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Showing posts with label workshop. Show all posts
Showing posts with label workshop. Show all posts

Reaching out to Project Teams on Nutrition Mainstreaming in Agriculture and Rural Development Projects

Posted by Francesca Aloisio Wednesday, June 7, 2017 0 comments

by Marian Amaka Odenigbo & Wanessa Marques Silva

Participants responding to the nutrition related questions during the round of quiz.
On 23 May 2017, the IFAD's Nutrition Team organized a breakout session on mainstreaming nutrition in IFAD financed projects. This dedicated session on nutrition took place during the IFAD’s East and Southern Africa (ESA) Regional Implementation Workshop (RIW) in Kampala, Uganda. The RIW presented a great opportunity to reach out and engage with project teams, country office colleagues and other stakeholders on the conversations on nutrition mainstreaming in IFAD operations. The nutrition session was jointly planned with the Rome based Agencies (RBAs) colleagues, and built on several consultative discussions to accelerate nutrition awareness in operations at country level.

Raising awareness on nutrition

In setting the scene on nutrition awareness and sensitization, participants had a round of virtual quiz to stimulate the discussion on nutrition mainstreaming. Analysis of the quiz exercise showed that most of the participants are aware of the implications of malnutrition to the wellbeing of people and national economy. Interestingly, this exercise exposed that the relation between gender and nutrition is still blurry to many respondents. This is a subject that should be explored further especially during workshops and trainings on nutrition-sensitive agriculture.

Experiences on nutrition mainstreaming

Good practices on nutrition mainstreaming within IFAD-funded operations were presented. Nutrition focal points from IFAD funded projects in Burundi (Aloïs Hakizimana), Malawi (Manuel Mang'anya), Mozambique (Jeronimo Francisco) and Zambia (Martin Lyiwalii) shared their respective country experiences, which consisted of various innovative nutrition activities and different approaches for mainstreaming nutrition. The varied approaches include:
  • Access to microcredit through women groups; 
  • Adoption of local and traditional food to tackle malnutrition; 
  • Promotion of diversified food production and consumption; 
  • Training local promoters on nutrition, food preparation demonstration with active participation of the beneficiaries; 
  • Radio messages, songs and farmers hotline on good nutrition and improved family diet along with income generation of small producers. 
Taking advantage of the presence of significant members of the IFAD-funded projects teams during this session, the key messages of the ESA study: “Mapping of Nutrition-Sensitive Interventions in East and Southern Africa" was disseminated to participants. This study provided insights on the variety of nutrition-sensitive actions being implemented in ESA's portfolio and identified gaps and opportunities for effective nutrition mainstreaming.

Dissemination of FAO Toolkits on nutrition-sensitive agriculture

This session provided the space to learn and disseminate the available resources for agriculture-nutrition projects. Militezegga Mustapha, a colleague from FAO made a presentation that illustrated the need for combined efforts of agriculture, social protection, nutrition education and adequate care practices. She stressed that nutrition is linked to the entire food system including: 1) food production, 2) food handling, storage, 3) food trade and marketing and 4) consumer demand, food preparation and preferences. FAO Toolkit and eLearning modules for nutrition-sensitive programming were discussed and the hard copies of resource materials were distributed to participants. 

RBAs collaboration for nutrition at country level

Tantely Randrianasolo, M&E Manager, and Maria Fernanda Arraes De Souza, Programme Coordinator, from Madagascar and Mozambique, respectively, shared their experiences of successful RBAs collaboration on integrating nutrition in agriculture and rural development investments. Tantely narrated how the joint efforts in AINA programme in Madagascar implemented in collaboration with FAO, WFP and IFAD have addressed various elements of the integrated pathway to nutrition (awareness raising, training, tools, storage facilities, scaling up of experiences). The collaboration has brought significant improvements in dietary intake as well as physical infrastructure and social issues such as school attendance.

On the other hand, Arraes De Souza shared the Mozambique experiences where additional nutrition components were incorporated to the already ongoing projects. The RBAs collaboration in Mozambique is using different entry points i.e. nutrition awareness with leaders, training with women groups in complementing each other’s interventions for optimization of nutrition outcomes.

Furthermore, this forum provided the opportunity to reach out to the project team on the other RBAs collaboration initiatives on nutrition, such as the Nutrition-Sensitive Value Chains (NSVC) and the Home Grown School Feeding (HGSF) Resource Frameworks.

Indeed, this dedicated breakout session was well appreciated by participants and was followed up by several group and bilateral conversations on specific needs and way forward to accelerate nutrition mainstreaming at project and country levels. This type of outreach is essential to increase awareness and engage with project teams on nutrition in IFAD operations.

