Development of a national capacity for rural innovation in Mali

Context

With the involvement of ICRA in the regional IFDC-CASE project (1000s+ Project) in 2006, a link was established with the NIP and the IFDC project management. The NIP supported IFDC in setting up a farmer-led committee that plays a key role in the governance of the IFDC project in Mali. This committee, the Comité de pilotage 1000s+ comprises six of the nine member institutions that form the NIP and is headed by the national level association of farmer organisations AOPP. The committee organises workshops and field visits, selects priority agribusiness clusters and develops plans for R&D activities focussed on these clusters.

Since 2009, ICRA has been associated in 1 2-year pilot stage of the Africa Rice Center's RAP Project (Realizing Agricultural Potential of inland valley lowlands in sub-Saharan Africa) of the Consortium for the Sustainable Development of Inland Valley Agro-ecosystems (IVC), to be executed in Benin and Mali. Wageningen International and ICRA are involved in the implementation of multi stakeholder platforms and the facilitation of the first activities and planning processes, including the interaction between MSPs and researchers. For details on this partnership, see the Africa Rice Center partnership page.

Objectives

Achievements to date

• In 2005, a National Innovation Platform (NIP) was established to lead the development of a programme for capacity strengthening of Mali’s agricultural research and development institutions in ARD. The NIP includes representatives from public research and extension services (IER, IPR, DNA); NGOs (ADAF-Gallé); farmer organisations (AOPP, UNCPM, APCAM, APROFA); and processors (FENATRA).
• In December 2005, the NIP, in collaboration with ICRA, identified IFDC as a source of external funding to support its objectives and as an opportunity to train a core team of capacity builders (National Capacity Strengthening Team, or NCST).
• During 2005 and 2006, a concept note for ARD capacity building was developed by the NIP, with specific focus on fruits and vegetables as commodities to be developed. The concept note was refined to define strategy and objectives of the IFDC 1000s+ Project.
• In July 2006, the NIP in collaboration with the Comité de Pilotage 1000s + selected the NCST of six professionals from AOPP, IPR, DNA, ADAF-Gallé and AMED NGOs, and APCAM> The team then participated in ICRA’s 2006-2007 Francophone capacity building programme in Montpellier, France. Late 2006, this NCST set-up a co-learning and co-innovation approach with the stakeholders of the maize agribusiness cluster in Koutiala, Mali
• In January 2008, four additional professionals, coming from AOPP, IFDC, ONG - SABA (Solidarité à l'Autopromotion de la Base) and UPLK/UPLC (Union Locale de Producteurs de Céréales et de Karité), were selected by the NIP of the IFDC 1000s+ project to strengthen the NCST. They participated in the 2008 ICRA Francophone programme together with a team of Burkina Faso. The programme was spread out over the whole year and included four learning blocks composed of knowledge acquisition workshops, field work and reflexion sessions, alternated with periods during which the participants returned to their organisations

  The first block took place in Montpellier, France, the next two in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, and the final one in Sikasso, Mali. Field work was related to the support and further development of the Tiger or yellow nutsedge cluster in the Sikasso Region in Mali, within the framework of IFDC's 1000s+ project. The NCST actively facilitated self-appraisals of the stakeholders involved in the production and marketing of tiger nut and linkages between these stakeholders. In the reflection sessions, participants reviewed and analysed their experiences and lessons learned and identified options for extending their experiences within their own institutional settings. More details, see Francophone 2008 Programme.

• A three-day workshop was held in Bamako involving the full NCST and the business support services (BSS) linked to the 1000s+ project with the objective of identifying BSS capacity strengthening needs related to their role of cluster advisor.
• In 2009, in follow-up of the needs assessment, three members of the NCST were actively involved in implementing the 1000s+ training programme for BSS in Mali. Coached by ICRA, they succesfully conducted workshops on systems analysis, stakeholder identification and value chain analysis.
• The same three NCST members participated in the sub-regional preparatory workshop for the new Capacity Building programme for ARD Facilitators (Design & Management of ARD Learning) in May 2009 in Cotonou, and subsequently participated in that new programme from 21/9 to 10/10 2009 in Montpellier, France.
• RAP-IVs project: In 2009, ICRA staff co-facilitated the launching workshops in Sikasso in March and, with WI staff, interacted with project managements to develop common action plans. In Benin, NCST members played a considerable role in the identification of provisional MSP members and in the co-facilitation of workshops and meetings. For details on this partnership, see the Africa Rice Center partnership page.