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Uganda hosts Learning Route on “Innovative ideas to secure rights to resources and land through Inclusive business models”

Posted by Ann Turinayo Tuesday, September 3, 2013 0 comments

IFAD and PROCASUR have once again organized another successful Learning Route (LR). Uganda’s IFAD supported project, Vegetable Oil Development Project (VODP), was one of the host cases for the LR, together with Star Café and Kawacom, from 19 – 26 August 2013. Participants came from Laos, Rwanda, Burundi, Zambia, Swaziland, South Africa, Mozambique, Mali, the Gambia, Uganda and Rome.
 
LR participants on a visit to the oil palm nucleus estate View Point
 
On the first day, we had an induction workshop in Entebbe. We visited Bugala Island in Lake Victoria, home of the first phase of VODP, and later moved on to Kapchorwa in Eastern Uganda where we visited Star Café and Kawacom, both coffee organizations. So, in addition to the learning experiences, participants enjoyed the scenic views of the beautiful Kalangala and the beautiful Sipi falls, and the mountainous terrain in Kapchorwa.
I have participated in a LR route before but this was one of a kind. One could say there was too much to learn in too short a time and yet usually, an activity of eight days seems really long! First of all, the topics for discussion such as ‘promoting responsible investment in agriculture’, ‘Land Policy in Uganda’, ‘the role of farmers’ organisations’, ‘ensuring natural resource rights’ and the aspects of ‘value sharing between business partners’ for all the three cases, was captivating and eye-opening.

The LR organisation – selecting the relevant cases and supporting them to prepare appropriately, organizing the logistical aspects as well as securing the relevant discussants for the thematic panels made participants get an opportunity to learn a lot from dialogues, discussions and analyses of cases. We also had group sessions with animated discussions of visited cases, implications of what was shared by the farmers and the organizations they work with, and whether the models were inclusive or not.
For the IFAD Country Office, our main objectives were to learn more about how to organize effective learning/exchange visits in the projects, and explore other ways of strengthening the PPP model under VODP to be upscaled in the second phase, as well as learn from practitioners from other countries. We are looking forward to sharing the lessons learned with all projects.
A key characteristic of the agricultural sector in Uganda, it that it is made up of small-scale farmers; who produce mostly for home consumption, on plots of less than one acre. Partnering with private sector investors is an opportunity for farmers to become part of the market economy; a successful partnership doesn’t compromise the rights of either party.
So far, we have stories in the local media in Uganda covering the Kapchorwa part of the LR  - http://www.theceomagazine-ug.com/news/ugandas-star-cafe-gets-ifad-recognition.html
 
Esparence Musirimu from Burundi admires the quality of fresh fruits
"I am carrying this home so I can show it to Hamed Haidara, the IFAD country director, Burundi"

Watch this space for the photo blogs for all the three cases visited...

Berkeley - Three weeks to go

Posted by Mattia Prayer Galletti Thursday, August 29, 2013 0 comments


Hi everybody! This is the first post regarding my forthcoming special leave to Berkeley. Fyi, I still need to get familiar with the blog reporting system but I committed to Henock (whom I want to thank for his constant support and advice) to report on this experience. I am told I am a pioneer and I am eager to do my best to pave the way for similar experiences by other colleagues in different Universities around the world.


Three weeks from now I will be going. Everything is ready except a minor detail, the accommodation. I am told not to worry but still….Anyhow, I started working on the Bspace, i.e. the Berkeley web space that enables each instructor to interact with her/his participants (it seems there are no teachers nor students at Berkeley…). I also started receiving feedback regarding their experiences and expectations. Extremely happy to see their desire to get hands-on experience on development matters. This is indeed the rationale of my invitation there. I think this is enough as a
first post. Let me see how it works now. Stay tuned! Mattia

Nepal, closing the retreat with new hope and beginning the ASAP journey

Posted by Benoit THIERRY Wednesday, August 28, 2013 0 comments

IFAD Nepal Country Programme Workshop Day 4 (Closing)

26 August 2013

By Kaushal Shrestha, Benoit Thierry

The fourth and last day of the workshop began under the sun ( finally) with a video, though much humorous, also reflecting the poor relationship people have with mathematics – “25 divided by 5 equals 14.”
Videos were a deliberate tool used in this workshop to introduce new concepts and practical innovations to the participants without boring them. Thus, Benoit used a short eight-minute film on WUPAP and remittance to begin conversation about the new project “Rural Micro-enterprises and remittances.” The major focus of this project would be capital formation, not only for returning migrant workers, but the entire community.
WUPAP and remittances: Traveller’s Tales – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSIdkNLOQqw

Similarly, conversation on a new ASAP funded project, entitled AIMHE (Adaptation in Mountain and Hills Ecosystems), also began with short hard-hitting clips on climate change and its harsh impacts, especially in the developing world.
IFAD, Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M244FoHpoVk
Worldbank/FAO, Mountains and Climate Change: A Global Concern –http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCPbV_KODbI

As portrayed by the videos, the projected impacts of climate change are severe, and the necessary responses are urgent. Tackling such a global issue, according to Peter Situ, the project design team leader, is a massive challenge for a country like Nepal and its people. Therefore, in order to soften the impacts effectively in particular in the agriculture sector, interventions must consider a number of issues to increase efficiency and improve impact.