Getting passionate about the environment – farmers share benefits of sustainable farming

Posted by Ricci Symons Friday, April 25, 2014 0 comments

Adriana Bombardone
I have recently returned from a mission to Panama for the ‘Start-up and Implementation Support Workshop’ for the GEF-funded Sustainable Development and Climate Change Mitigation Project in the province of Veraguas. The main objective of this project is to promote sustainable rural development and environmental management in the Province of Veraguas, contributing to both poverty reduction and the improvement and conservation of natural resources (soil, water and biodiversity).
Furthermore, it will contribute to national efforts in mitigating climate change, through a reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and through an increase in carbon sequestration.
The objective of the workshop was to discuss the scope, expectations and implementation arrangements of the project.


Figure 1- Area of intervention
There were themed sessions held, aimed at contributing to the strategic, administrative, financial and operational performance of the project, in collaboration with the major stakeholders involved in the project. These included  local communities, the National Environment Authority (ANAM)- implementing Agency, the Ministry of Agriculture (MIDA), the Agricultural Research Institute (IDIAP) and also the newly recruited project coordinator and administrative assistant.
In order to share experiences between IFAD-supported projects, national staff from the DECOFOS[1] project in Mexico participated in the workshop. This project is implemented by the National Forestry Commission of Mexico (CONAFOR) and it has also GEF co-financing.


Figure 2- Participatory discussions - What are the main challenges of the changes in climate pattern? - Adriana Bombardone
The mitigation expert from the CONAFOR - Mexico team explained what climate change is and the impact it would have on the production. In his explanation, he compared the world to a child ‘When a child has a temperature rise of a few degrees, they get sick, and the temperature has to come back down for them to recover. Climate change is like that for the world, and the temperature is continuing to rise, and the earth is getting more sick’. With this very simple yet clear explanation, the mitigation expert from CONAFOR managed to grasp the attention of the local communities and awoke their interest in what, so far, had seemed to them as a very vague and distant topic.


Figure 3- Participants discussing about effects of climate change - Adriana Bombardone
Implementing activities, coordinating different actors and Institutions is always challenging: during the workshop different approaches and methodologies were discussed in order to find the most successful one. Participants expressed their points of view about the effects of climate change and the benefits to the environment of sustainable farming.

In a short time, the main stakeholders of the workshop managed to reach an agreement on the next steps leading to the first disbursement of funds. The ANAM committed to provide a schedule of activities to be implemented in the short and long term.
The fruitful brainstorming session held with the local communities as well as the experience shared by the Mexico team provided useful insights for the road ahead. A motivating talk by the project staff of a similar project has proven positive and is surely an experience to be repeated.



[1] Community Forestry Development Project in Southern states: Campeche, Chiapas and Oaxaca (DECOFOS Project)

CPOs and project leaders - Project management training in Tanzania and Senegal: A new Sub-Saharan initiative

Posted by daniela cuneo Thursday, May 9, 2013 2 comments

by Richard Aiello, Ambrosio Barros and Martin Raine

Excellence in project management translates into remarkable project results and impact on the ground, that is why project management skills can make the difference . A total of approximately 60 WCA and ESA CPOs and Project Directors have attended a first training workshop in Tanzania/Arusha in October 2012 (only Anglophone participants) followed by one on-going one in Senegal/Dakar (with Anglophone and Francophone participants).

The two events focused on enhancing project management skills from a people management (e.g., leadership styles, receiving and giving feedback, coaching) and a technical (e.g., project strategy, sustainability, logframe, M&E/RIMS, Annual Work Plan and Budget) point of view.

At the end of the follow up workshop in Dakar, the Anglophone participants welcomed the Francophone cohort sharing with colleagues their experiences and their enthusiasm.

This is a new learning initiative that is in line with good and most recent training practices. The first group of CPOs and Project Directors have had the opportunity to experiment their learning after the session in October in Arusha. In May 2013, they came back together in Dakar. On this occasion they shared their experiences, their challenges and how they went about overcoming these. This was a great example of putting what they learnt to practice, thus ensuring that the learning, “sticks” and does not “wash away” shortly after the training.


In addition to enhancing project management skills, the participants expanded their network and shared experiences across borders. And the good news is that once back in their respective countries, they are continuing to network and exchange with each other and  IFAD-funded projects.

This is a WCA/ESA/HRD partnership, (Luyaku Nsimpasi, Sylvie Marzin, Geoffrey Livingstone, Miriam Okong’o, Martin Raine, Ambrosio Barros, Federica Iachetti, Dounamba Konare, Michael Isaack, Rahel Getachew, Gabriella Quintavalla, Richard Aiello), where once again we have all experienced how working across divisions is needed, useful, motivating and fun !!! We have truly enjoyed it, we feel we have reinforced our understanding of the challenges faced at country level and also built a stronger partnership with new and old colleagues from our Country Offices.

Finally we would also like to share some of the comments from participants:

Luyaku Nsimpasi (IFAD Representative and Country Director Senegal) said “ I was very impressed by the frankness and openness of the project coordinators and CPOs in sharing experiences with their peers. This openness has surely highly contributed to the success when discussing experiences in leadership, planning and implementation.

