Projects
Projects
The Association NATURA supports joint projects for research or development training in all areas related to Tropical and Subtropical Agriculture. These projects are normally undertaken by NATURA members and our developing country partners, usually with support from international and donor agencies. NATURA projects include building joint training modules, undertaking joint research projects, publishing learning materials, evaluating international projects, building institutional capacity and promoting student/staff mobility. NATURA promotes its projects after evaluations by the Board and/or special committees. The NATURA label is given to the most significant projects, whose results are evaluated in accordance with NATURA quality assurance criteria
NATURA current projects in 2008:
Research:
- People 2008 - preparation of the project
- Participation to the Sub Saharan Africa Challenge Programme
Training and education:
- European Master AGRIS MUNDUS on Sustainable Development in Agriculture
- Master course in South-East Asia on Integrated Management of Natural Resources and Agricultural Development (INRAD)
- European Master of professional studies:
- Stakeholders in Rural Development
- Processing of Food Tropical Products
- Rural Development and Projects
- ERASMUS MUNDUS External Cooperation Window - preparation of projects
Provision of Expertise
- Monitoring of European Union funded CGIAR Research projects
Cooperation:
- The platform for African - European partnership on agricultural research for development (PAEPARD)
24.11.2004 - The monitoring of the CGIAR projects
TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR MONITORING OF THE CGIAR PROJECTS CO-FUNDED BY THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION IN 2003 IN A.C.P., ASIA, LATIN AMERICA AND THE MEDITERRANEAN REGIONS1) BACKGOUND
Investments in agricultural research are needed in order to develop the most appropriate agricultural technologies, management strategies and policies for sustainable development. Environmentally and socially responsible increases in agricultural productivity and diversification of agriculturally based livelihood options, will enable developing countries to take advantage of new opportunities offered by national, regional and world markets. The CGIAR established in the early Seventies, aims at contributing to food security and poverty eradication in developing countries through strategic research, research partnerships, capacity building and policy advice.
Europe has been involved in the CGIAR since its beginning in 1971 and it represents now the most important share of the overall funding (about 45% of the annual CGIAR budget of roughly 400 M€). The EC, as one of the largest EU contributor (about 22 M€ in 2003), has a vital interest to participate in the strategy formulation and agenda setting of the CGIAR, including current discussions for policy and institutional reform. In order to provide a solid basis for continued support, the elements of a strategy for EU‘s investments in the CGIAR have been formulated (Annex 1).
EC resources are allocated to a defined number of CGIAR projects that are generally co-funded by several donors. Budgets and work-plans are proposed by Centres, reviewed by the CGIAR Science Council, and examined / endorsed by the CGIAR Members for funding each year for the following year. Pledges are then made at the end of the calendar year at the latest with advance payments due at the beginning of the following year. Annual donor commitments are made against a budget on a project basis, in principle without any breakdown for each individual donor. At the end of each budget period, Centres provide detailed financial reports for each donor. The annual allocations of EC funds to specific projects may vary from one year to another, as a consequence of changing priorities in the wake of the CGIAR restructuring and reform process. However, a lot of attention is given to ensure continuity in the EC support provided to selected projects. The methodology for selecting the projects to be supported by the EC annually and the resource allocation mechanism is described in Annex 2. The detailed list of programmes / projects targeted by EC funding through the “Food Security and Food Aid” budget line in 2003 is given in Annex 3. A "sample" will be subject to the present monitoring exercise.
OBJECTIVES
The monitoring exercise is clearly foreseen in the Financing Proposal endorsed by the EU Member States in May 2002. Its main purpose is to review the progress made by the selected projects according to their milestones (as described in the medium-term plan of the respective Centres) and to evaluate accordingly the possible need of reorienting the EC funding to these projects in the coming years. More specifically, the experts will assess mainly, as defined below, the relevance, efficiency and effectiveness of each of the EC supported projects selected for monitoring, and particularly with regard to the EC support strategy for the CGIAR and to the needs of targeted partners. The expertise has to be regarded as a monitoring exercise rather than a full project evaluation per-se. The consultants need to take a broader look than a single year time frame. In addition, since not all outputs from a particular project are necessary dependent on EC funding, it might be necessary to examine components of projects that were not directly linked to EC-funding.For that purpose, it will be necessary to examine, among others, the following issues:
At the level of the projects:
- Is the project designed with the participation of intended beneficiaries and in response to their specific and defined needs?
- Does the project effectively focus on small-scale farmers’ needs?
- Is it likely to contribute to food security and rural poverty alleviation?
- Will the project contribute to improving knowledge and techniques, as well as ensuring their adaptation and adoption by the NARS and target groups?
- Are dimensions such as social, economic, local and personal producer strategies for food security and the environment taken into account?
- Are the project objectives relevant to current ARD state of the art and does the project not replicate known research?
- Is the team best placed to conduct research on the proposed issues?- Do the individual scientists or teams involved have the necessary capabilities to carry out the project?
- Are adequate scientific, technical and social partnerships implemented?
- Does the project promote inter-institutional co-operation with other stakeholders?
- Can the equipment and methods to be employed in the project lead to the expected results?
- Are the work programme, budget, human resources and timetable, as well as management procedures, adequate to achieve the expected results of the project?
- Are proper monitoring and evaluation systems incorporated, including farmers‘ perspectives?
- In which way does the research project contribute to an (intended or ongoing) innovation process that is carried forward by private sector firms, by collective organisations in agriculture and by development agencies?
- The monitoring exercise requires an examination of project outputs in terms of reports and technical papers.
Therefore the monitoring teams should also examine the quality of such reports, along with the usefulness of the project logical framework and how well it has been used as a planning tool.
At the level of the Centres:
- How does the Centre support the project and ensure the quality control of their activities?
- Is the support process enforced by the Centre‘s headquarters and/or local offices to the project, efficient and adapted to its needs?
- How does the project contribute to the overall objectives of the Centres and to the CGIAR as a whole? How does it fit the general policy of the Centre and of the CGIAR?D
During the missions in countries, a visit to some EC rural development projects or projects (co-) funded by Member States or FAO and to the local NARS will be included in order to assess the synergies among the results of the research carried out by the Centres and their adoption by the beneficiaries.
SELECTED PROJECTS
A sample of projects among those co-funded in 2003 by the EC through the “Food Security and Food Aid” budget line has been selected for monitoring:
• CIMMYT: Challenge programme: Unlocking genetic diversity in crops for the resource poor (now named GENERATION – cultivating plant diversity for the resource poor)
• CLARM: project IP-3: Genetic improvement and breeding
• ICRAF: Project 1.3: Analysing and supporting policy reform
• IITA: project A: Preserving and enhancing germplasm and agro-biodiversity
• ILRI: project 4: Livestock genetics and genomics
• IPGRI: project D11: Genetic resources policy and law
• WARDA: project 1.4: Creating Low-Management Plant Types for Resource-Poor Farmers in Rain-fed Ecosystems