The role of ns as in agric sakss in nigeria2

Role of Non-State Actors in Agricultural Strategic Analysis & Knowledge Support

Systems (SAKSS) in Nigeria

ByManson Nwafor

Policy Analyst, ReSAKSS WA, IITA-Ibadan

Regional Strategic Analysis and Knowledge Support System – West Africa

Page 2

Outline

• Introduction: Some basic targets and principles of CAADP

• What is SAKSS and Why Is It Needed? • The Mutual Accountability Framework (MAF)• SAKSS Implementation in Africa • A Possible SAKSS Organogram at the

Country Level • SAKSS in Nigeria• The Role of Non State Actors in the SAKSS

and MAF


Page 3Page 3

Introduction: Some Basic Targets and Principles of

CAADP• CAADP is a strategic framework by which to guide country

development efforts and partnerships in the agricultural sector: Agric-led and pro-poor growth; 6% growth; 10% Allocation.

• Basic Requirements:• Greater efficiency and consistency in the planning and

implementation of sector policies and programmes

• Adequate level of these expenditures to sustain an annual sector growth rate of 6 percent,

• Increased effectiveness in translating government expenditures into public goods and services, and

• Expertise and mechanisms to regularly and transparently measure performance against targets and keep policies and programmes on track. This will inform continental, regional and national review and dialogue processes aimed at improving outcomes.


Page 4

What is SAKSS and Why Is It Needed: A Possible SAKSS Structure

Knowledge (Data, Information ..)

Users

Knowledge (Data, Information ..) Providers

SAKSS

Strategic Analysis

Knowledge Support

Systems/

Networks of people

Small Group of users + providers

Group of program monitors

Group of researchers

Analysis aimed at guiding public and private policy/decision

makers in planning, implementation and review of

programs/projects/policies

Large Group of users + providers


Page 5

What is SAKSS and Why Is It Needed?

• SAKSS stands for Strategic Analysis and Knowledge Support System. It is basically a system that ensures that producers of knowledge are producing what private and public sector decision makers need to plan, review progress and make timely decisions.

• The review and dialogue processes under the CAADP agenda operate at three different levels: Continental (Africa wide), regional (ECOWAS) and national levels.

• Countries across ECOWAS and Africa review agriculture and livelihood indicators with respect to National targets set and achieved as well as the performance of other countries.

• The review and dialogue processes described above add real value to current and future development outcomes to the extent that they are well informed and are supported through accurate and intelligent data derived from rigorous analysis.

• This involves strategic analysis in order to identify the requirements for meeting the goals of the country and CAADP. It also involves assessing the adequacy of government programs and policies for the achievement of these goals.

• This requires human capacities, technical infrastructure, analytical tools, and communications instruments to gather the relevant data and information and analyze it to generate credible, high-quality knowledge products, which can be stored and accessed as needed to inform and guide the debate associated with the review and dialogue processes. The above capacities, tools, and instruments are needed both at the regional and country level and can be provided by a SAKSS.


Page 6

What is SAKSS?

• Based on SAKSS Guide Book by Johnson and Flaghety (2010):

• SAKSS is defined as a collaborative

network that acts as a mechanism by which relevant and timely evidence is generated and utilized to inform agricultural and rural development strategy formulation and implementation. SAKSS brings together two important concepts – strategic analysis and knowledge support systems.


Page 7

What is SAKSS?

• Strategic analysis is an integrated framework of analysis that helps identify policy and investment options for achieving high-end development goals. This type of analysis can guide a credible action plan of policy and investment priorities for the sectors that contribute to the achievement of desirable development outcomes (e.g. growth and poverty reduction).

• Such prioritization implies finding answers to a range of strategic questions such as: What is the role of agriculture in promoting overall economic growth and poverty reduction in the different stages of development given a country’s natural resource endowments? How should public resources be mobilized and allocated among different sectors, sub-sectors, and regions?

• Answers to these questions can help arm policymakers with useful evidence on the kinds of tradeoffs and outcomes associated with their policy and investment choices.


Page 8

What is SAKSS?

• The strategic analysis is carried out within the context of a knowledge support system which provides a dynamic network platform for serving the evidence needs of strategy formulation and implementation.