Mwatima Juma (CPO Tanzania) said “this has been my first exposure with a training that included follow up. I believe that this format has made the training more effective and practical and I will be able to apply better what I learned since during the follow up I have had the chance to ground the learning experience and expand it. I have also made connections with new colleagues with whom I believe I have created a special link also thanks to the content of the training that has provided us with several opportunities to experience a different kind of conversation that while exploring real issues has worked intensively on our emotions”.

Irene Jumbo-Ibeakuzie (Programme Manager Nigeria) said “it has been a grand experience for us. Some of the things we thought we were doing right needed to be readdressed. During the two sessions I have further appreciated the importance of the full participation of the programme coordination in the process of the development of the Annual Work Plan & Budget to ensure proper guidance. I have also appreciated better what effective team work is really about, and how important it is to coach staff to improve productivity and results".

Dick Siame(CPO Zambia) said “From my point of view this training is helping project leaders open up and address potential issues with staff. As a CPO it empowers me to navigate more effectively on projects and with project managers strengthening  my ability to represent a clear reference for planning purposes. I also found particularly useful enhancing my understanding of how different people react to situations and learn how to respond to their reactions guiding them towards the required goals. I felt inspiring that as a group we jointly came up with…. a manager has to find a way to work in the same way with all members of the team without being distant from any member, this is not always easy but we need to make sure it happens".

In the ‘New Flower’ of Africa, grappling with the challenge of sustainable rural development

Posted by Timothy Ledwith Friday, November 16, 2012 0 comments


ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia – Addis Ababa means ‘New Flower’ in Amharic, Ethiopia’s ancient national language, and the name still seems apt despite the capital’s 21st century sprawl. New, modern buildings are under construction throughout the city, while a youthful populace fills its streets and squares. And the flower of the country’s rich culture is constantly in bloom here, from the hospitality of traditional tea ceremonies to the warm greetings of friends and strangers alike.

Children perform for IFAD workshop participants on a field
visit to Ethiopia’s Fentale District. © IFAD/Mark Forrest
Beyond the fringes of Addis and a few other cities, however, Ethiopia as a whole is predominantly rural. So is the rest of sub-Saharan Africa, where more than two-thirds of the population is employed in the agricultural sector, mainly as small-scale farmers and livestock herders. That proportion may decline as young rural migrants flock to urban centres in search of opportunities they can’t find at home. Nevertheless, smallholder agriculture remains central to the lives of most people on the continent.

Which leads to one of the biggest questions facing Africa today: To ensure their own food security and to feed a rapidly growing population – including the inhabitants of Addis and other teeming cities – how can its farmers sustainably boost their productivity in the years ahead?

Proven approaches
With this question in mind, coordinators from IFAD-supported projects in Ethiopia and 16 other countries in East and Southern Africa gathered in Addis this week for their annual regional workshop. The 200-plus participants convened to exchange practical knowledge and experiences. Hosted by IFAD’s country office and the Government of Ethiopia, they spent four days taking a clear-eyed look at lessons learned from working with smallholders at the grass roots.

Regional workshop participants convene in Addis Ababa.
© IFAD/Mark Forrest
The workshop’s main goal was to identify and share proven development approaches that can reduce rural poverty over the long term. By bringing these approaches to scale, IFAD and its partners – beginning with farmers themselves – can plant the seeds of lasting change. As United Nations Resident Coordinator in Ethiopia Eugene Owusu said in a welcoming statement to the participants, Africa has enough untapped land and natural resources “to feed not only itself but the whole world.”

But the discussions in Addis also confirmed that the rural poor in East and Southern still face great obstacles. Like Ethiopia itself, which is home to scores of distinct ethnic groups and languages, the region is extremely heterogeneous. It includes several of the fastest growing economies in the world, along with some of sub-Saharan Africa’s poorest and most fragile states. Rising food prices and underdeveloped markets, as well as inadequate roads and irrigation systems, pose serious challenges for smallholder households.

‘On the right track’
IFAD Regional Economist Geoffrey Livingston and Regional Director Périn Saint Ange acknowledged these and other challenges in their comments at the Addis workshop. Yet both speakers found solid grounds for optimism.

IFAD Regional Director Périn Saint Ange
addresses workshop in Addis Ababa.
© IFAD/Mark Forrest
“The continent is on the right track,” Livingston said, citing strong overall economic growth and an increase in foreign direct investment in Africa. He noted that IFAD’s loan portfolio supports 55 ongoing programmes and projects in East and Southern Africa, with an average loan size of US$24 million. And for every dollar in IFAD investment, governments and other donors contribute 1.6 dollars in cofinancing. With this level of commitment, combined with effective project management, Livingston suggested, IFAD can make a real difference. “There are a lot of people depending on all of us,” he said.

