Linking science with policy: the importance of incorporating clear roles for knowledge brokers into research-for-development organizations

Agriculture and food systems research and international development work will not proceed at the necessary speed without clear attention to the role of knowledge brokers within science-policy-practice interfaces. For research to be taken up and incorporated in policy frameworks, knowledge brokering is essential. Scaling of research for development findings will happen through other impact pathways as well, such as development of business models with the private sector, but development and implementation of robust and coherent policies informed by credible evidence is necessary for institutionalizing the work of agriculture and food systems research. Such policies are needed at multiple levels, and knowledge brokers are needed at these different levels as well. Examples of the importance of knowledge brokers in agricultural research for development from the livestock sector and its interaction with the climate change arena are used to illustrate this call for more attention to knowledge brokering

Implementing Nationally Determined Contribution Commitments in Agriculture (NDC4AG) Training package overview

Tri-fold brochure describing the training materials available online for implementing NDCs in the agriculture sector. The training materials were funded by Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) as part of the CAADP support programme with the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) and carried out in partnership with the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) and the Africa Group of Negotiators Expert Support (AGNES)

Report from Kenya’s Climate Smart Agriculture Multi-Stakeholder Platform (CSA MSP) Livestock Learning Platform meeting

The Programme for Climate-Smart Livestock Systems (PCSL) is an initiative designed to enable key actors in the livestock sector to increasingly include climate change adaptation and mitigation in their farming practices, sector strategies and investment projects. PCSL is financed by GIZ and commissioned by the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany. GIZ has commissioned the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and the World Bank to implement the programme activities. ILRI’s programme activities are based in Kenya, Ethiopia and Uganda. One of the PCSL activities has been the creation of national Learning Platforms to support information exchange and dissemination of research findings to the relevant stakeholders. The Learning Platforms bring stakeholders together quarterly to discuss various topics. Due to the Covid- 19 pandemic and the resulting restrictions on travel and in-person gatherings, these meetings are now taking place online. In Kenya, the Learning Platform is operating through the existing Climate Smart Agriculture Multi- Stakeholder Platform (CSA MSP). A meeting held on Wednesday, 21st April 2021 showcased a presentation of a recent report on how the livestock sub-sector can be enhanced in the country’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), new research findings to support development of country specific emissions factors from sheep and goats in Western Kenya, and a sneak preview of adaptation tracking protocols for the livestock sector that are under development (see Annex 1 for the full agenda). More than 40 participants were online for the session, representing ILRI, the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Cooperatives (MOAFLC), non-governmental and civil society organizations, and private sector companies (see Annex 2 for a list of participants)

Report on regional learning platform webinar series

The Programme for Climate-Smart Livestock Systems (PCSL) is an initiative designed to enable key actors in the livestock sector to increasingly include climate change adaptation and mitigation in their farming practices, sector strategies and investment projects. PCSL is financed by GIZ and commissioned by the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany. GIZ has commissioned the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and the World Bank to implement the programme activities. ILRI’s programme activities are based in Kenya, Ethiopia and Uganda. One of the activities included the creation of national Learning Platforms for the purposes of information exchange and dissemination of research findings. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the resulting restrictions on travel and in-person gatherings, ILRI adjusted its plans for the national Learning Platforms. ILRI organized a series of three online meetings held with stakeholders from all three countries over a three-week period starting on 30th July 2020

AICCRA Continental Level Stakeholder Consultation Report

This report presents the findings of continental level stakeholder consultations conducted by the Policy theme of AICCRA during the month of September 2023. We undertook these consultations to gather inputs from stakeholders and feed them into the design process of the AICCRA Additional Financing (AF). Conversations with stakeholders focused on understanding the challenges faced, the opportunities presented and the priorities for AICCRA’s AF from various stakeholder perspectives. The main challenges noted were an overall need for longer term funding from African development partners, the lack of political stability in West Africa and issues related to cascading transboundary climate risks. Various opportunities that were mentioned included providing embedded support to African institutes, engaging policy makers from initial stages of project design to get buy in and support during implementation and increasing collaboration with existing partners to work in different countries where they have presence. Some of the major priorities highlighted included focusing more on youth groups, improving access to finance and giving more emphasis to medium and late-stage agri-businesses and shifting from government-led to farmer-led initiatives

Revisiting household coordinates for CCAFS Baseline in the initial regions: East Africa, West Africa and Indo-Gangetic Plains

In 2010-2012, the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) implemented a baseline in 15 sites across three initial target regions: East Africa, West Africa and Indo-Gangetic Plains. The baseline was setup in such a way that the households selected could be a revisited after five and ten years. The aim is to track behavioral change over time in each of the sites by collecting agricultural and household data. Through analyzing the collected data, the aim is to promote a food-secure world through the provision of science-based efforts that support sustainable agriculture and enhance livelihoods while adapting to climate change and conserving natural resources and environmental services

Multireference Methods are Realistic and Useful Tools for Modeling Catalysis

Highly correlated systems, in particular those that include transition metals, are ubiquitous in catalysis. The significant static correlation found in such systems is often poorly accounted for using Kohn Sham density functional theory methods, as they are single determinantal in nature. Applications to catalysis of more rigorous and appropriate multiconfigurational methods have been reported in select instances, but their use remains rare. We discuss obstacles that hinder the routine application of multireference (MR) wave function theoretical calculations to catalytic systems and the current state of the art with respect to removing those obstacles

A comparative analysis of governance and leadership in agricultural development policy networks

Agricultural development initiatives feature many public and private organizations working together across sectors and scales to pursue the goals of food security and climate resilience. Policy networks are considered a crucial ingredient for the learning and cooperation needed to effectively implement agricultural development projects and increase community resiliency, yet very little comparative empirical data has been collected to assess where and how these networks operate. We contribute to filling this gap by characterizing the governance and leadership patterns within agricultural development policy networks that connect organizations working on climate resilience and food security activities in 14 smallholder farming communities across 11 countries in East Africa, West Africa and South Asia. We integrate theories of network governance and leadership in international development settings with social network analysis methods to analyze network structures and understand the roles of various actors working collaboratively toward agricultural development goals. We present two critical findings that advance our theoretical understanding of network governance and have implications for agricultural development policy globally. First, we find evidence for three distinct network types: shared and brokered networks, as predicted by the network governance literature, as well as a class of fragmented networks that exhibit extremely low levels of coordination at their core. Additionally, we find that while the presence of international development organizations is associated with greater overall network coordination, it is local and regional organizations that fill central network leadership positions most frequently. These findings suggest that resources may be an important factor in overcoming the cost of coordination, but social capital among local actors may be more important for developing network leadership

A review of agricultural, food security, food systems and climate change adaptation policies, institutions and actors in East Africa

Agricultural production systems in East Africa are mainly rain-fed and highly vulnerable to climate change and variability. Moreover, the smallholder subsistence production base increases the vulnerability of the agricultural sector in East Africa to climate risks. The frequency and severity of climate shocks such as drought, heat and cold stress as well as floods are increasing and likely to lead to major food crises. Governmental and nongovernmental actors in East African countries have instituted policies and programs aimed at increasing agricultural productivity, improving food security and enhancing adaptation to climate change. This paper examines the various policies, institutions and actors related to climate change adaptation, food security, food system and agricultural development in East Africa—focusing on Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. The paper combines a review of literature with key informant interviews from various actors in the four countries