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| The FANRPAN Regional Stakeholders Meeting: 2-4 May 2007 |
Theme: Meeting the Demand for Effective Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis in Southern Africa
Kopanong Hotel and Conference Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa |
| 2 May 2007 |
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Meeting Proceedings
Executive Summary
The main purpose of the three-day Stakeholders’ Planning Workshop was to review and endorse FANRPAN’s 11-year (2007-2018) operational strategy ahead of the upcoming Annual General Meeting, which will approve the Business Plan. Along with the review of the strategy, the stakeholders reviewed the current FANRPAN constitution to advise on the necessary constitutional amendments that must accompany the implementation of this new strategic direction. Stakeholder endorsement was deemed critical at this stage because the strategy is based on multi-stakeholder involvement, not only in its roll-out, but also in the mobilization of the accompanying human and financial resources. The main outcome of the meeting was, thus, strong stakeholder commitment to advancing the Strategic Plan, as well as to participating actively in resource mobilization.
The planning meeting brought together 80 FANRPAN stakeholders. They represented member countries: Angola (1), Botswana (4), Lesotho (4), Malawi (4), Mauritius (3), Mozambique (2), Namibia (4), South Africa (3), Swaziland (3), Tanzania (3), Zambia (4) and Zimbabwe (4); CGIAR centers (CIAT, IITA, ILRI and IWMI); farmer organizations (Namibia FO, Zambia FO, SA-NAFU and SACAU); donors (USAID and Southern Africa Trust); NEPAD (1); SADC (2); AU (1); COMESA (1); partner organizations (Trade Hub, Caribbean Policy Network, FARA, HSRC, ODI); and consultants (4). The delegations from Lesotho, Mauritius, Swaziland and Zambia were led by the Permanent Secretaries of the Ministries of Agriculture, while the Malawi and Swaziland delegations included honorable members of parliament from their legislative assemblies. All country delegations included farmers, researchers and policy analysts from the national universities.
The stakeholders used the opportunity of this special meeting to celebrate FANRPAN achievements – by launching a FANRPAN 2007 publication: Silent Hunger: Policy Options for Effective Responses to the Impact of HIV and AIDS on Agriculture and Food Security in the SADC Region. It is based on FANRPAN research on the impact of HIV and AIDS in the seven most affected countries: Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The book highlights that the overall impact of the pandemic on households is “increased vulnerability” and proposes a new statistical tool – The Household Vulnerability Index (HVI) – that will replace generalizations on vulnerability with a yardstick for categorizing households. This in turn will serve as a basis for the design and targeting of new response programs.
This meeting was held in the context of an on-going FANRPAN capacity strengthening and strategic planning process that began over the 2005-2006 period, and was included in the 2006 Strategic Planning Meeting that provided inputs for the first draft strategic plan. The stakeholders were thus cognizant of the changing operational context and new realities that FANRPAN finds itself facing – five years after inception. They recognized the need for FANRPAN to re-position itself amidst new players and new national, regional and international commitments, such as the AU Agriculture and Food Security Programme, the COMESA Agricultural Plan, the FARA-FAAP, the NEPAD-CAADP, the SADC-RISDP, the SADC-MAPP and the UN-MDGs, as well as new national agricultural and poverty reduction strategies. Acknowledging that FANRPAN needs a refined strategy that will ensure that it remains relevant in this new context, the stakeholders endorsed a new three-pronged strategic direction based on triangularly-linked pillars: (1) Research – to generate evidence and options, (2) Voice – to communicate the findings and options to decision-makers and (3) Capacity building – to ensure quality research and quality communication products.
The endorsement of these three strategic pillars was based on what the stakeholders isolated as FANRPAN’s core competencies and the competitive advantage gained over the years. Activities based on these three strategic pillars will ensure that FANRPAN provides the information required by the various actors to make
strategic policy choices for expediting agricultural growth and poverty reduction in the region.
