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This reference document describes a comprehensive approach for planning, monitoring and evaluation of capacity and the results of capacity development processes. This capacity framework used centres around 5 capabilities (‘5Cs’) that together contribute to an organisation’s ability to create social value. The document has been written for development practitioners in Southern organisations and planning, monitoring and evaluation professionals with whom they collaborate. As the title implies, it is not itself a handbook or a ‘tool’. Rather, the text is intended to explain a 5Cs perspective that can be practically translated and applied in context and organisation-specific ways.It contains practical suggestions and concrete experience to help the reader in adapting the 5Cs to a most appropriate use in their own context and for their own purposes.
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Although business models that deliver sustainability are increasingly popular in the literature, few tools that assist in sustainable business modelling have been identified. This paper investigates how businesses might create balanced social, environmental and economic value through integrating sustainability more fully into the core of their business. A value mapping tool is developed to help firms create value propositions better suited for sustainability. This tool intends to support business modelling for sustainability by assisting firms in better understanding their overall value proposition, both positive and negative, for all relevant stakeholders in the value network
Business and enterprise
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This is a review on the impact of capacity strengthening of agricultural research systems for development was commissioned by DFID and was linked to a process of documenting outcomes from the project Strengthening Capacity for Agricultural Research for Development in Africa (SCARDA). SCARDA provided support to twelve research and education institutes in ten countries in sub-Saharan Africa to assist them to enhance their performance in carrying out demand-led and high-quality agricultural research.
Research and education
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CARE’s Adaptation Learning Program for Africa (ALP) recently launched the ‘Adaptation Good Practice (AGP) Checklist’ to provide guidance on actions and criteria which help to ensure that adaptation results in quality, impactful, and long-term climate resilience for the most vulnerable people. The checklist supports design, decisions, capacity building, implementation, and monitoring of adaptation, in relation to the roll out of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) and adaptation finance. It can be used to inform or screen concepts, proposals, implementation plans and national budgets for their incorporation of and compliance with adaptation good practices, and to determine the focus of research and capacity building.
Enabling environment
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The African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) has useful infographics on indicators on capacity development across Africa from 2011 to 2015. The indicators are based on the a number of measures, including: strategic choices for capacity development; policy environment for capacity development; strategic policy choices for improving the capacity of statistical system; financial commitment for capacity development; development cooperation effectiveness; gender equality social inclusion; partnering for capacity development; capacity profiling; and capacity needs assessment.
General
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This book attempts to address these questions and challenges, by examining how agricultural innovation arises in four African countries, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, through agribusiness, public policies and specific value chains for food staples, high value products, and livestock. Determinants of innovation are not viewed individually but within the context of a complex agricultural innovation system (AIS) involving many actors and interactions. The country reports are based on qualitative interviews with agribusiness representatives about their experiences in this area. The synthesis chapter preceding the country reports presents the main findings of the country reports, links common themes, and distills lessons learned.
Business and enterprise
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This sourcebook draws on the emerging principles of Agricultural Innovation System (AIS) analysis and action to help to identify, design, and implement the investments, approaches, and complementary interventions that appear most likely to strengthen innovation systems and promote agricultural innovation and equitable growth. Although the sourcebook discusses why investments in AISs are becoming so important, it gives most of its attention to how specific approaches and practices can foster innovation in a range of contexts. The sourcebook is targeted to the key operational staff in international and regional development agencies and national governments who design and implement lending projects and to the practitioners who design thematic programs and technical assistance packages. The sourcebook is also an important resource for the research community and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and may be a useful reference for the private sector, farmer organizations, and individuals with an interest in agricultural innovation. It concludes with details on the sourcebook's structure, a summary of the themes covered in each module, and a discussion of the cross-cutting themes treated throughout the sourcebook
Networks and systems
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ASTI collects and publishes data fusing on institutional developments, investments, and capacity in agricultural R&D at national, regional, and global levels for low- and middle-income countries. Further, it produces reports and publication describing trends in human and financial capacity in agricultural R&D at different levels.
Research and education
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The five steps of the UNDP capacity development process are: (1) 1. Engage stakeholders on capacity development; (2) Assess capacity assets and needs; (3) Formulate a capacity development response; (4) Implement a capacity development response; and (5) Evaluate capacity development.
