Project/ Program Development and Implementation
We aim to develop and implement projects which are demand driven and have impact. The projects we have developed and implemented range from research projects, community projects, leadership and designing learning events as well as mentorship of struggling projects. The proposal development stage is a collaborative process, which is informed by studies or needs of stakeholders. Working closely with our partners, we determined the need, appropriateness, willingness and motivation for stakeholders to support and own the process.
Some of the principles which guide our project implementation is creating value for money, impact, adaptability, participatory problem solving, learning, involvement and collaboration with key stakeholders to ensure ownership and sustainability.
Projects we have supported on Program Development
Africa-Brazil Agriculture Innovation Marketplace (AIM-Dairy)
Funder/ Partner: EMBRAPA Dairy Cattle
Geographical Coverage: Kenya, Homabay County
Period of implementation: Dec 2012 – May 2015
Description: The Africa-Brazil Agricultural Innovation Marketplace was an international initiative supported by different donors aiming to link Brazilian and African experts and institutions to develop cooperative projects. AIM-Diary worked with smallholder dairy producers and other actors that served the dairy value chain in Homa Bay County, a traditionally non-dairy area in Kenya. The intention was to address the production, support services and market challenges that constrain dairying in the area and was seen to be curtailing growth of an otherwise promising sector with significant potential for income generation. ECI-Africa organized Innovation Platform meetings, demonstrations and exchange visits and provided technical support to the stakeholders in the identification of challenges and co-creation of solutions; continuously highlighting successes and learning from what worked or did not work. The IP forums led to the establishment of the Kasbondo AIM Dairy Cooperative Society Limited which has seen more farmers being involved in commercial dairy farming and has been growing ever since. At the centre of the success of the project were three factors that ECI-Africa paid attention to during the early stages of the project: commitment to empowering the local community, building ownership, and inspiring the members to keep trying even in the face of challenges.
Dairy Genetics East Africa (DGEA)
Funder/ Partner: ILRI and the University of New England funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
(BMGF)
Geographical Coverage: Kenya and Uganda
Period of implementation: Sep 2010- Mar 2013
Description: The DGEA project entailed research into what genotypes best fit different smallholder systems plus the investigation of and facilitating development of partnerships and businesses designed for delivery of germplasm services to smallholders. In the first phase, the project facilitated a local dairy innovation platform aimed at catalyzing home-grown transformation in the smallholder dairy industry in Kenya and Uganda. ECI-Africa used the “Innovative Platform (IP) Approach” to facilitate processes. The IP processes aimed at helping identify business opportunities in the smallholder dairy VC. This formed the basis for business process planning and partnerships for delivery of dairy genetics in Eastern Africa. ECI-Africa facilitated the development of the innovation platform and mentored the emergence of a number of businesses aimed at addressing the delivery of support services for the dairy industry. The process also helped identify and address policy bottlenecks that threaten dairying. Supply of quality heifers appropriate for the different systems, Artificial Insemination (AI) and animal health delivery as well as availability of quality and affordable feeds were central issues. ECI-Africa is currently working with other actors to develop a Phase 2 intervention which will focus on addressing the next set of issues, including multi-country on-farm recording and genetic evaluation.
African Dairy Genetics Gains (ADGG) Phase 2
The objective of ADGG was to show-case which targeted investments in a record keeping system can contribute to improvement in genetic gains in livestock systems. ECI-Africa facilitated the engagement of stakeholders (institutions working on dairy cattle) within and across countries (Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and Tanzania) to identify and address the major challenges to the design and implementation of genetic improvement programs, and explored how genetic improvement platforms (e.g., data recording and analysis) can achieve other dairy development objectives. The possibilities demonstrated by these project activities, together with historical evidence were used as advocacy material to garner support for future dairy development (including genetic gains) programs in and across countries
The African Chicken Genetic Gains (ACGG)
Funder/ Partner: ILRI funded by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Geographical Coverage: Nigeria, Ethiopia and Tanzania
Period of implementation: January 2015- October 2019
Description: The ACGG project, implemented in three countries (Nigeria, Ethiopia and Tanzania), sought to increase access of poor smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa to high-producing and agro-ecologically appropriate chicken genetics and inputs needed to make the flocks productive. ECI-Africa supported the overall design and implementation of the partnerships and institutional engagements component through innovation platforms. These innovation platforms (IP) served as the means for value chain diagnosis, challenges identification and solution co-creation to ensure the development of delivery models that work best for smallholder farmers. This enabled the delivery of the most appropriate and farmer-preferred genotypes and their successful entry into the local chicken value chains (VC) (smallholder chicken keepers, most of them women) and other VC actors.