Saint Ange pointed to reforms in policy and governance that have begun to ease trade barriers in the region. At the local level, he said, poor rural people – and particularly women and youth – have gained a greater voice in making decisions about their futures. He went on to remind participants that IFAD’s regional portfolio, which now stands at US$1.3 billion, will grow to US$1.5 billion by 2015.

In addition, Saint Ange said, up to US$100 million in grant funding will be available for innovative projects addressing the impact of climate change under IFAD’s new Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme.

“Agriculture has the greatest potential for transforming the lives of the rural poor,” he concluded.

Beyond business as usual
Still, there was a widely shared recognition in Addis that IFAD-supported operations must step up their efforts and results in order to achieve such a transformation. The message was clear: Overcoming regional challenges and meeting IFAD’s ambitious targets for rural poverty reduction will mean reaching well beyond business as usual.

Shunda Wata, chairperson of a rural women's
credit cooperative visited by workshop
participants in Oromia, Ethiopia.
© IFAD/Timothy Ledwith
Saint Ange called upon project coordinators and IFAD staff in East and Southern Africa to build on successes and learn from failures by more systematically evaluating the impact of their operations. Moreover, he said, IFAD’s regional strategy requires intensified work on developing off-farm employment and rural enterprises – and on building the capacity of communities and local institutions to guide their own progress.

“We are good at this, but we can do more and better,” Saint Ange said. “We are encouraged by the success that we are having on the ground. It is not enough, but the glass is filling quickly.”

Moving forward
There was no shortage of ideas in Addis about how to do more. From sessions on more rigorous project design and analysis to debates about linking agricultural research directly to ongoing projects, the participants maintained a spirited dialogue throughout the workshop.

And that spirit extended from the meeting rooms to the field, via a series of visits to projects in the areas around Addis. The visits provided a first-hand look at rural finance, irrigation and pastoral community development projects supported by IFAD in Ethiopia, as well as direct meetings with the people served and empowered by these initiatives.

“In Africa, the spirit of sharing is homegrown,” IFAD’s Ethiopia Country Director, Robson Mutandi, said as the workshop wrapped up yesterday. “We can never move forward if we are not open about our programmes.” Mutandi thanked everyone in attendance for engaging in an open discussion – in effect, for letting 100 flowers bloom in the ‘New Flower’ of Africa. “Let’s hope that together,” he said, “we can make this big challenge of moving rural people out of poverty a success.”

Pioneers for food security

Posted by Sarah Hessel Wednesday, March 21, 2012 0 comments

Sharing knowledge for better development programmes at the IFAD-EUFF capitalisation workshop in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire

How can we effectively introduce new seed production techniques? Which roles do farmer organizations play in helping smallholders to grow more food? How can agricultural research support seed production? These are some of the issues that the participants of the capitalisation workshop on the IFAD EU Food Facility project in West Africa discussed at today’s opening of the meeting – and you will find the answers below.

The EU Food Facility (EUFF) was created as an answer to soaring food prices in developing countries in 2007/2008. With the Facility, the European Union provided one billion euros for projects that:

  • improve the access to agricultural inputs and services,
  • maintain or improve the agricultural productive capacity and
  • address the basic food needs in developing countries
and chose IFAD as one of the implementing partners in West Africa.

Since the programme has been launched one and a half years ago, much has been achieved. Building on existing IFAD projects, 20 million euros were used to support small farmers achieve higher yields, grow more food and earn more money. The projects in Mali, Benin, Ivory Coast, Senegal and Ghana were implemented in collaboration with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and reached more than 200 000 rural families.

Now, that the programme’s activities have closed at the end of 2011, project partners are coming together for a capitalisation and a closing workshop. During the next days (23-26 March), they will share experiences, draw lessons and discuss the way forward.

“The first meeting of all implementing partners showed, how beneficial it is, to exchange knowledge and experiences. It has been an important part of our collaboration since,” said Adriane del Torto, IFAD’s EUFF coordinator for West Africa. All participants have brought one or two examples of capitalization products – success stories, videos, posters or other materials – which will be reviewed by their peers to improve and enrich the products, before they are officially released. “The sharing of knowledge in this way has helped everyone involved in the projects. We all have learned how to properly identify and explain what works in our programs. This could potentially help to raise funds and to scale up our projects with relevant and efficient activities. From the experiences that will be shared here today, some have successfully been replicated in other settings. In the long-run this will lead to better and more sustainable results in development programmes. And this is why we have organized this capitalization workshop,“ explained Adriane in her opening statement (scroll down for the video).

