African Forum for Agricultural Advisory Services Dr. Silim Nahdy, Executive Director AFAAS & Dr. Dan Kisauzi, Management Consultant AFAAS Brussels, March AFAAS Increasing Agricultural Productivity Through More Effective AAS

Outline Challenges in AAS and role of AFAAS Experience Strategic Plan Achievements Resource mobilization What worked well and why Looking into the future Sustainability

Challenges Facing African Agricultural Advisory Services (AAS) Inappropriate funding approaches Inability to target poverty and gender Ineffective demand for AAS Poor Market Orientation Farmers who are not empowered Widening scope of AAS Inappropriate AAS delivery approaches Unsupportive Policies Environmental degradation and climate change Low organisational & Institutional Capacities ?!

Why AFAAS? Support to the country AAS to ensure that FAAP principles are applied within the CAADP process Support sharing of experiences, information and knowledge on AAS Backstop country-level AAS to organize themselves to focus on AAS issues Represent AAS at continental and international fora

Experience Success factors for organizational and institutional development: Sustained demand Championing Institutional support by NAADS and FARA Brokerage and Advocacy Seed Resources Foundation building Achievements

Sub-Saharan African Network on Agricultural Advisory Services (SSANAAS), First networking Symposium and General Assembly Kampala, 2004 (7 countries) Second Symposium & General Assembly Kampala, 2006 (14 countries) Third Symposium & General Assembly Accra, 2011 (36 countries) Strategic Plan Constitution African Forum for Agricultural Advisory Services (AFAAS) Experience (cont): Sustained Demand

Experience (cont): Brokering and Advocacy for AFAAS NAADS - at national and regional levels SROs - sub-regional stakeholders FARA - within African R&D institutions GFRAS at a global level World bank and DPs as catalysts

Experience cont. Seed Resources received From 2004 to 2010 supported by Uganda’s National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS) through its operational budget A EUR 1.5 Mio grant from the EU obtained in 2008 to support AFAAS for 2.5 years o effective utilization started in May 2010 after establishment of the MDTF and ended in June 2011

Experience cont. Organizational and Institutional Foundation Building Establishment as a legal entity in Uganda A constitution under which AFAAS shall obtain legal status in other countries Governance arrangements comprising of the General Assembly and the Board A Strategic Plan Procedures for Finance and Administration, Procurement and Human Resource Management Fully functional Secretariat Start-up staff with Executive Director & supported by consultants

Strategic Plan ( )

Achievements 1. Engagement with CAADP Strategy for AAS engagement in CAADP embedded in the strategic plan for CAADP Pillar IV developed jointly with FARA Developed capacity of eight AAS experts who shall backstop the CAADP process from an AAS perspective Guidelines for AAS to engage with country CAADP

Achievements (cnt.) 2. Information and Knowledge Management Three Symposia organised; A website, and a virtual social networking platform ; A conceptual framework for lesson learning developed; A guide for Piloting Market Oriented AAS; Study on targeting Women Advisory Service Providers in Capacity Development Programmes; Study on how issues of Climate Change are being addressed in AAS

Achievements (cont.) 3. Country Fora Guidelines on how to engage with AAS stakeholder in a country to bring about the emergence of CF that are aligned with CAADP. Country Fora established in seven countries (Benin, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Uganda) Six countries in the process of developing their own Strategic Plans aligned with that of AFAAS

Achievements (cont.) 4. Partnerships A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between FARA and AFAAS signed in June 2008 Partnership with CORAF, ASARECA to be established at sub regional level GFRAS – Advocacy and Inter-continental networking ICRA – Country Fora NRI – Climate change National Systems e.g. NAADS; national AAS capacity strengthening

Resource Mobilization FARA - USD 0.7 Mio core support from July 2011 to December 2012 GFRAS – USD 90,000 for KM SDC – USD 200,000 in kind over two years (2 country fora) Pledges – EC – EUR 5 Mio over 5 years (through a WB managed MDTF), core support – IFAD – USD 1 Mio over two years (5 country fora) – CORAF – support of country fora and possibly staff position (not yet quantified)

Budget Results Resources required (SP) (in USD ‘000) Funds committed (in USD ‘000) Funding Gap (in USD ‘000) CAADP Integration2,835- Information & KM5,624905,534 Country Fora1,745- Partnership765- Institutional Dev.5, ,297 Total16, ,194

What Worked Well and Why Ownership by stakeholders Collaboration with continental AAS networks in Asia and LA Partnership with FARA and GFRAS Brokering role by the World Bank Establishment of functioning organizational structures Key for success has been the demand and need expressed by various actors and stakeholders

Challenges AFAAS is still a very young organization expected to demonstrate its added value Time required to put governance and management systems in place Stakeholders want to see impact but resources, governance and management systems are required first to work towards impact

Looking into the Future Improvement in skill levels and competencies of AAS service providers Skilled professionals delivering AAS addressing the priority areas (climate change, market access, gender etc.) Value chain actors satisfied with quality of AAS AAS providers have sufficient capacity to effectively support value chain actors towards increasing agricultural productivity and food security in a sustainable manner

Sustainability AFAAS is sustainable because: it links and integrates with national (including donor-funded) programs AAS is perceived as a key building block of R&D together with agricultural research and education

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