General
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This book contains a collection of papers that discuss the experience of an Agricultural Research for Development (AR4D) capacity building program in Papua New Guinea (PNG). The program was the AusAID-funded Agricultural Research and Development Support Facility (ARDSF), which ran for five years from 2007 to 2012, and which sought to improve the delivery of services by agricultural research organisations to smallholder farmers. AR4D is an emerging mode of agricultural research practice in the international development community. Definitions of this practice are rather fluid, but its key intent is to directly link investments in research with tangible development outcomes. The way to actually do this is still a work in progress — a gap that this book seeks to fill. However, it seems quite clear that AR4D’s use of systems perspectives on learning, innovation and change have fundamental implications for the way agricultural research is conducted and the way capacity is built.
Research and education
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This report presents the findings and recommendations of a capacity needs assessment study carried out between July and September 2012 in the context of the ATA. In this paper, we document an approach to capacity strengthening in the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) to implement the ATA. The objectives of this report include mapping key institutions and stakeholders, analyzing institutional capacity strengths and gaps, and making recommendations to improve these capacities in relation to their proposed implementation roles.
Enabling environment
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Lessons and recommendations for building capacity among multi-stakeholder actors in agricultural research for development
Research and education
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Value network mapping is a tool to collectively understand the capacities of, resources exchanged between, and relationships among multiple actors in a system around a specific issue (e.g., food insecurity, missing markets, etc.). This tool supports collective strategizing on how to increase the capacity to collaborate, the capacity to navigate complexity and the capacity to engage in strategic and political processes. It also identifies resources needed to build these capacities. Value network mapping is very flexible. Option A) It can be done in a participatory setting with 4-5 people with different perspectives on the issue at hand around different tables; in a room with up to 100 participants. Option B) It can be also done through semi-structured interviews and then transformed in a map ex post, yet, this option B is less participatory. On the other hand, this option B can be more easily adapted to gauge data from marginalized actors in rural communities that may not be able to speak up in option A. Option A leads to qualitative data only on the actors on the system, their capacities, and associated resources, in relation to a specific issue. Moreover, it generates learning-by-doing in the teams (specifically developing systems-thinking and entrepreneurial competencies among participants), which can potentially be also assessed through a survey (before/after the mapping exercise). Option B leads to quantitative data on value network embeddedness, i.e., the extent to which different actors in the system may be influential or critical complements to building new strategic partnerships that address the systemic problem at hand.
Research and education
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The Integrating Gender and Nutrition within Agricultural Extension Services project (INGENAES) developed Competency Framework for Integrating Gender and Nutrition within Agricultural Extension Services. The framework lays out a comprehensive list of skills, attitudes, and behaviors (SABs) to enable frontline agricultural extension workers to engage in relevant, gender-responsive, nutrition-focused programming as part of their routine extension activities. This framework intends to help leaders of agencies providing extension services to examine their organizational mission (and the results implied by it) and develop strategies of extension services which help them to accomplish their mission, and confront key operational challenges faced in providing quality services. The framework can be accessed here.
Bridging institutions
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FAO recently launched a guide for programme planners called ‘Designing nutrition-sensitive agriculture investments: Checklist and guidance for programme formulation’. It is a manual based on a thorough review of FAO’s experience on nutrition-sensitive agriculture and was developed through extensive consultation with its development partners. The manual has been field tested and is structured around the first phase of the programming cycle.
Enabling environment
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This essay discusses 1) the current agri-food firms’ need of interacting with multiple stakeholders to undertake sustainable strategies effectively, 2) the relationship between human capital and firm capabilities to effectively interact with multiple stakeholders and 3) a list of competencies characterizing the human capital that would meet the need of agri-food firms and which can be learned – at least to some extent – through higher education and on-the-job training
Business and enterprise
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Enabling the Business of Agriculture examines and monitors regulations that impact how markets function in the agriculture and agribusiness sectors. The ultimate aim is to promote smart regulations that ensure safety and quality control as well as efficient regulatory processes that support thriving agribusinesses.
Business and enterprise
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FAO’s Capacity Development Unit, has prepared useful resources and case studies on good capacity development practices for people who design and implement programmes at the country level.  They are selected simplified tools drawn from the full set of topics and tools contained in the FAO Learning Modules. 
General
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Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) published a facilitator’s guide book for farmers’ field schools. This publication offers facilitators technical guidance to manage field farm schools and support local famers in all aspects of rice crop management.