Following the opening ceremony, every project presented their cases, followed by a short Q&A, and as promised, here are the answers to the questions raised above: How did the projects manage to spread new, more efficient seed growing techniques within such a short time, was one of the questions that came up. The answer came from the Ghanaian participants, who used a proven knowledge-dissmenination technique for their Root and Tuber Improvement and Marketing Programme (RTIMP): word of mouth. Many of the farmers, participating in the programme, produced their yam seeds on sites that were close to roads or other places with many people passing by every day . Soon, they realized that these farmers weren’t following the traditional seed production technique. They became curious. And learned from the farmers about the benefits of this new seed production technology – and how it works. In this way, the project reached a much larger, and growing group, who now uses the new technique.

The role of farmer organizations, was another issue, that came up frequently. All participants agreed, how important the organizations, such as cooperatives, are in enabling smallholders to increase their production. In some projects, for example the Management of Certified Groundnut Seeds Production in Senegal, cooperatives and their establishment were a constituent part of the project design.

And last but not least, how can agricultural research support seed production? The answer to this was given by Prof Corneille Ahanhanzo from Benin, who highlighted the need for strong links between agricultural research and seed producers: “Researchers help to find improved techniques and better seeds. We are pioneers for food security.”

Monitoring and Evaluating the IFAD Country Programme in Ghana

Posted by Adriane Del Torto Thursday, December 15, 2011 1 comments

by Adriane Del Torto
 
Monitorting and Evaluation (M&E) is often considered one of the weakest links in development programmes. This is also true for IFAD. The IFAD Country Programme in Ghana took this as a challenge to overcome and started to invest in M&E about two years ago. After putting an emphasis on this theme for some time now, it was finally decided that the stakeholders involved in M&E should get together to share successes and address the gaps that still exist in M&E. From 12 to 14 December, a Ghana Country Programme Learning and Exchange Workshop on M&E took place at the Alisa Hotel in Accra.


The workshop , organised by the IFAD Country Office in close collaboration with the West Africa Rural Foundation (WARF) brought together representatives from all IFAD projects, the Roots and Tuber Improvement and Marketing Project (RTIMP), Northern Rural Growth Programme (NRGP), Rural Enterprises Programme( REP II), Rural Agriculture Finance Programme( RAFIP), Northern Region Poverty Reduction Project (NORPREP), WARF, the Government of Ghana - the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MOFIP) and the National Development and Planning Commission (NDPC) and partners IFPRI/SAKKSS, IPA, University of Ghana, Busylab , Esoko Mobile Technology, in  an innovative and interactive workshop.

The overall objective of this workshop is to identify how to use M&E to its fullest capacities. This means using the information generated by M&;E on implementation progress as a management tool rather than an institutional requirement. The workshop helped identify outcomes, output and impact of projects while emphasising on the qualitative side of M&E which is often excluded.

The basis of the discussion were the newfound focus on M&E for the Ghana Country Programme, the recommendations from the last country programme supervision mission (which took place mid November to mid December 2011) , the current national and project M&E structures, capitalisation efforts and finally research in M&E undertaken by our implementation partners.

After each project identified the key issues raised by the supervision mission, the partners making their presentations, the workshop allowed each project to review the M&E indicators making sure they are SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time bound) and ensure that these indicators are the right one to measure the outcomes and impacts desired by the project. It also allowed for the identification of research needs that will improve the M&E and impact reporting


The workshop highlighted the good results in M&E in the Ghana portfolio until now, and also how much these efforts contribute daily to the improvement of the systems and the improvements still needed. Most importantly, projects have shared and exchanged on how to improve their indicators and how to address the difficulties they are facing. Some recurrent themes are the following:

- need to improve data collection at the field level by involving beneficiaries and possibly digitalising
- need to strengthen grassroots institutions
- need for data control at all levels
- need for better data management and analysis
- need for commitment of all actors
- need to fill information gaps through studies
- need to identify, undersand and maintain linkages
- need for better gender mainstreaming
- need to identify further partnerships through good planning

Each project came up with an action plan during the workshop that will be mainstreamed into the AWPB to ensure its implementation.

Most importantly, a topic that came up on many occasions is the importance of good communication and the importance of making the time to exchange on the positive outcomes achieved. In order to ensure good communication there are several Fora in Ghana to ensure exchanges between stakeholders on themes of on microfinance, rural finance and value chains. Furthermore, WARF and FIDAFRIQUE are imporant partners in Ghana but also for IFAD projects in West and Central Africa: they help will ensure that the information to be shared is well articulated and diffused on the regional platform.


Outstanding challenges and considerations for the future are how to make adequate time to engage in proper M&E activities and to ensure that the lessons learned from good M&E fit into policy dialogue.


