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

2. The presentation Project evolution Management evolution
Implementation evolution
Lessons learned

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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)

6. 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.

7. 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

8. 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?

9. . 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) Period. .

10. 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

11. 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

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

13. 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! – )
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.

14. 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…

15. Showcasing integration
Relay-cropped lablab for dry season soil cover

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

17. Developing “how to” tools for beneficiaries

18. 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

19. Thank you
ESA Africa