Bridging institutions
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The Feed the Future Learning Agenda, launched in 2011, contributes to the body of knowledge on food security that serves to improve the design and management of interventions in the agriculture and nutrition sectors. It lays out how the initiative will learn from its programs, systematically assess critical gaps in evidence, and measure the success of its activities in partner countries, particularly through impact evaluations. Measuring impact requires a long-term effort, so in the interim this report examines what existing evaluations can tell us about these questions now. This synthesis identifies and chronicles evidence from 11 impact evaluations and 185 performance evaluations conducted between 2010 and 2015 across 64 countries. Reviewers used a qualitative analysis coding methodology to overcome the fact that most evaluations were not designed specifically to answer Learning Agenda questions.
General
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Asian Development Banks’ (ADB) published a book titled Food Insecurity in Asia: Why Institutions Matter. This book fills the gap by providing cross-country comparative perspectives on food security improvements. Such a study can be valuable for Asian countries to learn from each other. Country studies included in this book are Bangladesh, the People’s Republic of China, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the Republic of Korea, Pakistan, and Singapore. These countries share similarities but also differ in terms of their institutional settings, natural resource endowments, population size, and level of economic development. This study concludes that institutional differences are the most fundamental determinants of divergent food security status.
Enabling environment
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The latest report by the Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition titled ‘Food Systems and diets: Facing the challenges of the 21st century’ argues that coordinated action needs to be accompanied by a fundamental shift in our understanding and policy actions. It argues to bring nutrition issues at the core of food system analysis and to strengthen the links between agriculture and nutrition. The report concludes with a call for action to increase capacity for research on developing nutritious diets.
General
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Forum for Agricultural Risk Management in Development (FARMD) is a dynamic knowledge-management platform that enables stakeholders to share experiences, gain access to information and best practices, build partnerships and capacity on agricultural risk management. A number of useful learning resources developed on the platform can be accessed here.
Business and enterprise
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This articles present a conceptual framework and provides research methods for analyzing pluralistic agricultural advisory services. This framework can be used by policymakers to identify potential advisory services (to implement and finance) which work best in different situations.
Bridging institutions
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Early this year, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and the CGIAR research program on Livestock and Fish designed and developed a comprehensive tool for gender capacity assessment to assess partner’s individual skill sets and their institutional capacities to conduct strategic and integrated gender research.
General
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Capacity development is essential to achieving the U.S. Government’s Global Food Security Strategy (GFSS) objectives of inclusive and sustainable agriculture-led economic growth, resilience among people and systems, and a well-nourished population. While there are numerous definitions and approaches to capacity development, a Capacity Development for Agricultural Innovation Systems (CDAIS)1 approach offers a framework under which strategies for capacity development in agriculture and food systems can be developed and harmonized.
Enabling environment
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This resource provides technical guidance for capacity development. It’s a part of the 18 technical guidance documents for implementing the U.S government's global food security strategy.
General
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The Worldwide Extension Study from the The Global Forum for Rural Advisory Services (GFRAS) provides empirical data on the human and financial resources of agricultural extension and advisory systems worldwide, as well as other important information on: the primary extension service providers in each country (e.g. public, private and/or non-governmental); which types and groups of farmers are the primary target groups (e.g. large, medium, and/or small-scale farmers, including rural women) for each extension organization; how each organization’s resources are allocated to key extension and advisory service functions; each organization’s information and communication technology resources and capacity; and what role, if any, different categories of farmers play in setting extension’s priorities and/or assessing performance.
Bridging institutions
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This analysis will provide the USAID Bureau of Food Security, USAID missions, local policymakers, and other key stakeholders with information on possible constraints that could stymie effective policy change. Technical assistance and other support can then be identified to address constraints, and to improve the policy capacity process – including in areas of transparency, predictability, inclusiveness and evidence-based analysis.
Enabling environment
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The Food and Nutrition Technical Assistance III Project (FANTA) of U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and FHI 360 recently released a report titled ‘Guidelines for Integrating Nutrition into Agriculture Enterprise Mixes in Uganda’. With support from FANTA, the Uganda Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries developed these guidelines to strengthen the contribution of agriculture extension and community mobilization to improving household food and nutrition security.