IFAD's Cartagena workshop on rural youth entrepreneurship ends with guidelines for policy development

Posted by Taysir Al-Ghanem Saturday, November 20, 2010 1 comments

The 1st Meeting on Youth Entrepreneurship and Rural Micro-enterprising ended with a series of recommendations that will help the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and its partners, develop and implement policies that can create more favourable conditions for the growth of young people’s micro enterprises. The five-day knowledge sharing and policy dialogue event was organized by IFAD, the Oportunidades Rurales programme of the Colombian Ministry of Agriculture and the Regional Program to Support Rural Afro-Latino Populations (ACUA). Along with more than 20 senior staff and project staff members of the three development partners, over thirty young entrepreneurs coming from Argentina, Bosnia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Ghana, Nicaragua, Madagascar, Peru, Senegal and Syria participated in the workshop, which was opened by Mohamed Beavogui, Director of IFAD’s West and Central Africa Division. During the deliberations of the workshop the young entrepreneurs were divided in four working group of discussion dedicated to four thematic areas, including:

· The issue of non-inclusion of the projects of young rural people in the development plans and strategies of governments
· The lack of or limited space for participation in exchanges between adults and young people to transmit knowledge
· Restrictions on young people’s access to credit and rural financial services
· Excessive limitations facing on young people’s access to market and value chain opportunities.
In a message to the workshop, HE Juan Camilo Restrepo Salazar, Minister of Agriculture of Colombia, welcomed the participants to his country, expressing “Greetings with enthusiasm to all participants coming from various parts of the world, for choosing to hold their workshop in Colombia.” He said: “On behalf of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Government of Colombia, we wish you the best of success in your deliberations and in achieving concrete results, with the hope that the enthusiasm which brought these young people here will be further reinforced.”

At closure of the workshop, Roberto Haudry, IFAD’s Country Programme Manager for Colombia, outlined the key outcomes of the workshop. He said the conclusions that managers and Project staff members of IFAD, Oportunideds Rurales and ACUA have reached following their intensive interactions with the participating young entrepreneurs, would be distilled into two main products, consisting of immediate general recommendations and a policy framework that would require a longer time for development. Haudry said “The proposals made by the young entrepreneurs during the event, including policy hints, activities and tools, will be reproduced exactly as they were expressed.” He added that the three partners will try to incorporate these proposals into their current operations and future interventions. He summarized the general recommendations as follow:

· IFAD and its projects lack, and should acquire the capacity to hear the young people, learn more from them and trust them much more. IFAD and its partners commit themselves to multiplying their exchanges with rural young people, and facilitating exchanges between themselves, in order to learn more about each other’s successful business models, difficulties, solutions and innovations.
· Promoting inter-generational dialogue is very important and requires greater attention. Each generation of young, adults and elders have their own special characteristics, extending from new technology assimilation, through productivity and assets accumulation, to knowledge and wisdom. Understanding the complimentary potential of the three elements and acting upon such understanding needs to be improved.
· The need to design financial instruments and vehicles that permit the inclusion of many millions of young people in the citizenship of access to financial services, markets and information is more pressing now than ever before.
· Recognition of the ICT talents of young people needs to be made by the creation of “knowledge markets” through which they can transmit information, know-how and innovations to each other.
· Recognition of the need to invest in culture is crucial to make good agriculture, particularly in the case of young people.
· Acknowledgement of the global dimension of young people’s space is only logical as they constantly move between rural, urban and global terrains and cyberspaces. Therefore, learning skills such as English, for example, has been identified as a basic necessary tool for young people. · The need to invest in non-formal education, including cultural and physical creativity, would help motivate young people for greater productivity.
· The need to provide the young people with direct access to various resources and assets, including financial services and markets, is crucial and requires greater investments.

The closing session ended with an announced that a special event similar to the Cartagena Youth workshop will be held in Africa in 2011, as part of a global consultation process with rural young people.
The last two days of the workshop were dedicated to field visits in the context of a “Learning Route” programme to the sites of IFAD supported interventions in the Departmental District of La Gallera, which is located in the ZENÚ indigenous reservation and in to the Verdara La Aren of Sincelejo. The participants also visited the sites of rural development interventions in the municipalities of Sincé and Corozal in the Department of Sucre. This had followed other field visits to the sites and activities of micro-enterprises of poor rural people, particularly women, supported by Oprtunidades Rurales in the island of Baru and the San Basilio de Paneque. The huge variety of artisan workshops developed by the young entrepreneurs, for example in Baru, which range from bakeries, to shoemakers to artificial jewellery making workshops, was impressive.

Organized in collaboration with the Association of Women and Young Afro Colombian (AFROCARIBE), the Costa ASOPIELES Marroquineros Association and the Association of the Social Agro-industrial Development Savannah (ASODESEA), the Learning Route provided ample opportunities to learn and share knowledge. This includes the concrete outcomes of Colombia’s experience in rural small business development and its approach to the involvement of young people. The Rural Micro Enterprise (MER) in Colombia has helped nearly 500 thousand families develop secure and sustainable sources of income through engagement in a variety of micro-enterprises and other income-generating activities. Between 2004 and 2009 about 25,000 families received tools, resources and training enabling them to move out of absolute poverty from this investment programme developed by IFAD and the Colombian Government. The innovative Learning Route imitative developed with the technical cooperation of PROCASUR, has become a model in “knowledge travelling” that aims at improving the capacities of farmers associations and organizations of entrepreneurs in identifying, evaluating and learning (for replication and up-scaling) from initiatives of micro enterprises in other regions.