The FANRPAN research strategy will cut across four dimensions: (1) Regional integration – research geared towards harmonization of regional policies aimed at enhancing the regional integration agenda; (2) Enhancing global competitiveness – research geared towards improved access by the region to the benefits of international trade; (3) Reducing vulnerability – research geared towards a better understanding of the nature, extent and magnitude of vulnerability and deprivation in the region – especially at household level – and how these can be addressed through improved social protection programming (social assistance and social insurance); and (4) Innovation and adaptation – research geared towards ensuring a policy environment conducive to adaptation to global environmental change and the promotion of effective innovation systems.
Noting that, in order for the research outputs to provide meaningful evidence and options to the various actors and regional processes, FANRPAN must enhance its ‘voice agenda’, the stakeholders resolved that the enhanced voice strategy should cover: (1) Multi-stakeholder dialogs – using FANRPAN’s convening power to organize more national and regional dialog fora as platforms for interface between policy makers, farmer organizations, researchers, agribusiness and civil society organizations; (2) Advisory notes and policy briefs – enhancing the production and dissemination of notes and briefs articulating the policy implications and recommendations arising from FANRPAN research studies; and (3) Communication and outreach – enhancing print and electronic products designed to reach and inform the various FANRPAN publics. The stakeholders observed that there is a need for FANRPAN to mount a more ’intentional’ awareness campaign – aimed especially at increased recognition at the regional executive committee (REC) and national government level – through the identification of champions at the various levels to lead the awareness campaign. The stakeholders affirmed that this would open up opportunities for the RECs and national governments to use and fund FANRPAN as a ‘subsidiary’ organization able to undertake work on their behalf. Permanent secretaries, members of parliament and other senior policy makers present pledged to lead this campaign. They called upon the FANRPAN Secretariat to expedite the signing of key MoUs – especially with SADC – so as to tap into the funds available through the RECs.
In order to ensure quality research and communication products, the stakeholders endorsed a three-pronged capacity-building program to accompany the FANRPAN research and voice strategies: (1) Building partnerships – based on its already established niche of building synergistic partnerships – FANRPAN should continue to build strong collaborative research partnerships to ensure the highest quality research outputs; (2) Mentorships – identifying champions in the region to lead the building of a community of practice in high quality policy analysis in the region; and (3) Demand-driven and tailor-made training programs – so that the various stakeholders can enhance their use and absorption of FANRPAN outputs.
Recognizing that the main challenge FANRPAN has faced since its inception is a lack of core funds to support long-term policy research and organizational development; and recognizing that, despite this fundamental challenge, FANRPAN has maintained a robust annual portfolio of short-term commissioned research projects, all the stakeholders present pledged to take new actions towards mobilizing sufficient resources for the network. The stakeholders endorsed the proposed new long-term research portfolio and program of work, worth US$12,300,000 (76% for node level operations), over the next five years, and committed to forming a FANRPAN Trust Fund and consortium of donors that will assist FANRPAN to realize this target. The Permanent Secretaries present committed to mobilizing their respective Ministers of Agriculture, at the next SADC council of Ministers, to move to support FANRPAN (and other similar agencies) through the SADC funding framework.
The constitutional review assumed a minimalist approach and the stakeholders endorsed a minimal set of amendments, based on the changing realities and new enhanced implementation requirements, which do not alter the main frame of the constitution. The proposed amendments will be approved by the next FANRPAN AGM due in September 2007. In order to meet this proposed approval date, the stakeholders proposed several milestones: (1) legal experts should insert the amendments into the constitution and circulate it to all stakeholders; (2) a formal notice of the AGM should be sent out to all members by June 30, to meet the 60-day notice required by the constitution; (3) all the various stakeholder groupings should start sending nominations for the new Board of Governors; (4) FANRPAN’s 5-year strategic plan should be finalized and sent out to all stakeholders; (5) FANRPAN should finalize a proposal for the detailed program of work from the strategic plan; (6) FANRPAN should immediately embark on a resource mobilization exercise based on the endorsed strategic framework; and (7) FANRPAN should mobilize and invite a consortium of donors to attend the AGM in September 2007.
