This paper has been prepared under the guidelines provided by the TAP Secretariat at the FAO, as a contribution to the G20 initiative TAP, which includes near 40 partners and is facilitated by FAO. Its purpose is to provide a Regional synthesis report on capacity needs assessment for agricultural innovation, with capacity gaps identified and analyzed, including recommendations to strengthen agricultural innovation systems (AIS) and draft policy recommendations to address the capacity gaps.
The Action Planning is a tool that formalizes commitments and plots the route to their implementation. An action plan is intended for the use of the core actors, who will have been identified beforehand in the visioning phase. It determines who does what and when, and is therefore essential to ensuring that things get done and that the goals and visions set out in the capacity development strategy are achieved.
This tool was designed to assess innovation capacities, identify strengths and weaknesses and monitor capacity changes over time. The scoring tool makes it clear which functional capacities are going to be needed to promote, lead or successfully participate in innovation processes. The tool evaluates capacities on the basis of 21 indicators (each of which is graded on a scale from 0 (low capacity) to 3 (high capacity), and build on the key innovation capacities identified in the capacity needs assessment.
Social Network Analysis is a practical and useful tool that looks at the linkages present in an innovation network and monitors their development over time. It maps the relationships between the stakeholders in the network and highlights the changes between them.
The visioning process brings together representatives of actor groups within the agricultural innovation systems (AIS) to build on their common understanding of AIS and the need for a coordinated approach. The process involves a wide spectrum of interested parties including ministries, legislative bodies and representatives of the private sector plus development partners and civil society.
The design of capacity development interventions is a crucial phase in the capacity development (CD) for agricultural innovation systems (AIS) cycle of the TAP Common Framework. Intervention planning follows from and builds on the visioning exercises and needs assessments carried out beforehand. Options for CD interventions will depend on the country context, ongoing programmes and funding opportunities. Prioritization should also include identification of activities that can take off immediately.
On 5 May 2018, the Association for Integrated Development of the Altiplano became formally established, and avocado farmers celebrated. “Today, we are so happy to have consolidated our consortium of eight producer associations from different municipalities in Sololá” explains Don Andrés, community leader and lifelong farmer. “Farmers from San Andrés Semetabaj and other communities around Lake Atitlán began to talk about growing a new variety of avocado some time ago. But since the CDAIS project came, so many things have changed.
This tool helps the design of comprehensive capacity development interventions aimed at strengthening mainly functional capacities. The purpose of this tool is to provide an overview of the different options in terms of capacity development modalities that an innovation partnership can consider while developing the action plan.
The ‘dry corridor’ is a region of guatemala that covers part of the departments of Baja Verapaz, Zacapa, El Progreso, Jalapa, Chiquimula, Jutiapa and Santa Rosa. It is vulnerable to drought and, in some parts, communities lack food security, with a high level of extreme poverty. Malnutrition is a significant problem, especially among young children and their mothers.
There have been clear changes in Guatemala and, according to those involved, outcomes exceeded expectations. These have resulted from the strengthening of functional capacities across individual, partnership, organisational and national levels, using processes that have evolved since the CDAIS project began in 2015. Of the four selected innovation niche partnerships in the country, the conversations here explore the experiences of avocado producers in Sololá, led by AIDA, the Association for the Integral Development of the Altiplano.