The Centre for Coordination of Agricultural Research and Development for Southern Africa (CCARDESA) undertook a backstopping mission aimed at providing technical guidance towards improving the implementation of the Agricultural Productivity Programme for Southern Africa (APPSA) in the Mountain Kingdom of Lesotho.
The mission, which was undertaken from the 16th to the 19th of April 2023 with independent reviewers, is the first after the project’s Mid-Term Review (MTR) that was conducted between November and December 2022. The engagement of Independent Reviewers was to support the assessment of quality of science as well as the achievement of targets as reflected in the overall project’s results framework.
In her opening remarks, Dr Lefulesele Lebesa, the Director of the Agricultural Research (DAR) in Lesotho, acknowledge the continuous support from CCARDESA in ensuring the successful implementation of R&D sub-projects in implementing countries. She also emphasized the role and commitment of Scientists as they are the backbone of the entire APPSA project.
APPSA is a six-year World Bank funded project which is facilitating the establishment of Regional Centers of Leadership (RCoL) on Cassava and cassava-based farming systems and Horticulture and horticulture-based farming systems in Angola and Lesotho, respectively. Angola and Lesotho are implementing 43 collaborative Research and Development (R&D) subprojects.
In Lesotho, the backstopping mission included field visits to Mafeteng, Leribe and Quthing where reviewers had an opportunity to engage with scientists, extension officers, technicians, farmers, and other stakeholders involved in the implementation of APPSA’s on-going R&D sub-projects. Independent reviewers were able to provide technical recommendations to Scientists leading R&D sub-projects on various topics.
The preliminary observations from Independent Reviewers suggests that scientists have managed to catch up in critical areas of R&D implementation such as design and application of clear research protocols and field data collection. However, there is still room for improvement in the collaboration among scientists from the two implementing countries (Lesotho and Angola). It is worth noting that APPSA in Angola and Lesotho is expected to close by January 2025, hence Scientists were advised to work around the clock to finish all planned activities within the project lifetime as recommended by the MTR.
Besides the implementation of R&D subprojects, the mission discussed other project related topics such as Finance, Procurement, Environmental and Social Safeguards, Monitoring and Evaluation as well as Information, Communication and Knowledge Management.