As a way forward, the most invaluable outcome was the concrete stakeholder commitment. The various stakeholder groupings present articulated specific actions towards actualizing the new strategy. The researchers and research organizations present pledged to take a more intentional role in the vibrant country nodes, and to lead in providing evidence on FANR issues. They committed to providing research services and disseminating results to all nodal stakeholders. They also committed to assisting FANRPAN to mobilize resources – especially for node level research activities.
The government officials and representatives present pledged to assist FANRPAN to make itself better known by national governments by present FANRPAN to key government officials in their countries who have the power to commit government funding to support FANRPAN nodal programs. The officials further committed to increased involvement in the node steering committees and pledged to help FANRPAN to improve its links and relationships with the SADC by establishing direct links with SADC national committees. They pledged to support country nodes in resource mobilization. The Permanent Secretary from Mauritius, Vishnou Gondeea, made a special commitment to apprise the Mauritius Ministers of Agriculture, Foreign Affairs, and International Trade and Cooperation about FANRPAN as soon as he arrived back in Mauritius. He promised to review and strengthen the operations of the Mauritius node immediately, and to help mobilize resources for the node. The MPs present committed to reporting back immediately to their respective parliamentary committees about the activities of FANRPAN and to assisting in lobbying government and donors to support the FANRPAN country nodes.
The farmer organizations and private sector organizations present committed to becoming voices for FANRPAN in order to increase FANRPAN visibility. They pledged to contribute case studies for all FANRPAN communication and research products, and to support all nodal resource mobilization initiatives.
All 12 country nodes committed to mobilizing resources at national level to support nodal research activities and establishing links with the SADC national committees – including exploring possibilities for representation on these committees. All 12 nodes committed to increasing awareness of FANRPAN and to
instigating activities to disseminate information about the network. All the country nodes committed specifically to mobilizing government support for nodal programs through their respective permanent secretaries. The Botswana node undertook to introduce itself to the SADC Secretariat as another way of raising the FANRPAN profile in the country; it also committed to revitalizing the node by selecting a new and broader Botswana node steering committee. The Malawi and Swaziland nodes committed to appraising the relevant parliamentary committees as a way of raising the FANRPAN profile within their parliaments. The Malawi and Lesotho nodes committed to linking up with their SADC parliamentary committees to lobby for SADC support for FANRPAN. The South Africa and Swaziland nodes committed to mobilizing their Ministers of Agriculture, to whom they have direct access, to make a motion for SADC support to FANRPAN. The Zimbabwe node committed to taking advantage of its vibrant Agricultural Community Working Group to reactivate the node. The Namibia node committed to organizing a special stakeholders conference to revitalize NEPRU’s (Namibia Economic Policy Research Unit) participation in FANRPAN activities. The Mozambique and Angola nodes indicated that their governments have already committed to supporting their FANRPAN nodes. The Tanzania node committed to immediately organizing a stakeholders meeting to deliberate and plan activities for the node. Given that the nodes are the regional institutional framework for FANRPAN; these nodal commitments signify a new impetus.
In recognition of all the renewed vibrancy and energy, the FANRPAN Secretariat committed to following up all the stakeholder commitments and promised to ensure that the MoU with SADC is finalized by September 2007. It will immediately organize a delegation of ‘eminent persons’ to visit the SADC Executive Director and revitalize its inception linkages with SADC. The secretariat will ensure that SADC immediately nominates a representative to the FANRPAN board of governors. It committed to revitalizing the remaining seven country nodes to match the current revitalization in the Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa and Zambia nodes by September 2007. The secretariat will ensure that all node hosting institutions sign new MoUs in line with the new expectations and requirements. Based on the resolutions of the stakeholders meeting, the secretariat will also embark on mobilizing a consortium of donors to support the new FANRPAN strategy and to participate in the AGM in September 2007.
The secretariat will visit European donors, later in the year, with the support of CTA. It will also commence an enhanced awareness campaign by widely distributing the 2006 Annual Report and the resolutions of the stakeholders planning meeting.
I thank you all,
Dr Lindiwe Majele Sibanda, CEO, FANRPAN |
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