Particular focus towards the end of the project period was the transformation of the national IPs into self-sustaining associations commonly referred to as Forums to drive the agenda beyond the ACGG project. ECI-Africa worked with the national stakeholders in each country to undertake background work that facilitated the initial stakeholder engagement design and subsequently supported the series of dialogues (using the IP approach) to concretize the vision, mission and the agenda which underpinned the formation of these on-going Forums or Associations. ECI-Africa also trained and mentored the local Forum facilitators to be able to design and run functional and effective Forum processes including how to design Forum meetings to ensure they are sufficiently participatory and effective to deliver on the objectives, shadowing them during actual processes and supporting them to develop mechanisms for on-going analysis/review and identification of critical Forum issues that speak to the priorities of stakeholders.
Asian Chicken Genetic Gains (AsCGG)
Asian Chicken Genetic Gains (AsCGG) is a 4-year project (2020-2024) being implemented in Cambodia, Vietnam and Myanmar. It precedes the ACGG project. Its main objective is to make available high-producing, farmer-preferred genotypes to smallholders to increase chicken productivity as a pathway out of poverty in Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam by improving smallholder poultry systems through adapting new and proven technologies and approaches that increase farmers’ access to appropriate chicken genetics
It is funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) with its implementation being led by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in collaboration with various national-government organizations. ECI- Africa mentored project partners on the establishment and functioning of Innovation Platforms (IPs) in leading aspects of South-South collaboration.
The vision of AsCGG is that at the end of its initiatives smallholder commercial poultry production will be seen as a science-led, productive, remunerative and sustainable business that creates national wealth, enhances local-level livelihoods, and improves nutrition of households, especially women, and their families, as well as other actors in the smallholder chicken value chain in South East Asia
LACUNA FUND
Lacuna Fund is a global collaborative initiative to support data scientists, researchers, and social entrepreneurs in low-and middle-income contexts with the resources they need to produce datasets for machine learning that address urgent problems in their communities. The Lacuna Fund secretariat – Meridian Institute commissioned ECI-Africa to be a neutral facilitator of the process for the 2021 agriculture request for proposal and selection process.
Lacuna fund aimed to support organizations with a viable proposal that could create, maintain or enhance datasets for Machine Learning (ML) in agriculture and across Sub-Saharan Africa. However, not all grantees who were selected had full competency in handling the process. During the proposal and expression of interest (EOI) evaluations, several gaps were identified such as: Data integrity, dataset discoverability, satellite imagery analysis, processes, monitoring and evaluation, reporting and accountability. These gaps pointed to the need for additional support for successful applicants (the grantees) during project implementation.
Hence Meridian Institute engaged Data Science Africa (DSA) and ECI-Africa to support the capacity building process to fill in the identified gaps. DSA is the principal service provider, in charge of the content delivery and manages all the scheduling of the grantee training sessions, while ECI-Africa is a “sounding board” of the capacity building process.
Additionally, ECI-Africa has been tasked with the role of reviewing the midterm and final reports of the 5 selected grantees, to determine adequate progress and examine the key milestones delivery.
Strengthening Seed Trade Systems for Increased Seed Trade in the Common Market for East and Southern Africa (COMESA) Region.
Funder/ Partner: Africa Lead II
Geographical Coverage: Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Zambia and Rwanda.
Duration: Feb-Dec 2019
Description of services: Africa Lead II was a program dedicated to supporting and advancing agricultural transformation in Africa working in accordance to CAADP and the USAID’s Feed the Future Strategy with the main aim of improving institutional capacity, strengthening management of policy change and alignment processes and enhancing capacity and engagement of non-state actors, including the private sector. Africa Lead, informed by the recent (2018) seed trade assessment report developed the ‘Seed Activity’, the pilot project aimed at improving trade within the COMESA in 2019. ECI-Africa supported Africa Lead by facilitating conversations among seed stakeholders in the region ‘to identify the key bottlenecks hindering seed trade and go beyond diagnosis by exploring the opportunities presented by these challenges. This led to the formation of the seed sector SWAT team with representation from the 6 countries engaged in the ‘Seed Activity’. The inspiring conversation led to the development of AGRA’s Improved Regional Seed Trade in Common Market of East and Southern Africa and East African Community region Project to address the issue of limited dialogue between seed stakeholders, cross-border seed trade requirement information asymmetry and lack of trust in seed certification and inspection process by supporting convenings to enable dialogue between actors, development of cross seed information requirement information guide and establishing a seed sector audit system.