• This network includes individuals such as farmers, researchers, policymakers, and development practitioners and institutions such as government agencies, research institutes, development organizations, and private and civil society groups.

• Through this network platform, information, data analysis, and knowledge can be compiled, synthesized and packaged into evidence that is supplied on a timely and reliable basis to be of use during strategy processes.

• Typical activities of a SAKSS would include: Strategic analysis (informed by comprehensive M&E reports); capacity building and knowledge management (including public policy dialogues).


Page 9

Review and Dialogue Through The Mutual Accountability Framework

• Mutual accountability is a process by which partners hold one another accountable for the commitments they voluntarily make to one another. It is largely targeted at providing incentives for collective responsibility of partners to achieve shared goals (NEPAD NPCA 2011)

• 3 core activities in the mutual accountability framework are (a) M&E systems (b) Review and dialogue platforms ( c ) recognition platforms (NEPAD NPCA 2011)

• ReSAKSS and SAKSS play more role in providing the Monitoring system which will indicate the annual progress being made in the sector and in the reduction of poverty.

• Based on the results of the monitoring, review and dialogue is expected to take place to further understand how the present status was arrived at and what can be done to improve upon it.

• The recognition platforms are political fora where governments that have performed well are recognized and encouraged as pacesetters. This is to motivate others to spur growth in the agriculture sector and reduce poverty.


Page 10

SAKSS Implementation in Africa

• ReSAKSS is the Regional Strategic Analysis and Knowledge Support system (Regional SAKSS)

• It was established in 2005 to support the implementation of CAADP.

• Specifically it was established in order to meet the need for timely and policy relevant analysis to inform and guide CAADP planning, benchmarking and implementation processes.

• It is coordinated by the International Food Policy Research Institute and implemented in 3 Africa based CGIAR centers: IITA for West Africa (ReSAKSS WA), ILRI for East and Central Africa (ReSAKSS ECA) and IWMI for Southern Africa (ReSAKSS SA).

• ReSAKSS is guided by a steering committee chaired by the african Union and NEPAD at the continental level and the regional economic communities at the regional level.

• In the pre-roundtable stage, ReSAKSS WA facilitated the analytical processes leading up to the signing of the compacts and subsequently supported the NAIP review process.

• Presently we are tasked with facilitating the establishment of Country-SAKSS and promoting monitoring and evaluation of CAADP at the continental and regional level.


Page 11

IITA + ECOWAS

ReSAKSS-WA

AU-NEPAD

IFPRI

ReSAKSS

IWMI + SADC

ReSAKSS-SA

COMESA

+ ILRI

ReSAKSS-ECA

SAKSS Implementation in Africa: ReSAKSS - Organization


Page 12

A Possible SAKSS Organogram at the Country Level (Nwafor and

Yade) Ministerial CAADP Steering Committee

CAADP Policy Dialogue Group (Stakeholders’ Group from across the country )

Program Coordination and Implementation Team (PCIT)

Thematic working groups (NAIP based)

Coordinator

M&E Expert

ICT Expert

Economist

SAKSS Network of collaborators(Farmers, CSOs, National

Statistical Bureau; National Ag and

socio-economic research System, NGOs etc)

CAADP Country TeamCoordinated by the Permanent Secretary

Country-SAKSS Unit

SAKSS Steering Committee

GOOD PLATFORM FOR REVIEW, DIALOGUE AND

MUTUAL ACCOUNTABILITY BASED ON SAKSS

OUTPUTS


Page 13

SAKSS in Nigeria

• Organizations in Nigeria which currently have SAKSS like structures and activities include– The Agriculture Policy Research Network (APRNet) -

public-private and nationally spread executive committee and membership; objectives in the area of SAKSS

– The agriculture research council of Nigeria – has departments on knowledge management and policy analysis.

– Nigeria Institute for Social and Economic Research- strong research capacities.

