ESA Project Evolution: 2012 – 2016 Mateete Bekunda AR-ESA Phase 1 Legacy Meeting 30 June , 2016 Dar es Salaam Tanzania

The presentation Project evolution Management evolution Implementation evolution Lessons learned

Project Evolution Year Project type 2011-4 Technology development – Research 2014-6… Technology delivery and scaling (Tanzania) – With NAFAKA 2015-6… Going to scale in Eastern Province of Zambia – With several development partners (Evolved from AR-SIMLEZA) INVC – Bridging Activity (Malawi) – With ACE, FUM, CADECOM

Project management & staff Year Management/staff membership # Research Institutions # Research Beneficiaries 2011-2 Project Manager, Chief Scientist, M&E 11 Jumpstart Projects 29 - 2012-3 Project manager, Chief Scientist, M&E 4 Team leaders (IITA, ICRISAT, MSU, AfricaRice) 21 ? 2013-4 Project Manager, Chief Scientist, Economist 4 Team Leaders (IITA, ICRISAT, MSU, CIMMYT) 27 2014-5 Project Manager, C. Scientist, Economist, Gender, Communications, M&E (Scaling, GIS) 2015-6 Project Manager, C. Scientist, Economist, Gender, Comms, M&E (Scaling, GIS) 26 4,963

Research to meet challenges identified during the October 2012 ESA Project Planning Meeting Availability of improved varieties (tolerant to drought, pests and diseases; rich in nutrition) Availability of seed - distribution systems Low soil fertility Pests, diseases and weed management Poor agronomic practices (planting periods, spacing, crop mixtures, labour-saving technologies) Conservation of natural resources (integrated soil and water management) Post-harvesting technologies (value addition & utilization, food safety, agro-processing) Markets (access, organizational, opportunities and niches) Institutions (farmer organizations, networks, innovation platforms) Livestock (management skills, pastures and feeds, health, product processing, breeds) Information and communication Capacity building (We have not addressed all; we have focused on the bold items)

Research to meet challenges identified by baseline studies Most work packages conducted baseline studies that guided entry and refinement of the research designs (Three publications) ARBES by IFPRI (presentation from IFPRI on typologies) Farming Systems Analyses – farm diversity & choice of innovations.

AR Niche: Integrated Systems Research Crops Soil/Water Livestock Crop Soil √ Crop Livestock √ Soil Livestock √ Crop Soil Livestock √ AR Niche: Integrated Systems Research 1. Crops/Shrubs/Trees (A) 4 5 7 Qn 1: Where are we? 6 3. Livestock (C) markets/institutions, gender, policies, environment… From effective to attractive technologies 2. Soil/Water (B) Later: SI indicator development

SI domains Qn 2: Which of these have we measured? 1) ECONOMIC 2) HUMAN education health nutrition 3) ENVIRONMENTAL 4) SOCIAL 5) PRODUCTIVITY yield total factor productivity soil composition erosion water use efficiency Land use farmer groups social capital gender equity income poverty Draft Sustainable Intensification Index 5 core S.I. domains associated indicators for each domain EXTERNAL FACTORS markets policy infrastructure farmer preference development priorities Ideally Africa RISING aims to have a positive impact on each one of these aspects. It directly touches productivity and land management practices to protect environment, but indirectly it aims at touching all these aspects. Qn 2: Which of these have we measured?

. Implementation evolution Different country research entry points: Open-ended for Tanzania (WPs) Adding value to a technology under research in Malawi (DUL) Introducing/integrating new technologies to a technology under research in Zambia (SIMLEZA – CA). 2013-2015 Period. .

Evolution of the research implementation strategy (From jumpstarts to separate components to integration) Year Tanzania Malawi Zambia 2011-2 10 Jumpstarts 29 Res. Institutions 7 Jumpstarts Same 4 Jumpstarts 2012-3 14 Work Packages 19 Res. Institutions 4 Work Packages 6 Res. Institutions 2013-4 23 Res. Institutions 5 Work Packages 2014-5 9 Themes 24 Res. Institutions 3 Themes 5 Res. Institutions 5 Work packages 7 Res. Institutions 2015-6 1 Theme 2 Res. Institutions

Harmonizing “themes” across sites: Necessary for technical reporting RO1: Situation analysis and program-wide synthesis RO2: Integrated Systems Improvement Genetic intensification NRM technologies driven by crop ecology NRM technologies driven by ISFM Landscape-driven technologies Livestock-driven technologies Postharvest, food safety, and nutrition technologies RO 3: Scaling and delivery X-cutting Defining promising technologies using cost-benefit analyses Defining promising technologies using gender-sensitive approaches

Where are we on this pathway? From research toward impact: a transitioning guide QN 3: Where are we on this pathway?

Lessons learned Promises are not necessarily debts! This is not the first writeshop! We commit but do not refer back to this in guiding our progress (framework, logframe…) We set targets and mainly under-achieve (2015: FtF Target 8474; actual 1793! – 30 - 514) Meeting timelines is a challenge. Requires whips! Partnerships Functional partnership formation takes time, and requires one’s time commitment Thinking out of the box is difficult for researchers (disciplinary, rather than multidisciplinary) Available expertise has focused on production issues; other aspects of the value chain (input-output markets, processing, nutrition) have not received attention.

Lessons learned But we are getting there… Implementation There are high expectations for a complex project with limited funds (sometimes we set them ourselves!) Complex efforts like those in Tanzania, do not yield immediate results; difficult to visualise by evaluators (including M&E) Scaling so far is more about component technologies not about a systems approach But we are getting there…

Showcasing integration Relay-cropped lablab for dry season soil cover

Simplifying complicated science messages: How to produce more from the farm - Malawi

Developing “how to” tools for beneficiaries

Africa RISING Identity Africa RISING Team Tanzania Sustainable intensification in Mixed Crop-Livestock Agro-Ecosystems in the face of Climate Change: The Case for Tanzania Strong Africa RISING Identity Africa RISING Team Tanzania June 3-6, 2015 Hilux Hotel, Morogoro, Tanzania

Thank you ESA Africa