Business and enterprise
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Despite the burgeoning literature on the governance and impact of cross-sector partnerships in the past two decades, the debate on how and when these collaborative arrangements address globally relevant problems and contribute to systemic change remains open. Building upon the notion of wicked problems and the literature on governing such wicked problems, this paper defines harnessing problems in multi-stakeholder partnerships (MSPs) as the approach of taking into account the nature of the problem and of organizing governance processes accordingly. The paper develops an innovative analytical framework that conceptualizes MSPs in terms of three governance processes (deliberation, decision-making and enforcement) harnessing three key dimensions of wicked problems (knowledge uncertainty, value conflict and dynamic complexity). The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil provides an illustrative case study on how this analytical framework describes and explains organizational change in partnerships from a problem-based perspective. The framework can be used to better understand and predict the complex relationships between MSP governance processes, systemic change and societal problems, but also as a guiding tool in (re-)organizing governance processes to continuously re-assess the problems over time and address them accordingly.
Networks and systems
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The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) published a how to do note. This note provides guidance on how to design smallholder agriculture adaptation programs that consider the differential impacts of climate change on women, men and youth smallholder farmers.
General
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This study resulted in valuable lessons and a number of important practice- and policy-oriented recommendations on how agricultural research can better contribute to development. A new approach for embedding agricultural research in development has been proposed, in which research is playing a supporting role, identifying plausible options, facilitating local experimentation, and bringing into routine use promising practices. In this way, KIT contributes to more relevant and sustainable agricultural research outputs.
Research and education
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This resource enables organizations to identify and equip staff with the appropriate skills to deliver services that lead to improved gender- and nutrition-related outcomes; and to establish a set of gender-responsive, nutrition-sensitive AES practices that substantially and effectively strengthen gender equity and improve nutrition outcomes.
Bridging institutions
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An Intervention Guide for the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) that helps donors and implementers translate the evidence and insights gained from the WEAI survey results into practice. The WEAI was developed by the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Feed the Future Initiative, IFPRI, and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative as a direct measure of economic empowerment and gender parity at the individual and household levels.
General
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LenCD is an informal and open Learning Network on Capacity Development. It is a network of individuals and organizations that share a common interest in improving the capacity development practice. The platform aims to promote and facilitate sharing of lessons and learning on capacity development, and promote changes for better practice at the global, regional and local levels.
Research and education
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The objective for MEAS is to define and disseminate good practice strategies and approaches to establishing efficient, effective and financially sustainable rural extension and advisory service systems in selected countries. Our goal is to help transform and modernize these extension systems, so they can play a key role in both increasing farm incomes and enhancing the livelihoods of the rural poor, especially farm women. New approaches must draw on full breadth of resources in public, private and civil society organizations and utilized available advanced information and communications technologies. MEAS is a Center of Excellence that seeks to promote and support such endeavors. The MEAS project is made up of three components expected to benefit a wide audience of users: 1 TEACH – Disseminating Modern Approaches to Extension through user-friendly materials for dissemination and training programs that promote new strategies and approaches to rural extension and advisory service delivery. Click here for a brochure on this component. 2 LEARN – Documenting Lessons Learned and Good Practice through success stories, case studies, evaluations, pilot projects, and action research. 3 APPLY – Designing Modern Extension and Advisory Services Program through assistance to selected host country organizations – public and private – for the analysis, design, evaluation and reform of rural extension and advisory services.
Bridging institutions
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Committee on World Food Security released 13th Report of the High-Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition. The purpose of this report is to help states and non-state actors to improve the contribution of Multi-stakeholder partners to the realization of the right to adequate food, in particular by strengthening transparency and accountability, and by improving the learning process through knowledge generation and sharing.
General
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University of Reading and CGIAR’s program on Climate Change Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) have developed a field manual that provides a step by step guide to use the Participatory Integrated Climate Services for Agriculture (PICSA) approach with farmer groups. The approach aims to strengthen farmers’ capacity to make informed production decisions based on accurate, location specific, climate and weather information; locally relevant crop, livestock and livelihood options; and with the use of participatory tools to aid their decision making.
Business and enterprise
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The Partnership for Economic Policy (PEP) is an international organization that links researchers globally to enhance capacity for development policy analysis in developing countries. PEP has prepared extensive training material with a wide variety of tools and methodologies to assist in the capacity building of researchers. This initiative substantially increases the resources that researchers can count on, and stands among the Network’s main contributions to the international development research community. 
