Institutional Assessment
Institutional analysis goes beyond project or program monitoring and evaluation, to looking at the organization as a whole. It includes analysing the motivation behind the establishment of the organizations; its purpose, objectives and mode of operation; its performances and results (outputs, outcomes and impacts); their strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities for continuous improvement and innovation; their stakeholders and their capacity to influence agriculture policy, practices, investment and innovation systems, the M&E frameworks, and how they incentivize change. The analysis also captures what should be strengthened in the context of the organization (given its strengths and challenges) and the collective institutional architecture required to support institutional alignment/ arrangement and provide for more effective and efficient operations, future investment portfolio, programmatic design, governance structure, partnership models and strategic direction.
Projects we have supported
Learning Event on Strengthening Africa Agriculture Policy Capacity.
The objective of the consultation meeting was to seek participant views on ways to increase the use of hard evidence in agricultural policy making in Africa. ECI-Africa was contracted by the World Bank to design and facilitate this meeting which sought to respond to the increasing demand from African governments for improvement of evidence-based agricultural policy analysis and formulation capacity. The meeting gathered representatives from key partners working on evidence-based policy support in the agriculture sector in Africa, including: International agencies and civil society organizations; Agriculture policy analysis and education service providers; African Union (AU) Agencies (AU Commission and NEPAD Coordination Agency); and a national economic and social policy institute from one of the countries.
Establishing Animal Health Industry Association-Uganda, Tanzania, Nigeria & Senegal | GALVmed
In this project, GALVmed aimed to establish Animal Health Industry Associations in Uganda, Tanzania, Nigeria, and Senegal. This initiative was contingent on evidence showing that such institutions would enhance the coordination and collaboration of animal health input suppliers in these four countries, thereby improving the functionality of animal health supply chains.
ECI-Africa, was selected to support this process. Phase 1 of the project involved scoping, utilizing virtual tools and approaches to understand the context of each country. This provided a basis for identifying opportunities and essential activities needed to strengthen or form an animal health industry association. It involved work to understand the country context, identifying and characterizing key stakeholders (including their focus areas, capacity, and track record), analyzing the political economy affecting the animal health supply chain, and gauging overall sector interest in each country. Phase 2 focused on the actual institutional development work, which included establishing the institutional architecture, formal registration, and the national launch.
Stock take of USAID activities under the Feed the Future Multi Year Strategy 2011-2015 (up to 2018)
ECI- Africa carried the stock-take of USAID activities and investment under the 2011-2015 feed the future strategy to identify opportunities to inform future investment and approaches towards increasing trade, technological development and deployment as well as addressing nutrition and resilience in East Africa for the purpose of ensuring food security while capturing lessons and recommendations to inform future USAID programming, coordination and collaboration.
a) Institutional Analysis of Partner Organizations to the Science for Agriculture Consortium (S4AC) in Africa
Funder/Partner: World Bank and Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA)
Geographical Coverage: Africa
Period of implementation: February – March 2017
Description: The Science for Agriculture Consortium (S4AC) was designed to strengthen coordination and coherence among African supra-national agricultural research and development organizations, and to facilitate the implementation of the Science Agenda for Agriculture in Africa (S3A). ECI-Africa was engaged to carry out an institutional analysis of the Consortium members with the aim of assessing the existing resources and capacity of the consortium partners to achieve the proposed objectives of the consortium. Members of the Consortium include: the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), the African Forum for Agricultural Advisory Services (AFAAS), the Association of Agricultural Research for Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA), the Centre for Coordination of Agricultural Research for Development for Southern Africa (CCARDESA), the Conseil Ouest et Centrale African pour la Recherché et le Developpement Agricoles/West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research for Development (CORAF/WECARD) and the North Africa Sub-Regional Research Organization (NASRO). The analysis focused on: the motivation behind the establishment of each of the organizations; their purpose, objectives and mode of operation; their performances and results (outputs, outcomes and impacts); their strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities for continuous improvement and innovation; their stakeholders and their capacity to influence agriculture policy, practices, investment and innovation systems, the M&E frameworks, and how they deliver change. The analysis also captured what should be strengthened in the context of each organization (given its strengths and challenges) and the collective institutional architecture required to support the establishment of the Consortium and provide for more effective and efficient operations.
b) The Biosciences eastern and central Africa- International Livestock Research Institute (BecA-ILRI) Hub Stakeholders Convening
Funder/ Partner: International Livestock Research Institute
Geographical Coverage: Kenya
Period of implementation: March – April 2019
Description: The BecA-ILRI Hub is a centre for excellence in biosciences in Africa co-created by the Africa Union and ILRI. It seeks to mobilize biosciences for Africa’s development to best serve its primary clients the NARs, Universities and SMEs in Africa. Following a stakeholder meeting in October 2018, the BecA-ILRI Hub ordered the evaluation of the program to map achievements, challenges and lessons learnt during the period of 2014-2018 and identify areas of opportunities or constraints to consider in the next phase of the program 2019-2024. ECI-Africa was engaged to support and lead the design and facilitation of a stakeholders convening held on April 8-10 to consult key stakeholders on possible new strategic directions on program content and implementation modalities in next phase of 2019-2024 Biosciences eastern and central Africa (BecA-ILRI) Hub.
c) Development of the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA) Internally Commissioned External Review (ICER) and development of a 10-year Strategic plan (2017-2026)
Funder/ Partner: ASARECA
Geographical Coverage: Eastern and Central Africa region
Period of implementation: Oct 2015 – Dec 2016
Description: Emerge-Africa (a sister company of ECI-Africa) in partnership with Topridas Consultancy Services supported a detailed Internally Commissioned External Review (ICER) of ASARECA covering its 20 years of existence. The review was aimed at informing the development of the institution’s new 10-year strategy (2017–2026), capturing the efficiency and effectiveness of ASARECA structures and systems over the past 20 years, the relevance and impact of ASARECA interventions in Eastern and Central Africa (ECA) and proposed priority flagship areas for ASARECA for the next decade as well as developed an appropriate organizational structure for the revamped ASARECA.