Leadership for Agricultural (L4Ag)
Funder/ Partner: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF)
Geographical Coverage: Tanzania, Kenya, Burkina Faso and Ethiopia
Period of implementation: April, 2019 – July, 2019
Description: The Leadership for Agriculture (L4Ag, 2017- Ongoing) is an African ministerial-level peer-to-peer network that promotes strategic engagement and policy action among African Ministers, private sector and other stakeholders. The main aim is to increase commitment to investing in agriculture and boosting agricultural productivity. It is hosted by the African Development Bank.
The objective of L4Ag included creating a platform to enable shared learning and knowledge creation, contributing towards economic growth and facilitating engagement and partnerships between African policy makers and investors. For phase one of the initiative, BMGF joined AfDB and the Rockefeller Foundation in 2019 to support the L4Ag concept and the Platform was re-designed to be more effective, with additional focus on change champions and emphasis on peer-to-peer learning on specific thematic areas, the idea being to help countries leapfrog agricultural transformation based on lessons learned from, and best practices by other countries. In addition to stronger thematic focus, the re-designed Forum sought to mobilize government ministers responsible for finance, agriculture, livestock and fisheries and senior leadership in these ministries including permanent/principal secretaries, and directors who were in charge of operationalizing government strategies and plans.
Building Research Leadership and Management Capacity of CCRP Communities of Practice in Sub-Saharan Africa
Funder/ Partner: McKnight Foundation
Geographical Coverage: Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Mozambique, Malawi and Tanzania.
Period of implementation: 4 years, August 2014- October 2018
Description: The McKnight Foundation’s Collaborative Crop Research Program (CCRP) is a competitive grant program that seeks to increase food security for resource-poor people in developing countries.
The overall purpose of the project was to strengthen leadership and management capacity for agricultural R&D in East and Horn of Africa and Southern Africa Communities of Practice (CoPs) through a facilitated monitoring and coaching process targeting early career professionals. By building the leadership capacity of early career professionals, the project seeks to fill the current and future leadership gap that is eminent due to the lack of systematic skills-enhancement process to replace the drying pipeline of leaders in ARD in Africa. The expectation was that the project would create a cadre of individuals that have leadership and management competencies needed to put together and lead functional teams, are ‘leadership aware’, and are able to effectively deliver AR4D outcomes in the complex and ever-changing institutional context in which they work.
ECI-Africa’s supported the design and execution of a series of leadership training workshop, implemented in two cohorts; each lasting a 2-year cycle, to mentor and coach early career professionals from the national agricultural research systems (NARs) in Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania. The process revealed phenomenal transformation in the mentees. Their self-esteem and ability to influence others increased. They caused change at institutional and system levels and developed new models of collaboration within their institutions. Through activities carried out as part of the project (mini-projects), and lessons learned from project-driven processes, some of the mentees increased their visibility, were recognized and assumed positions of seniority.
Network for Enhanced Market Access for Smallholders in East and Southern Africa (NEMAS)
Funder/ Partner: International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
Geographical Coverage: East ad Southern Africa region
Period of implementation: April 2011 – December 2014
Description: NEMAS was premised on the recognition that a knowledge management operation embracing the diversity of organizations and linking up all players in the market is necessary to improving the efficiency and inclusiveness of agricultural markets.
The overall goal of the project was to increase the impact of public and private investments in inclusive market access by smallholders in East and Southern Africa through improved market efficiency and inclusion particularly targeting smallholder farmers; Scaling up proven practice; and enhancing returns on investments. NEMAS aimed at attaining a transparent, competitive and inclusive market for agricultural inputs and produce. ECI-Africa supported knowledge management to strategically deliver more efficient and inclusive agriculture markets, scale up proven practices and policies, and get better returns on investments. A key underpinning of the project was the development of win-win-win solutions to agricultural value chain challenges: the farmers and other value chain actors who sought to get value from their investments; business development service providers which develop/facilitate value chains and seek to get value through commissions, and public-sector investors that help create enabling environment for sustainable businesses.