Enabling environment
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UN Committee for Development Policy published a paper ‘Productive Capacity and Economic Growth’ in Ethiopia. This paper examines the process of building productive capacity in Ethiopia over the past two decades and the role of state, government, private sector, foreign firms, and developments in capacity strengthening. Building productive capacity refers to a nation’s ability to harness natural resources, accelerate human capital and design and improve institutions.
Enabling environment
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Strong science, technology, and innovation links between universities and industry are of critical importance to Sri Lanka as it strives to become an upper-middle-income country. This report presents an overview of current U-I collaboration in Sri Lanka by analyzing responses to a survey of companies and university departments in 2015. Data from the 2015 survey are compared with data from a similar survey in 2007 to identify trends over time. The study examines current policies to promote U-I collaboration in Sri Lanka, highlights some good practices in other countries, and suggests possible ways that Sri Lanka may be able to strengthen U-I collaboration. The report is intended primarily for policy makers in the fields of higher education, research, and innovation, as well as for researchers in companies, universities, and research institutes who are already collaborating in public-private partnerships or are planning to do so. The responses show that the majority of existing links between Sri Lankan universities and companies are short-term, informal interactions with low direct transfer of knowledge and innovation. However, the survey findings also show a growing emphasis on deeper and more demanding types of collaboration, such as joint Research and Development activities, prototype testing, and spin-offs, even though these remain relatively uncommon. Key recommendations to strengthen U-I collaboration are: As part of the national Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy 2016-2020, develop and implement a national plan to upgrade the country’s research infrastructure, in line with national research and innovation priorities. Strengthen Research and Development funding schemes for joint projects between universities/research institutes and companies, based on national and international experiences. Define and implement clear intellectual property rights rules for publicly funded research to encourage the use of research results and ensure effective and timely legal protection of intellectual property. Establish open innovation spaces and business incubators at universities and make available seed money for faculty and students to develop start-ups. Strengthen the U-I interaction cells at universities with professional expertise in technology transfer and business model development. Establish opportunities for master’s and PhD students to pursue targeted research projects in companies as part of their study.
Research and education
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This publication uses 124 case studies focusing on public-private partnerships in agricultural innovation in nine countries in Latin America. The case studies indicate that the partnership concept is used to generate agricultural innovations in many different ways, involving public research and private entities The case studies indicate that the partnership concept is used to generate agricultural innovations in many different ways, involving public research and private entities to varying degrees and focusing on different types of agricultural products, processing, or marketing.
Business and enterprise
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RAAIS is a multi-method toolkit that combines qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis techniques. RAAIS facilitates interaction between stakeholders (e.g. farmers, NGOs/civil society, the private sector, government and researchers).
General
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A recent research brief by International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) describes its capacity strengthening efforts as part of a project entitled “Reducing disease risks and improving food safety in smallholder pig value chains in Vietnam” (PigRisk) launched in August 2012. PigRisk was designed to build capacity in assessing and managing health risks of smallholders in the pig value chain; and in strengthening collaboration between disciplines. The brief highlights the approach, as well as some key outcomes achieved in building capacity and collaboration.
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The Regional Strategic Analysis and Knowledge Support System (ReSAKSS) supports the successful implementation of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) by providing policy-relevant data; facilitating dialogue among stakeholders; monitoring progress in reviewing goals; and strengthening mutual accountability processes at continental, regional, and national levels.
Enabling environment
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The Regional Strategic Analysis and Knowledge Support System for Asia (ReSAKSS-Asia) is being facilitated by IFPRI with the goal of mobilizing research to inform policies that reduce poverty and hunger in Asia. It accomplishes this through the creation and strengthening of a regional network of food policy researchers, analysts, and development practitioners to make research results, data, and information readily available to policy makers.
Enabling environment
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Capacity building and training services that enable cooperatives and other social and solidarity economy (SSE) enterprises to become more competitive and sustainable in the marketplace
Bridging Institutions
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Agricultural research for development has made important contributions to poverty reduction and food security over the last 40 years. Nevertheless, it is likely that both the speed of global change and its impacts on natural and socio-economic systems are being under-estimated. Coupled with the moral imperative to justify the use of public resources for which there are multiple, competing claims, research for development needs to become more effective and efficient in terms of contributing towards longer-term development goals. Currently there is considerable debate about the ways in which this may be achieved. Here we describe an approach based on theory of change. This includes a monitoring, evaluation and learning system that combines indicators of progress in research along with indicators of change aimed at understanding the factors that enable or inhibit the behavioural changes that can bring about development impacts. Theory of change represents our best understanding of how engagement and learning can enable change as well as how progress towards outcomes might be measured. We describe the application of this approach and highlight some key lessons learned. Although robust evidence is currently lacking, a theory of change approach appears to have considerable potential to achieve impacts that balance the drive to generate new knowledge in agricultural research with the priorities and urgency of the users and beneficiaries of research results, helping to bridge the gap between knowledge generation and development outcomes.