A number of the participating young entrepreneurs have also set up vender tables in Cartagena’s old city centre, where the general public could admire and purchase their products. This “Fair” of products of young micro-entrepreneurs from various parts of has attracted a large number of visitors curious to know more about the Youth initiatives. A good example of these innovations was the development by a group of young rural Colombians of the “marimba” musical instrument, or what they call the “forest piano” that is fast spreading in the countryside bringing happiness to many rural communities after hard work days in the fields. The young entrepreneurs who benefited from micro finance services supported by IFAD and its partners have made a highly visible success in their new industry not only in Colombia. The group affirmed that they are expanding the market outreach of their “marimba” to neighbouring countries too. Naturally, the workshop could not have a better closure that that of the sounds and rhythms of the marimba played by its creators. Naturally IFAD’s staff too, like the director Beavovui, also had a go and tried the fantastic sounds of the instrument. As a final act, Betty Sterling of LAC, took advantage of the youngster’s enthusiasm to hand over the participation diplomas to the young leaders of tomorrow, who seemingly enjoyed the event as much as they have effectively contributed to its outcomes.

Meeting to prepare IFAD Response to the Crisis in Haiti

Posted by Zoumana Bamba Sunday, January 31, 2010 0 comments


DAY 1 – 28 January

The workshop was opened by Ms Josefina Stubbs, Director of the Latin America and the Caribbean Division. Josefina Stubbs extends condolences of IFAD over earthquake in Haiti. She provided a comprehensive overview of the objectives and background to the workshop. PL Director highlighted the immediate response of IFAD to the crisis that focused on facilitating the resumption of agricultural activities as a means of restoring the livelihoods of thousands of communities that are dependent on agriculture. The main challenges for the workshop were to identify interventions and strategies for the long-term reconstruction of the agricultural sector. In order to achieve this will require an integrated and participatory approach. She welcomed the FAO residents for Haiti and Santo Domingo and other FAO staff as well as representatives from a national NGO from Haiti and IICA, a regional organization at the workshop. This is indeed not only a reflection of the importance of partnership as efforts are being channelled to start the rehabilitation of the agricultural sector.

Attendees were also invited to introduce themselves. The remainder of the day was comprised of formal presentations on the situation from each of the IFAD-funded projects, by representatives of FAO and non-government organizations.

COUNTRY OVERVIEW - Experience sharing and testimonies on impact on rural areas
Representatives of the IFAD-funded projects staff, along with NGOs, FAO and IFAD staff, reported on the progress to date with respect to the situation of the agricultural sector.

The disaster made a serious impact on agricultural related livelihoods, including both on-farm and off-farm activities. It destroyed not only physical facilities (i.e. agriculture tools and equipment, irrigation systems, houses and buildings), but also natural resource capacities.

Analysis of preliminary existing information on post-earthquake situation in rural areas based on first-hand information from IFAD-funded project staff in Haiti shows that:
i) The major impact of the earthquake for the agriculture sector is the massive migration of population from the capital city to the rural areas which magnitude is still to be confirmed. The Ministry of Agriculture estimates the number of people leaving cities for rural areas could reach more that 1 million. Migration is putting further pressure on rural households in terms of availability of food and access to basic services and socio-economic stability in areas already
grappling with meagre resources;
ii) Assessment of physical damages in the rural areas is still underway. However, it is confirmed that there has been some damage to irrigation systems, productive infrastructure, roads, including main routes to agricultural markets, particularly in the Western regions (Leogane, Grand Goave, and Petit Goave, Nippes in a 100 km radius).
On mid-day, the Minister of Agriculture of Haiti visited the workshop venue to address workshop participants. The Minister confirmed the assessment made by IFAD-funded projects staff and informed that a programme has been worked out by the Government for 600 million US$ over 18 months for agricultural development.
The Minister requested the three ongoing IFAD projects to maintain all activities approved in their AWPB 2009-2010 which are still relevant trying to speed up their implementation to meet their ambitious annual targets. In addition, the Minister welcomed additional resources to
address the immediate needs in the rural areas most affected by the earthquake outside IFAD-funded projects areas. Finally, the Minister invited IFAD and FAO to reactivate the seed distribution programme which was implemented in the aftermath of the food prices crisis.

The mission has also found out that a multi Donor Need Assessment Exercise is under preparation with the aim of presenting a detailed report at the next world conference on Haiti to be held in New York in March. The IFAD participation in this exercise will be discussed in a series of bilateral meetings with donor agencies (World Bank, IADB, AECI, FAO) next week.

