FARA Weekly Update

 

1.      News and Events

a.       CCMP Fellowships to UNFCCC's COP17 climate change conference in South Africa

b.      'MIRIMIR' monthly newsletter of EIAR- May 2011

c.       Deadline extended for (1) call for PhD application in climate change and land use and   (2) call for PhD application in West African climate systems till mid or end of July.

d.      Management Training Invitation in Pretoria, South Africa. Download RIMT invitation letter and accommodation, transport and logistics information.

e.      CDKN Newsletter 7: Special Report from Bonn

f.        Knowledge for Development Newsletter - April/May 2011

g.       CDKN special update: join the second part of Simon Maxwell's debate on green growth

h.      José Graziano da Silva of Brazil elected FAO Director-General

i.         Agricultural Biotechnology International Conference, 6-9 September 2011, Johannesburg, South Africa. Download flyer

j.     NEPAD Steering Committee takes note of progress in agriculture, infrastructure and capacity building....

2.      New Resources

a.       CDKN Press Statement: Baby steps on climate cooperation bring small victories, but not enough to stave off climate-related suffering

b.      From biomass through bioenergy and back to agriculture, a closed cycle approach towards sustainable agriculture, bioenergy production and environmental protection: an invitation from DBFZ

c.       Agro-Insight is supporting ICRISAT and its partners in Africa to develop a series of farmer-to-farmer training videos on integrated striga and soil fertility management. Watch the video  “Succeed with Seed“

d.      E-consultation Summary of the Feed the Future (FTF) initiative’s research strategy

3.      Opportunities

a.       FiBL vacancy  announcement for two Researchers in sustainable agriculture.

b.      Scientific Communication and Publishing course. Download application form.

c.       Director - Making markets work for the poor (Analysis and Planning). Click here for details

d.      World Bank seeks communications officer- Deadline: July 6. For more information, click here.

 

Challenges and innovative processes for Capacity Strengthening in Agriculture for Development

FARA-EFARD-AGRINATURA

SIDE EVENT

@ the Gchera - 7 7th Conference of the Global Consortium of  Higher Education and Research for Agriculture

Using the opportunity of the 7th Conference of the Global Consortium of Higher Education and Research for Agriculture (GCHERA - 7), which is held between June 27 to 29, 2011 in Beauvais, the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), AGRINATURA and the European Forum for Agricultural Research for Development (EFARD) organised a pre-conference workshop on 26th and 27th June 2011 to review the progress to-date and the challenges still pending.

One of the most important initiatives that will be presented is the Tertiary Education for Agriculture Mechanism (TEAM-Africa), but other specific contributions, either thematically oriented (like UNIBRAIN) or focused on specific areas or sub-regions, such as the Engagement of West and Central African Tertiary Agricultural Africa Agriculture Development Programme in the CAADP Processes will also be reviewed.

By bringing together all those who are actively involved in agricultural development to share their views, the CIPCAD2 aims to inspire development and rebuilding of the capacity pyramid (see below) in agriculture, especially in the African context, driven by tangible results for poor farmers.

PROGRAMME OF EVENTS

1.      From CIPCAD 1 to CIPCAD 2: An Update – Prof. Didier Pillot, AGRINATURA

2.      Overview of PCAADP Processes & Capacity Needs – Dr. Martin Bwalya, AUC-NEPAD / Dr. Komla Bissi

3.      Rebuilding the African Human Capacity Pyramid and Estimating Capacity Demands – Mr. Ralph Von Kaufmann, FARA

4.      Restructuring Agricultural Education and Training in Sub-Saharan Africa – Prof. A. Stroebel/Prof. F. Swanepoel, University of The Free State

5.      Plenary Response to Background Presentations - Facilitator

1.      The Pan African University

2.      Technical and Vocational Training Barefoot Universities Farmer Field Schools, FAR network in francophone Africa

3.      Rural Learning Platforms

4.      Linking Universities, Business & Research

5.      Collaborative Research Support Programs (CRSPs)

6.      PAEPARD Multi-stakeholder Partnerships: training to broker

1.      Status of Agricultural Education and Training in the CAADP Investment Plans – Dr. Irene Annor-Frempong /Dr. Nelson Ojijo, FARA

