Building up a platform for African-European Partnership on Agricultural Research for Development

Final Report Summary - PAEPARD (Building up a platform for African-European Partnership on Agricultural Research for Development)

The African (FARA) and European (EFARD) fora for agricultural research in Africa in recognises the contributions of agricultural research in achieving of the Millennium Development Goals. Therefore a platform for African-European partnership on agricultural research for development (PAEPARD) was established. The general objective of the platform was to enhance collaboration among the European and African Agricultural research for development (ARD) stakeholders by enabling mutual learning and knowledge sharing and, increasing the number and the efficiency of joint research projects for African agricultural development financed through the incoming Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) and EDF10.

The specific objectives were:
i) to analyse, assess and capitalise on past and existing European-African ARD cooperation and use of corresponding instruments of partnerships (i.e. EDF9, Sixth Framework Programme (FP6));
ii) to identify between African and European stakeholders, priorities, opportunities and mechanisms for building-up a platform for the African-European partnership on ARD;
iii) to set-up and launch a platform for the African-European partnership on ARD and;
iv) to develop an information and communication strategy for promoting participation of ARD stakeholders from Europe and Africa in the platform.

The main partners / contractors are the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) and the European Forum on Agricultural Research for Development (EFARD), through two of its institutional networks, ECART and NATURA.

An assessment was made on selected African-European partnerships in ARD with EC-funding, complemented by an online survey of European and African stakeholders (PAEPARD report, 2007). The main findings indicate that partnerships are valued by the European and African partners as relevant and contribute to achieving their global institutional objectives. However, there are major constraints to ensure continued success and inclusiveness of ARD partnerships. The study shows that there is small number of EC-funded agricultural research projects focused on Africa, and these projects involve African institutions from only two-three countries. Most of these partnerships are driven by the European partners with limited contribution by African partners in priority setting and management. Under the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) - where the former INCO-DEV component has disappeared - scope for such collaborations has decreased rather than increased. The full report is found at the project website.

Three consultation workshops were held in Africa. The first was a side-event at the FARA general Assembly in June 2007. This consultation provided an opportunity for European and African potential partners to discuss and share their experiences on ARD partnerships, including the experience of the subregional research organisations (ASARECA, CORAF/WECARD, SADC-FANR) management of the EC competitive funding mechanism. The conclusion was that partnerships supported by the EC are appreciated but that competitive mechanisms is very limiting for weaker NARS who need extra support. Partnership with civil society organizations can ensure that research is relevant. Priorities at the national / regional / continental level should be taken into consideration when responding to calls for research proposals.

Two other consultations were held at sub-regional level. Each combined two regions i.e. West, Central and Northern Africa and Southern, Central and Eastern Africa. Both consultations confirmed the value of PAEPARD. It highlighted the importance of PAEPARD as a platform to link Africa and Europe creating a community of practice among scientists, extension, farmers, NGO, private sector and government officials.

Major restrictions identified by European and African stakeholders in ARD partnerships are:
(1) lack of information and knowledge on funding opportunities, difficulties in finding adequate partners, as well as full understanding of the complex and elaborate mechanisms of fund raising;
(2) concentration of partnerships on only two institutional categories of actors (universities and national research institutes), with very limited participation from private sector, extension/advisory services and civil society organisations (CSOs) (e.g. farmer organisations);
(3) existing EC funded coordination mechanisms are not maximizing their role in facilitating interaction between different stakeholders;
(4) European institutes who are more familiar with the EC mechanisms are the initiators of the partnerships and tend to be the coordinators of EC-funded projects;
(5) dissemination of innovations is valued least amongst the outcomes of research partnerships as compared to publications, training and access to funding; and
(6) the EC instruments that support ARD are difficult to access by African partners, and their administrative and financial rules are difficult to follow.

The project made good progress in identifying constraints to increase and strengthen African-European ARD collaboration through consultations, and in developing an 'Information and Communication Strategy to promote partnerships of ARD stakeholders from Europe and Africa'. In terms of project management, the project suggests that
(a) bringing on board non-scientist research stakeholders requires a concerted effort and involvement of relevant and experienced partners in building multi-stakeholder innovation platforms, and
(b) a full-time project coordinator each in Africa and Europe is required to ensure that the proposed PAEPARD II can handle more complex arrangements which involve CSOs.

The lessons learnt from the project is a design of European-African platform, which strongly emphasise on more inclusive research partnerships with relevant non-research stakeholders. Findings of the projects including analysis of other initiatives have shown that real partnerships need neutral intermediaries, who can facilitate communication and assist in the formulation of inclusive and mutually beneficial initiatives. PAEPARD consultations identified the need for mechanisms and resources to facilitate dynamic partnerships, and effective information system that can deliver relevant and timely information on funding opportunities that the partnerships can utilise. A better coordinated European ARD community with well articulated programs easily understood by potential non-European partners, would make it easier to forge partnerships that have the relevant set of skills and knowledge to produce the much needed innovations for poverty reduction and environmental sustainability.

Finally, successful partnership in agricultural research is not only a question of representation but also a question of how various research and non-research actors are involved in the research project conceptualization, implementation and evaluation.

The platform was launched in Accra on 30 September, where PAEPARD phase 2 was presented and discussed. The final product was submitted to the EC for support under the FSTP instrument. A PAEPARD website is current hosted by FARA at http://www.fara-africa.org/networking-support-projects/paepard/.

Final Report Summary - PAEPARD (Building up a platform for African-European Partnership on Agricultural Research for Development)

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