Enabling environment
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Farmers in developing countries need a range of skills in order to improve their livelihoods. They need to get organized into groups, understand how to use their natural resources in a sustainable way, and market their produce profitably and effectively. They also need to manage their finances, save money and organize credit, all while identifying, testing and adopting innovations. Together, these are Skills for Marketing and Rural Transformation (SMART Skills). They enable a group of farmers to make the most of their resources. This manual introduces field agents, extension workers and program managers to the SMART Skills approach.
Bridging institutions
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This study aims to understand better the processes of capacity development and to provide some good practice to guide IDA programming, particularly at the operational level. The study was included in the workplan of the Network on Governance and Capacity Development (Govnet) of the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee (DAC). Funding came from the Govnet members (see Acknowledgments), the country organizations participating in the case work, and ECDPM itself. The agreed purposes of the study were: 1) to enhance understanding of the interrelationships among capacity, change and performance across a wide range of development experiences; and 2) to provide general recommendations and frameworks to support the effectiveness of external interventions aimed at improving capacity and performance. The study was thus intended to provide some new perspectives on capacity issues. First, it was to use an endogenous perspective of capacity – how capacity develops from within – rather than looking only at what outsiders, usually international agencies, can do to induce it. This implied considering external contributions as only an influence rather than the entry point of the research. Second, the study was to bring in ideas from the capacity literature beyond that produced by the international development community. Third, the study was to provide evidence of good practice in developing capacity.

Research and education
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This study identifies entry points for innovation for sustainable intensification of agricultural systems. An agricultural innovation systems approach is used to provide a holistic image of (relations between) constraints faced by different stakeholder groups, the dimensions and causes of these constraints, and intervention levels, timeframes and types of innovations needed. Our data shows that constraints for sustainable intensification of agricultural systems are mainly of economic and institutional nature. Constraints are caused by the absence, or poor functioning of institutions such as policies and markets, limited capabilities and financial resources, and ineffective interaction and collaboration between stakeholders. Addressing these constraints would mainly require short- and middle-term productivity and institutional innovations, combined with middle- to long-term NRM innovations across farm and national levels. Institutional innovation (e.g. better access to credit, services, inputs and markets) is required to address 69% of the constraints for sustainable intensification in the Central Africa Highlands. This needs to go hand in hand with productivity innovation (e.g. improved knowhow of agricultural production techniques, and effective use of inputs) and NRM innovation (e.g. targeted nutrient applications, climate smart agriculture). Constraint network analysis shows that institutional innovation to address government constraints at national level related to poor interaction and collaboration will have a positive impact on constraints faced by other stakeholder groups. We conclude that much of the R4D investments and innovation in the Central Africa Highlands remain targeting household productivity at farm level. Reasons for that include (1) a narrow focus on sustainable intensification, (2) institutional mandates and pre-analytical choices based project objectives and disciplinary bias, (3) short project cycles that impede work on middle- and long-term NRM and institutional innovation, (4) the likelihood that institutional experimentation can become political, and (5) complexity in terms of expanded systems boundaries and measuring impact.
Research and Education
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This review puts more emphasis on the qualitative evidence provided by the studies, as there is a general concern about the availability and robustness of the quantitative evidence. Studies report a lack of robust data obtained through monitoring and evaluation (M&E) or impact assessments which makes it difficult to measure impact and compare objectively different capacity strengthening interventions. Nevertheless, many lessons were reported on the range of factors that influence capacity strengthening outcomes and impact.
Research and education
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Systems Practice provides a method to push beyond the immediate problems to see the underlying patterns, the ways we may leverage the system, and how we can learn and adapt as the system continues to change. It doesn’t make these challenges any less complex, but it gives us a way to embrace that complexity and work toward a healthier system. Systems practice is both a specific methodology, as defined in this workbook, and a more general approach to grappling with adaptive problems in complex environments with the aim of making enduring social change at scale.