Utilization of existing resources is among the major issues. AIMHE intends to make maximum use of available services, knowledge and expertise, government and non-government institutions, for greater efficiency and to eliminate duplication of activities and resources in the field. In this process, the project will work towards the capacity building of service providers engaged in climate change adaptation activities (livestock insurance, food banks, renewable energy etc), be it government or private. Further, AIMHE is intended as an add-on component to existing IFAD funded projects, seeking climate smart activities and scaling up best practices with thousands of existing farmers groups. This last day of the workshop was the first step of this intention, introducing AIMHE to the current projects, and exploiting the years of ground level experience of project members to seek ideas and potential activities.

Practicality was another important factor voiced by the experience of participants. All members of current IFAD-funded projects collectively agreed on the importance of site-specific agriculture and business models. While members of LFLP promoted agroforestry and silvopastoral systems, they also noted the necessity of contextual planning – for example, using market led approach in promoting particular products, or simply not promoting plantation of ginger on sloped lease lands.Inclusive targeting was also regarded as a practical way of action for the project. While the project will definitely focus on the most vulnerable, especially women, Peter was clear to mention – “There will be no divisions.”  And the project will therefore focus on social inclusion.

Even more stress, perhaps, was on the participatory design of the project. As it is the vulnerable that are most aware of their own local realities, the inclusion of the community for organizational and technical input is only logical. Thus, AIMHE will actively adopt bottom-up participatory strategies to simultaneously improve the management of natural resources, including agriculture, reducing vulnerabilities and increasing resilience of local communities to climate change impacts (through the LAPA system).

The closing ceremony was organized in the afternoon. Key speakers emphasized that this workshop/retreat enhanced family spirit among IFAD funded projects, and will produce nice synergies. Others noted the workshop as the first step to improve programme performance, with more to come in the future to deepen technical activities. The roadmap produced during the workshop will be a key tool to monitor this progress. Finally, in the concluding remarks, words of thanks were addressed to participants, organizers, facilitators, and the workshop management team. 

Rendezvous: August 2014, to continue the new tradition of the country programme workshop !!


Integrating Knowledge Management and Learning in Projects - The Zambia Experience

Posted by Ann Turinayo Monday, August 26, 2013 0 comments

Derived from an interview with Jasper Hatwinda, Rural Finance Project, Zambia

IFAD provided a three-year grant to IFADAFRICA towards integrating knowledge management and learning in IFAD supported projects in Eastern and Southern Africa. Through this grant, projects were brought together and began to explore how to improve project performance and create greater impact for project beneficiaries.

After three years, Jasper Hatwinda shares what he has learned and how the Zambia portfolio has benefited from the KM initiatives, what they have achieved, what they are doing differently, and what they would like to do differently when it comes to integrating KM in projects and institutions.     
To have relevant KM initiatives, there is need to start by identifying existing bottlenecks, setting objectives and coming up with an action plan on how to change the situation

Jasper Hatwinda, shares the Zambia KM experience
After the first KM workshop, the Zambia team sat and agreed on what the priority areas would be. The starting point was what they wanted to see changed. They agreed that what they wanted to see was: 1) more government ownership of projects initiatives and improved policy environment, 2) Enhanced project design that was more inclusive, and 3) Meaningful Country Programme Management Team Meetings.

For each of these, the team identified the entry points or existing opportunities. For instance, the existence of a Programme Reference Group for Rural Finance provided a good opportunity for making project design more participatory and inclusive. This Group made it mandatory for projects to share lessons learned and with time, these lessons had to be utilized in future designs. With the knowledge management initiative, the mandate of the PRG for Rural Finance to ensure that projects are put to task to share lessons learned.

The policy dialogue initiatives have been useful in responding to the need for improved delivery of rural financial services in Zambia. Consequently, a Rural Finance Policy has been developed. This is one of the concrete results of the understanding of what Knowledge management, learning and sharing involves, and how it enhances delivery of results.

What are you doing differently?