2.      TEAM-Africa Presentation (ANAFE/RUFORUM): ·         How to determine the demand in scope, quality and quantity for trainees and graduates, and how to prioritise actions, ·         The factors that must be taken into account in planning to respond to the diverse demand, ·         The successes, best practices and novel approaches that can be used in reconstructing and expanding the capacity pyramid ·         The costs and benefits and where the financial resources will come from. ·         Who is demanding what from the TEAM Africa, ·         How the mechanism will respond to that demand, and what outcomes are sought and how its success will be defined

3.      Overall Discussion - Chair

1.      The LMD Reforms in French Speaking African Universities: Challenges, Perspectives and Opportunities – Prof. Félicien Avlessi

2.      Engagement of the CRUFAOCI Network in University Reforms in French Speaking African Universities – Prof. Jacques Nanema

3.      Preparing the Conference of Rectors of French Speaking African Universities in November 2011 – Dr. Aissetou Yaye

4.      Summary Discussions - Chair

1.      New Enterprise Skills, Food Value Addition & Access to Markets

2.      New Value & Reward Systems in Universities (going beyond publications)

3.      Integrating Research, Education & Extension

4.      Improving teaching and conditions of service

5.      Investment in Changing Curricular and Introducing Advanced Training Approaches, Aids and Contextualized Courses

6.      Introducing Teaching in Experiential Learning, Soft and Personal Mastery Skills

7.      Overall Discussion - Facilitator

Sustainable Nutrition Research for Africa in the Years to come

EU Funded project (2011-2013). Coordinator Prof Dr Patrick Kolsteren ITM Antwerp, Belgium. SUNRAY is a Coordination and Support Action of the EU FP7 AFRICA call under Grant Agreement nr. 266080

The SUNRAY project will develop a nutrition research agenda for sub-Saharan Africa. 

The main activities in SUNRAY are:

1. Mapping of current research. SUNRAY will identify the main actors and lines of research in the field of nutrition in Africa. An inventory of all academic and applied research in the field of nutrition in sub-Saharan Africa will be made. The major research topics, research locations, actors and funders will be identified through desk research and mobilisation of existing networks. In addition, a sample of the researchers will be interviewed to analyse the drivers and constraints doing nutrition research in Africa, and understand unmet needs as perceived by African researchers.
2. Stakeholder analysis. The relevance of the on-going nutrition research will be evaluated from the perspective of different stakeholders such as local policy makers, small and medium size enterprise, health and agricultural professionals, social sector etc. Multi-criteria mapping analysis will be used to identify the research options that each interviewee deems significant, capture their ranking of the options and their weightings of the relative importance of each option.
3. Assessment of the future research needs in nutrition research. A series of papers (i.e. climate change, markets, demography, social dynamics, water and political dynamics and governance) will identify emerging research challenges for the nutrition research community.
4. Regional workshops (Tanzania, Benin, South Africa) will be organised to build consensus between stakeholders, develop a coherent research agenda and outline the conditions and actions required to implement it.

Related: Workshop IX at the conference of Leeds: How can plant science research be translated into impact on food security?

SUNRAY - Sustainable nutrition research for Africa in the years to come - Patrick Kolsteren

The SUNRAY Consortium is:

	Institute for Tropical Medicine, Belgium (coordinator) Patrick Kolsteren
	Wageningen University, The Netherlands Dr. Fré Pepping
	North-West University (Potchefstroom), South Africa Prof. Annamarie Kruger
	Sokoine University, Tanzania Dr. Joyce Kinabo
	University of Abomey-Calavi, Benin Dr. Romain Dossa
	Intermón Oxfam, Spain Mrs. Teresa Cavero
	Institute for Tropical Medicine, Belgium Carl Lachat
	International Foundation for Science, Sweden Mrs. Nathalie Persson Andrianasitera
	Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, France Dr. Michelle Holdsworth
	Makerere University, Uganda Dr. Christopher Garimoi Orach