Manual

This Governance Manual is a guide to CCARDESA’s governance institutions (Ministers responsible for Agriculture and Food Security, the General Assembly, CCARDESA Board of Directors and CCARDESA Secretariat) in the conduct of their responsibilities and duties. It is also a reference document for all CCARDESA stakeholders who wish to know how CCARDESA is governed. It assures development partners that CCARDESA observes the principles of good governance to which they are bound in allocating their resources.

Implementation of the CCARDESA MTOP is expected to have a positive impact on the environment by supporting the development and dissemination of agricultural technologies that promote sustainable use of land and water. The MTOP will also contribute towards reducing the vulnerability of poor rural households to climate shocks by promoting the adoption of climate smart agricultural practices. There is no doubt that CCARDESA’s footprint could be significant if no measures were put in place to guide the social and environmental responsibility of the work conducted in the sub-region.

This Manual is a guide for the operation of the CCARDESA grant system. The contents in this document have been written and arranged in a manner which is intended for use internally and externally by the respondents as well as any other interested stakeholders. The manual endeavours to explain the processes to be followed in order to make the grant system as transparent and efficient as possible. All CCARDESA stakeholders in SADC Member States, financiers and respondents to the calls must have confidence that the process of selecting and allocating resources is the most efficient. Detailed annexes are provided to give additional information, guidelines and formats to ensure the preparation of proposals is standardised and evaluation is made easy.

The purpose of this Finance Manual is to provide Accounting and Financial Control guidelines to all staff at CCARDESA, particularly the Finance and Administration staff in implementing financial management and preparing CCARDESA’s statutory financial statements for the fiscal year and other reports. Further, it will serve as a guide to the day to-day finance and accounting policies and procedures.

This Procurement Manual provides guidance to the Centre for Coordination of Agricultural Research and Development for Southern Africa (CCARDESA) Secretariat members of staff, CCARDESA sub-grantees and ultimately the CCARDESA’s Board of Directors in the conduct of their roles, responsibilities and duties regarding procurement under CCARDESA. It is also a reference document for all CCARDESA stakeholders who wish to know the procurement policy and procedures governing procurement of goods, works and services under CCARDESA. It assures development partners that CCARDESA observes internationally accepted best practice principles of transparency and competitiveness in allocating their resources.

This global overview is useful but it’s also important to understand whether there are differences in threats between different geographic regions and whether similar species are affected by them in different ways. The Living Planet Index, a rich source of this information, can tell us about threats at the species population level. This more granular level of data has already highlighted different responses in different species of penguins in western Antarctica.

The Living Planet Index also tracks the state of global biodiversity by measuring the population abundance of thousands of vertebrate species around the world. The latest index shows an overall
decline of 60% in population sizes between 1970 and 2014. Species population declines are especially pronounced in the tropics, with South and Central America suffering the most dramatic decline, an 89% loss compared to 1970. Freshwater species numbers have also declined dramatically, with the Freshwater Index showing an 83% decline since 1970. But measuring biodiversity – all the varieties of life that can be found on Earth and their relationships to each other – is complex, so this report also explores three other indicators measuring changes in species distribution, extinction risk and changes in community composition. All these paint the same picture – showing severe declines or changes.

This report covers activities implemented in 2017 under the five thematic areas of the CCARDESA Revised Medium Term Operational Plan of CCARDESA (2015-2018).

Under the Thematic Area for Farmer Empowerment and Market Access, CCARDESA Secretariat initiated a review of agricultural policies and extension strategies of countries in the region to assess the extent to which countries have mainstreamed climate change adaptation into their policies and strategies. Based on observed gaps, some Member States such as Botswana, Malawi and Zimbabwe were engaged to facilitate their mainstreaming of climate change adaptation into their national policy and agricultural programmes

Climate change preparedness workshops can be held quarterly (every three months) for members of a group wanting to explore and engage with weather patterns, climate variability and change and related possible adaptation options. We suggest limiting the workshops to a few hours (for example starting early in the morning and closing with lunch for all participants). Ensure that the process of the workshop is geared to foster reflection and learning. Including interactive exercises that help people engage in a safe space is crucial. The workshop should be designed to fit the local context and should address and explore topics that really matter to people in the group. For inspiration regarding workshop elements you can explore the exercises described in this compilation of cards and place them in an order that would make sense to the group. Ensure that you vary energizers and more contents based exercises.

The Climate Information Portal (CIP) is a web interface operated by the Climate System Analysis Group (CSAG), at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. The portal, which currently provides climate information for Africa and Asia, integrates climate information into a user-friendly map and graph-based interface. The information comes from a climate database that stores a large suite of observed climate data as well as projections of future climate.

Le manuel cible les acteurs de l’IP, notamment les services techniques, projets et programmes, qui peuvent s’inspirer éventuellement des pratiques utilisées par d’autres intervenants. Il sert d’orientation aux nouveaux acteurs leur permettant d’identifier les pratiques utilisées avec succès. Ce manuel devra aussi orienter les services de l’État et les PTF dans la conception de nouveaux projets et programmes. Finalement, le manuel des bonnes pratiques permettra aux acteurs du Mali de partager leur savoir-faire avec les autres pays à l’intérieur et au-delà de la sous-région.