Saturday, 2 May 2009

The failure to network accross the African continent

Interviewed during the SCARDA (Strenghtening Capacity for Agricultural Research for Development in Africa) Regional Programme-wide Strategies and Learning Workshop (Accra, FARA Secretariat 27th-30th April), Rory Hillocks explains how the SCARDA prgram has managed to overcome the failure to network accross the African continent for increased capacity building in agricultural research for development. But institutional change is a long term process which requires a commitment for 10 years. a) SCARDA started with scoping studies which were a kind of needs assessment. b) It was followed by a more in depth institutional analysis: how does research meets clients' demand? c)The next phase will have to deeped the institutional change and have it absorbed inside the focal agricultural research institutions and broaden the links with the research partners: the capacity building, the research, the extension and all the stakeholders through-out the agricultural commodity chain.

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