Networks and systems
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TAPipedia, developed within the context of Tropical Agriculture Platform (TAP), is an information sharing system designed to enhance knowledge exchange in support of Capacity Development (CD) for Agricultural Innovation Systems (AIS). TAPipedia aims to be a global information system for good CD practices, innovation outputs, success stories and lesson learned. TAPipedia allows TAP partners and other stakeholders to share their own applied and context specific CD for Agricultural Innovation Systems (AIS) resources and to discover such knowledge from different sources, partners and regions. TAPipedia also assists TAP members to present, explain and promote the Common Framework on CD for AIS, so that it may be more easily tested, improved, adopted and implemented by stakeholders.
Networks and systems
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The MSP Guide provides a practical framework for the design and facilitation of these collaborative processes that work across the boundaries of business, government, civil society, and science. The guide links the underlying rationale for multi-stakeholder partnerships, with a clear four-phase process model, a set of seven core principles, key ideas for facilitation and 60 participatory tools for analysis, planning and decision making.
Research and education
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USAID’s Program Cycle Operational Policy (ADS 201) provides guidance to missions and other operating units on how to implement the Program Cycle. A key principle of the Program Cycle is to “Promote Sustainability through Local Ownership.” The purpose of this Technical Note is to describe the “5Rs Framework”, a practical methodology for supporting sustainability and local ownership in projects and activities through ongoing attention to local actors and local systems. This Technical Note is divided in two parts. The first part provides an introduction to the 5Rs Framework and the systems practice from which it emerges. The second part demonstrates how systems practice can be embedded in the Program Cycle by continuously applying the 5Rs, especially to the design, implementation, and monitoring of USAID projects and their accompanying activities.
General
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MSU's Facilitation toolbox is designed to help practitioners develop online courses by using facilitation techniques that affect learning. This toolkit can be used by practitioners to build and sustain audiences.
General
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A food systems approach (FSA) is a useful interdisciplinary conceptual framework for research and policy aimed at sustainable solutions for the sufficient supply of healthy food. This report discusses FSA as a means of analysing the relationships between the different parts of the food system and the outcomes of activities within the system in socio-economic and environmental/climate terms. Feedback loops are a distinguishing factor in systems thinking: they occur between parts of the food chain (production, processing, distribution and consumption) and from the socio-economic and environmental outcomes of food production and consumption (such as food security and soil depletion) back to that production and consumption. The FSA sheds light on non-linear processes in the food system, and on possible trade-offs between policy objectives. Systems thinking also broadens the perspective when seeking solutions for the root causes of problems such as poverty, malnutrition and climate change. The framework offers at least three benefits. First, it provides a checklist of topics that should at the very least be addressed when it comes to improving food security, certainly in relation to other policy objectives. Second, FSA helps to map the impact of environmental and climate changes on food security by pointing to the various vulnerabilities of the food system. In that sense the approach can contribute to the search for possibilities for strengthening the system’s resilience to climate changes. Third, it helps to determine the most limiting factors for achieving food security, and hence identify effective interventions aimed at improving food security.
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This study investigates the diversity in impact of innovation platforms (IPs) on agricultural networks and technology adoption among 1200 households in nine sub-Saharan Africa countries. We explore the extent to which the 32 IPs implemented adopted the Integrated Agricultural Research for Development Approach (IAR4D). We find that IPs implemented according to the IAR4Dness principles are better at promoting networks of households with other farmers within villages. We find that IPs with more active members were more successful in promoting agricultural technologies, while IPs with many different stakeholders were less successful in promoting agricultural technologies.
Research and Education
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This compilation of 60 tools is an companion to The MSP Guide, the Wageningen University & Research CDI resource on how to design and facilitate effective multi-stakeholder partnerships. This guide provides a practical framework for the design and facilitation of collaborative processes that work across the boundaries of business, government, civil society and science.
Networks and systems
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The System Improvement Process was developed from scratch to solve large-scale difficult social problems, especially the sustainability problem. The process provides problem solvers with a ""fill in the blanks"" framework that makes work much more focused and efficient.
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The Common Framework developed by the Tropical Agriculture Platform (TAP) proposes a practical approach to Capacity Development (CD) for Agricultural Innovation that aims at harmonizing, through an Agricultural Innovation Systems (AIS ) perspective, the diversity of existing strategies. The Framework provides concepts, principles, methodologies and tools to better understand the architecture of AIS, to assess CD needs and to plan, implement, monitor and evaluate CD interventions.
