻟﺤﺮاﺟﺔ اﻟﺰراﻋﯿﺔ ﻣﻦ أﺟﻞ ﺗﺤﻘﯿﻖ اﻟﺘﻜﯿﻒ، وإﻣﻜﺎﻧﺎﺗﮭﺎ ﻟﺪﻋﻢ ﺗﻜﯿﻒ اﻟﻘﻄﺎﻋﺎت واﻟﻘﻄﺎﻋﺎت اﻟﻔﺮﻋﯿﺔ واﻷﻧﺸﻄﺔ اﻷﺧﺮى.
يحشد المنشور مجموعة المعارف الحالية المتعلقة بإدارة الغابات وتقييمات لقابلية التأثر والتكيف مع تغير المناخ، بناءً على خبرة منظمة الأغذية والزراعة وبرنامج البحوث بشأن الغابات والأشجار والحراجة الزراعية التابع للفريق الاستشاري المعنى بالبحوث الزراعية الدولية. بغية تلبية احتياجات البلدان بشكل فعال، يعتمد المنشور أيضًا على إجراء تحليل لخطط التكيف الوطنية المنشورة بالفعل والوثائق المماثلة التي أعدتها البلدان المتقدمة أو السلطات دون الوطنية.
Planification d’une action communautaire pour une production durable de bois-énergie dans les comtés de Baringo et de Kitui au Kenya
Principaux enseignements
- Les plans d’action communautaire (CAP, pour Community action plans en anglais) offrent une solution peu onéreuse pour promouvoir la production durable de charbon de bois. Pour un montant d’environ 13 USD par personne et par jour, pouvant varier selon le lieu, les administrations des comtés pourraient intégrer des réunions CAP à leurs activités.
- Les formations de formateurs (ToT, pour Training of Trainers en anglais) sont une autre démarche efficace et peu coûteuse de diffusion des connaissances sur la production durable du charbon de bois. Le renforcement des capacités des formateurs au sein des communautés sur le mécanisme CAP permettrait aux associations de producteurs de charbon d’organiser ces réunions en puisant dans leurs revenus.
- La diversification des produits du bois-énergie permettrait de réduire la pression sur les forêts et les arbres, par exemple en récupérant la poussière de charbon sur les sites de production, avec des branches et des brindilles pour fabriquer des briquettes.
- Pour respecter les mesures prises en faveur d’une production durable de bois-énergie, le Kenya Forest Service et les administrations des comtés peuvent coopérer avec les associations de producteurs de charbon pour renforcer les capacités institutionnelles et organisationnelles.
Herding cats: Facilitation in social learning processes
The chapter unpacks good process facilitation based on long-term experience over three decades in Eastern and Southern Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. It elaborates how such facilitation competences can be developed within institutions and communities. Facilitation for change is the backbone of operationalising participation, engagement of people and collaboration. A successful intervention requires far more programme investment in developing good facilitation and process management capacity than typically planned.