To this question, Jasper’s response is an explanation of the various small, subtle but very crucial things that they do in what to him is a more effective way. First has been the requirement that all projects include ‘lessons learned’ in the Annual Work Plan and Budget (AWPB), as well as in the Annual Report. The projects also started holding workshops to share the AWPB, to review these plans and tease out the lessons learned and what can be done differently to get better results. These workshops have served as accountability forums and they make each participant think through what they have done, what they are going to do and how to improve. In these meetings, there is an opportunity for peer review and critiquing, which makes clearer the issues for improved implementation.
Knowledge management and learning opened our eyes to see what we were not doing very well, what we could do better
As a result of the awareness created in us by the KM&L forums that we could do things differently and better, we took an initiative to take a study visit to Uganda and Tanzania to learn about the policy environment and structures for putting up functional rural finance policy. In Malawi the Community Based Financial Institutions Promoters learnt about the Village Savings and Loans Associations and upon return streamlined the savings and credit approach across all partners and adopted the VSLA methodology comprehensively. In particular expansion initiatives were included where the Village Agent and Cluster Committee framework later assisted the RFP to increase its coverage, efficiency and sustainability, says Jasper.

Enhanced project design is another key benefit for Zambia, which has directly resulted from the awareness and integration of KM&L. Before, project design was entirely a preserve of IFAD consultants and the IFAD country office. Project staff and government participation was limited, and including project experiences was not desired as part of the design formation and conceptualisation.  However, with the KM&L initiatives, projects started to push for the inclusion of lessons learned from implementation of other projects in new project designs. An in-country design team, led and chaired by the line ministry is mandatory for the design of new projects. This has so far worked well for the design of the new Rural Finance Expansion Programme, which is based on the lessons learned from the Rural Finance Programme.

The Zambia team also sees a difference in the way Country Programme Management Team (CPMT) meetings are conducted. Previously, these meetings were held in a hotel in Lusaka and participants relied on stories that various project teams shared. They were mostly ceremonial but did not include discussion of the real issues faced in day to day implementation. With the lessons derived from the KM&L initiatives, the country team decided to hold these meetings in the field while visiting respective project sites. Project teams were required to collect and document lessons learned between meetings, and these lessons were used to write an official communiqué to ensure that those issues that needed follow-up could be followed. KM&L changed the face of CPMT meetings. Currently, there are greater synergies between projects as a result of sharing of experiences, lessons and challenges. The most important change is the now clear understanding by project teams that there are ways of doing things differently, it is okay to try these different ways, and that even when something does not work, there is a lesson to learn.

Participants of the KM&L workshop 2013

 

Nepal workshop: targetting and monitoring high on the agenda

Posted by Benoit THIERRY 0 comments

IFAD Nepal Country Programme Workshop Day 3
25 August 2013, 
by Lorina Sthapit, Benoit Thierry


The day started with the recap of the previous day when the project staffs developed solutions for the implementation issues identified on the first day of the workshop. 

This day 3 was dedicated to planning, targeting, monitoring and evaluation and communication.

IFAD consultant Ms. Monique Trudel made a brief presentation on Livelihood and Development Challenges. The first working group exercise in the morning session was based on this presentation and following questions on targeting and inclusion:
  1. How to make sure that development actors take into account « social inclusion » meaning not only women but different groups – disadvantages group, youth elder in the value chain? 
  2. How can who measure the flow of benefits best, when and how?
  3. How can our “beneficiaries” shape and profit from the KM and learning and innovation agenda?

 The groups worked together for 30 minutes and came up with constructive answers, including ways to avoid elite capture during implementation. The prioritized outcomes were incorporated in the road map.



The group work was followed by a video on WUPAP gender activities: "We were like frogs in a well!" 

As the day’s theme focused on Learning, Knowledge Management and M&E, the project M&E Officers elaborated the findings of their community of practice which has been active for the past 18 months.

Linked to the theme of M&E, Mr. Krishna Thapa from HVAP presented about the HVAP’s tablet based management information system. A revolutionary system which will help shortening and improving the management information system by entering data directly from the field. See specific post.

The day’s agenda ended with a detailed presentation of the Country Programme Road Map (based on the outcomes from working groups) points by Mr. Bashu Aryal (CPO) and IFAD senior yeti Mr. Rudolph Cleveringa. The roadmap is divided into 5 key chapters grouping a set of 25 recommendations for action. Each project will now deepen the CPRM to adapt it to project specifities and set deadlines and responsabilities.

For the presentation on the Road Map.
1. strengthen project management
2. streamline fiduciary aspects
3. enhance M&E, KM, innovations and communication
4. prioritize field outreach ad technical implementation
5. expand national and international partnerships

Before closing the day, the ASAP project design mission arrived and was introduced to the plenary. The 4 and last day of the workshop will be dedicated to the ASAP design brainstorming. More tomorrow on this blog !