Networks and systems
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Many small-scale irrigation systems are characterized by low yields and deteriorating infrastructure. Interventions often erroneously focus on increasing yields and rehabilitating infrastructure. Small-scale irrigation systems have many of the characteristics of complex socio-ecological systems, with many different actors and numerous interconnected subsystems. However, the limited interaction between the different subsystems and their agents prevents learning and the emergence of more beneficial outcomes. This article reports on using Agricultural Innovation Platforms to create an environment in which irrigation scheme actors can engage, experiment, learn and build adaptive capacity to increase market-related offtake and move out of poverty.
Networks and systems
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FAO released a manual focusing on Nutrition-Sensitive Agriculture and Food Systems. This manual provides a list of food system-based intervention options that have a great potential to improve nutrition. This manual supplements previously published toolkit published by FAO. The toolkit is a comprehensive package of guidance on how to design, implement, monitor and evaluate nutrition-sensitive food and agriculture policies and programs.
General
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Tools for Development draws together a range of techniques designed to help DFID officers and others undertake development activities and interventions of any size and kind. This is a manual from which to pick and choose: you may need to employ different skills at different times or several skills at the same time. Some are more likely to be employed at the outset, or in the design stage. Some skills may be employed once; others will need to be revisited and may be revised as the activity or intervention continues. And the skills and techniques you start out with may need to be added to as you progress.
General
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This paper presents an innovative empirical research tool (""Net-Map"") developed to better understand multistakeholder governance by gathering in-depth information about governance networks, goals of actors, and their power and influence. Researchers and implementers alike can use Net-Map to collect qualitative and quantitative information in a structured and comparable way. It can be used both as a research tool and as an instrument for organizational development and strategic network planning
Networks and systems
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TANGO International published a study on how development program implementers use research results and findings. The findings are based on evaluations of integrated agriculture and nutrition programs, online surveys and in-depth interviews with staff from about 40 organizations from around the world. A key recommendation of the study is to increase the focus on building the capacity of staff working in international organizations to effectively use research findings.
Research and education
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Net-Map is a participatory influence network mapping method based on social network analysis and power mapping. This pen-and-paper method helps those involved in or observing agricultural innovation to determine and discuss who the actors are, how they are linked, how influential they are, what their goals are, and what the crucial bottlenecks and opportunities are. Net-Map is useful for understanding complex, dynamic situations in which multiple actors influence each other and the outcome. It can be used for an initial assessment of an innovation system and can also help to monitor the innovation system’s development over time.
Networks and systems
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Pressures on business to operate sustainably are increasing. This requires companies to adopt a systemic approach that seeks to integrate consideration of the three dimensions of sustainability – social, environmental, and economic – in a manner that generates shared value creation for all stakeholders including the environment and society. This is referred to as sustainable business thinking. The business model concept offers a framework for system-level innovation for sustainability and provides the conceptual linkage with the activities of the firm such as design, production, supply chains, partnerships, and distribution channels. A value mapping tool has been presented in the literature to assist in sustainable business model innovation. This study explores the use of value mapping for broader sustainable business thinking, by reflection on its use in workshop settings. A range of new applications is identified which is expected to be of interest to business practitioners, policy makers, and academic researchers.
Business and enterprise
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Through an application to the Malawian legume sector, this study introduces value network analysis (VNA) in food and agriculture as an analytical tool to map complex systems and identify how value is co-created in networks or, alternatively, where opportunities for value co-creation lie. Relative to other common analytical tools in use, VNA contributes to better understanding systems complexity in terms of 1) how large sets of interdependencies among actors in a system generate value through resource complementarity and 2) how multiple actors influence the overall system by taking independent decisions. In the case of the Malawian legume sector, results from VNA shows how business actors respond to institutional and policy issues constraining innovation. Large legume traders/processors and farmers’ input suppliers alternate competitive behaviors with resource complementarity with multiple network members – for example, to coordinate market information systems, design common storage infrastructures or pressure the government. Along with business actors, results from VNA also provide implications to other “institutional entrepreneurs”, that is, to other actors in the system that – even with less resources and power at hand, such as local universities and international organizations – seek to change the systems that they are embedded in through resource-based partnerships.
Networks and systems
Resource