In summary, the impact of the earthquake has been exacerbated by the huge migration to rural areas, increasing demand for food and agricultural production and concerns about food security.
Before leaving a grant financing agreement of US 5.6 miilion with the Ministry of Agriculture.




Day 2 – 29 January


On the 2nd Day of the Workshop, the participants discussed needs to support rural communities by:

- Reviewing and analyzing the current approved AWPB for 2010:
- Mapping the existing needs assessment information and identified information gaps;
- Identifying the main factors and trends that could impact the implementation of annual work plans;
- Identifying priorities areas and overall objectives for the 2010 short term and long term strategies;
- Started the development of response plans for each project and FAO.

In conclusion, the food security needs of earthquake-affected rural areas households will require, according to participants and based on previous experience, an immediate combination of food assistance, rapid agricultural input supplies (seeds, fertiliser, tools, poultry and small ruminants etc.) and a rehabilitation of production infrastructure, such as on-farm irrigation, storage facilities.

Workshop participants suggested that IFAD response should focus th e following:
Rehabilitation of agricultural infrastructure such as irrigation systems in time for the March 2010 planting season and the re-establishment of agricultural markets to ensure the short and long term goal for food security.
· Research, development and information sharing - documentation and data collection of the impact on and recovery of affected agriculture areas and ecosystems.
· Development of income generating activities, micro-credit schemes and community empowerment with a focus on agricultural livelihood activities.
· Distribution of seed and planting materials; crop diversification that includes or incorporates cash cropping options; livestock; and improved agricultural practices.

IFAD Response to the Crisis in Haiti

Posted by Zoumana Bamba 0 comments

This was my first trip to Latin America. The first impression I had during my breakfast is the number of UN staff, NGOs, rescue and humanitarian teams in Santo Domingo.

After the breakfast, we made arrangement with the hotel for the workshop. Our colleagues from Haiti have arrived. I am anxious to meet them. I missed the opportunity in November 2009 as they participated in the project implementation workshop organized by the Division of Western and Central Africa.

The workshop is a unique opportunity to listen to IFAD-funded project staff and share their concerns. They provided us with testimonies and useful and painful information on the situation. Despite the pain, they are strong and speak with calm and dignity. They are eager to share information so that we can collectively assess initial findings related to rehabilitation needs and opportunities, share plans and proposals for future rehabilitation work, and develop mechanisms for collaboration and joint activities. You can read the testimonies I collected in the next blog.

The tragedy of the earthquake in Haiti is beyond what many of us can even fully imagine. We have see shots of the seism, and humanitarian efforts to get food, water and shelter to people. But listening to people stories is shaken.

Fortunately, the situation in Haiti is improving. This was good news and for which we are grateful. As Haiti begins to rebuild, the development process must be driven by values and processes that ensure real sustainability. According to our colleagues, the work of empowering communities must start and this includes building lasting food security, rehabilitating agricultural infrastructure and development of income generating activities, micro-credit schemes and community empowerment with a focus on agricultural livelihood activities.

The show is on the road: Day one of the regional implementation workshop for Western and Central Africa

Posted by Roxanna Samii Tuesday, December 1, 2009 0 comments

There is quite a bit of frenzy in the atrium of the ORCHID Hospitality Management Services (Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons), Accra, Ghana where IFAD in conjunction with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture of Ghana, is holding a regional project implementation workshop for Western and Central Africa. These events present a wonderful opportunity for people to reconnect. You can see many smiling faces, people hugging and kissing and catching up with each other.

Adriana, Letizia, Christiane and others are helping with the registration. The last couple of days were quite hectic. Stefania and Martin, the two pillars of this workshop have diligently been organizing the minute details of the workshop. Yesterday we had a series of meeting to make sure that all the logistics was working like a swiss watch.

We spent all of yesterday setting up. Everyone, and I mean everyone, contributed to making sure we had everything. The gentlemen, Steven, Leo, Loko and others helped with assemblying the kits. David set up the exhibit and the publication desk. Stefania, Martin and I went were responsible for the signage and to make sure the breakout rooms were set up.

I am really excited, as tomorrow we'll be using a wide range of knowledge sharing methods. We'll start with three parallel chat shows, then we'll move to three parallel world cafes and we'll finish the day with a speed geeking session where colleagues will present their findings and learnings!

Kudos to all the colleagues in Western and Central Africa for embracing knowledge sharing methods. For sure, this workshop will be different and more engaging that previous editions!

This morning we'll have the honour and privilege of having His Excellency the Minister of Agriculture for the official opening. We'll then have a series presentation by the Director of Western and Central Africa and IFAD colleagues on the IFAD-funded project portfolio and the progress since the last implementation workshop.
So, let me sign-off at this point. More to come during the day. Internet access permitting we'll also be tweeting. So make sure you also check out the tweets both from @ifadnews and @rsamii.