Research and Development (R&D), Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E), and Communication are some of the key topics that were covered during the workshops facilitated by CCARDESA which ran from 25th to 26th November, 2019 in Johannesburg prior to the hosting of APPSA End of Project Conference.
The purpose of this string of workshops was for the APPSA Communication Focal Points to track the achievements and successes scored during the six year Agricultural Productivity Programme for Southern Africa (APPSA) project implementation as well as edit and fine tune knowledge products to be used beyond the project.
The communication team also worked on regional policy briefs, brochures, booklets, factsheets and leaflets on the agricultural technologies developed under APPSA phase 1.
On the other hand, The Monitoring and Evaluation team discussed means of delivering a Management Information System that is functional, with data that is verifiable and reflects project achievements as it obtains on the ground.
Specifically the team reviewed the Akvo RSR monitoring and reporting structure against the country results frameworks (Focusing on Indicator baseline values, targets, definitions and actuals).
Akvo, is a user friendly, web-based system that allows the user to store data on indicators, aggregate data across projects, track progress, capture success stories, report on results, and communicate impact towards stakeholders. The system is flexible and allows for scaling up for the use of other countries that may join APPSA in the near future.
The research and development team went a step further to facilitate the development of proposals in which six scientists from Lesotho and two officers from CCARDESA participated.
CCARDESA believes that the development of realistic and technically sound proposals is the genesis for achieving the aspiration of improving agricultural production, productivity and profitability amongst SADC stakeholders hence their active participation.
The APPSA End of Project Conference is slated for 27th to 29th November, 2019 in Johannesburg with the purpose of providing a forum for research and development practitioners to present and discuss outputs from the APPSA research, innovations, best practices in agriculture and lessons learnt.
APPSA is a World Bank funded project based on partnerships and collaborations involving Malawi which is leading on maize, Mozambique leading on rice and Zambia on legume based research.
Although January 31st 2019 marks the end of APPSA phase 1, more countries such as Lesotho and Angola are expected to join the project with the former concentrating on horticulture and the latter on cassava, respectively.