 

Still awake !! and full participation for projects problems solving andinnovations in the Himalayas

Posted by Benoit THIERRY Sunday, August 25, 2013 0 comments

By Lorina Sthapit, Bashu Aryal, Yvonne Diethelm,
IFAD Nepal Country Programme Workshop Day 2 
24 August 2013


On the second day of the event, the participants worked in thematically composed groups to find self-identified and self-monitored solutions for the project implementation issues identified together on the first day
-The planning and monitoring officers worked on sustainability and monitoring and evaluation related issues;
-The implementers worked on Institutional Development and Scaling Up (Policy and Dialogue) related issues;
-The project managers worked on staffing and fiduciary issues and
-The technical staffs worked on issues related to business Inclusion and implementation modality.
The group works were conducted through the world café method where the group members had to change tables on rotation basis and exchange ideas. The solutions envisaged by the working groups were presented on flipcharts and metacards, which will be incorporated in the Country Programme Road Map and translated into policy dialogue agenda for country portfolio.

In the afternoon session, SNV’s Senior Technical Advisor Mr. Piet Visser made a presentation on Partnerships elaborating the following points:
  • Building examples of Agro-Enterprise Centers (AEC)
  • How SNV partnership works
  • Components of SNV: Value chain Development (SNV/AEC), Inclusion and Support for Value Chain Initiatives (GoN/SNV) and Project Management
  • Role of business linkages
  • Capacity strengthening of value chain actors


Mr. Visser also talked about their efforts in mentoring the Agro-Enterprise centers from Federation of Chamber of Commerce so that they (AEC) can take over SNV role after three years.
Likewise, Benoit Thierry (CPM) addressed the Governance aspects of the IFAD funded projects in Nepal highlighting the significance of effective project design, project implementation and completion evaluation for the success of the project.
The following aspects were discussed under the three components:
Design
Implementation
Completion Evaluation
IFAD
GoN
IFAD
GoN

Concept
Project Design Report
(PDR = Main report + Working Papers)
Implementation Support
Formulation
PIM
- Manual admin procedures
- Manual of Monitoring and Evaluation
- Implementing guidelines
Supervision Mission/Joint review mission (IFAD+GoN)
Appraisal/Final Design (PDR)
Annual Workplan and Budget (AWPB)
Mid Term Review Mission
Evaluation Missions
Financing Agreement
Letter to the borrower
Fiduciary management
Withdrawal applications
Register of staff, contracts, procurement…
Completion Mission





Mr. Thierry also underlined the role of various documents such as the Letter to the borrower which contains the project financial management aspects and the Project Implementation Manual/ Manual of Operation, which contains Admin and financial procedures, Implementation modalities and M& E system. Similarly, he also highlighted the fiduciary aspects: Financial software, Procurement, Register of assets, Registry of staffs, Registry of contracts and Withdrawal Application.
Towards the end of the day’s agenda, Bashu Aryal (CPO) discussed about the initiation of the Country Programme Implementation Support Unit (CPISU). The unit will be called ‘SahaYatri’ which means ‘companion’ in Nepali or “walking together with a same goal”.SahaYatri will bring together experts from each project to support problem projects and develop synergies. Mr. Aryal, commenting on the issues and solutions identified by the working groups, suggested to build close connection among the projects, IFAD and the Government through CPISU as this could solve the correspondence issues raised.

In the evening a Marketshare fair was organized by Procasur where all the five projects presented their evidence-based best practices and innovations, scaling up approaches and tools, multiple stakeholder approaches and new KM and communication strategies. Marketplaceisa public space where people supplying and demanding knowledge meet to "negotiate" the exchange of ideas and innovative practices, as well as tools and approaches with high potential for up scaling.
HVAP’s innovations on multi-stakeholder platform, ‘respiration check’, data management framework and value chain analysis bagged 26 votes in a total of 50 and became the winner of the Marketshare. The leader of the team will receive a full schalorship to attend the Learning Route in Thailand in October.

Increasing projects performance in Nepal

Posted by Benoit THIERRY Saturday, August 24, 2013 0 comments


Beginning of Day 2 - IFAD Nepal annual retreat:

 All the participants were seen more enthusiastic to participate in the working groups on the second day of the event with the objective to improve project delivery. 
The work was conducted through the world café method where the groups had to rotate tables and exchange their ideas for the solutions for the project implementation issues identified on the first day. The group formation was by their functions and speciality. There were four groups with 8-10 participants per group: Project managers and Accountants, Implementers, M&E and Planning Officers and Technical staff. 
Most of them did not know about the world café’ method, however it was welcomed with much eagerness and excitement. Some of the participants were so interested and gripped to their own groups that they didn’t want to change tables !!!



LOVE SONG and portfolio performance:
During the retreat, the project participants had nice entertainment sessions in-between intensive group works where they sang traditional Nepali love songs. Listen to this one of Deuda style from the far-western part of Nepal which starts with: “You were beautiful, well dressed and went to the temple with me. You adored me, put your hands on my head … and your love tainted my heart".

Soon after work resume with presentations of priorities for projects performance improvement. More tomorrow with the country programme road map.
Flying Tiger reports from the Himalayas.
(formerly known as flying cpm).