– The Nigeria Economic Summit Group – strong public sector linkages and good track record for public-private dialogue

– The FMARD value chain groups of the agricultural transformation agenda – bring together stakeholders on the relevant commodities


Page 14

SAKSS in Nigeria• Further work is needed to better coordinate strategic analysis

and knowledge support systems in the country.– Currently no annual report on the agriculture sector in the

country– Internet access to agricultural data is difficult thus

necessitating visits to Abuja amongst other difficulties. The result is that very large volumes of useful agriculture data are unused by stakeholders

– No website to access and follow up on the government’s planning process and results thus making the process less transparent than desirable. This also makes tracking progress more difficult

– Government’s research needs are also difficult to ascertain as it is unclear what the communication channels are.

– Overall, there is no central body/knowledge support system that serves to ensure that applied (policy) research is meeting the needs of agriculture sector stakeholders. A SAKSS, and in particular a SAKSS steering committee, is needed for this purpose.


Page 15

The Role of Non State Actors in the SAKSS and MAF

• Participate actively in the M&E system by being active members of the SAKSS Steering committee and the working groups which will provide analytical support for the implementation of the National Agriculture Investment Plan. This is critical for redesigning programs/projects which are not working.

• Where there is no clear SAKSS, form alliances with research organizations for the purpose of creating it. – A website is of special importance after it is

created.


Page 16


• Use the annual report on the agriculture sector and other reports produced (e.g. program level M&E) to monitor performance – visit relevant offices and websites etc: – For more updates on agriculture indicators, SAKSS,

CAADP Implementation and M&E please visit www.resakss.org.

– Other useful sources of data and information on agriculture include

• The national bureau of statistics (www.nigerianstat.gov.ng)• The central bank of Nigeria (www.cenbank.org)• The agriculture research council of Nigeria (www.arcnigeria.org)• The national program on agriculture and food security• Etc

• Where there is no annual report, form alliances with research organizations in order to produce one in partnership with the government.


Page 17


• Design field monitoring systems through which farmers can monitor national and sub-national agriculture expenditure and project execution. Reports from this type of activity can feed into the Country-SAKSS and provide up to date grass roots data on the extent of project implementation in the sector. This can be done in partnership with research organizations

• Organize an agriculture policy dialogue group which will meet biannually/annually to review and dialogue about the status of the agriculture sector and livelihoods based on the annual report, other output from the SAKSS, program implementation reports etc. This is critical for redesigning programs/projects which are not working. This policy dialogue should create an avenue where farmers can discuss directly with high level government officials.


Page 18


• Use the output of the SAKSS for advocacy and policy reform.– Legislative meetings (lobbying)– Policy briefs/Memos to the government– Policy dialogues/stakeholder forums including annual

agriculture sector review– Organize recognition/awards for pacesetters in the

agriculture sector• This entails an alliance and division of labour between Farmers,

CSOs etc and researchers which is to be achieved through the SAKSS Steering Committee

1. CSOs etc state their knowledge needs to researchers through the committee

2. the researchers take the lead and produce the knowledge resources

3. CSOs etc take up the results for advocacy purposes as shown above


Page 19

Possible SAKSS Steering Committee Composition

• Public Knowledge Users - Policy makers (Legislative committees on agriculture; FMARD, National Planning Commission etc);

• Private Knowledge Users – NGOs (Farmer organizations across the country, Banking sector (for agric funding), Development partners, etc)

• Knowledge Providers - Research and Data Leaders (ARCN, CBN, Universities, IITA, IFPRI, Think tanks, NISER, NBS etc)


Page 20

Possible Structure of a Nigeria-SAKSSMembership group

Members Importance Functions

Steering Committee

Public Knowledge Users - Policy makers (Legislative committees on agriculture; FMARD, National Planning Commission etc); Private Knowledge Users – NGOs (Farmer organizations across the country, Banking sector (for agric funding), Development partners, etc)Knowledge Providers - Research and Data Leaders (ARCN, CBN, Universities, IITA, IFPRI, Think tanks, NISER, NBS etc)

To ensure that both the demand and supply of knowledge for evidence based policy making is increased in a practical and efficient way.

This involves providing the data, analysis, laws, financial accounting regulations (for reporting agriculture expenditure) and finance needed for private and public policy making based on evidence

1. Approve the work plan and budget of the SAKSS.

2. Ensure that the activities of the SAKSS are relevant to the country

3. Mobilize funding for the SAKSS

4. Maintain high level awareness and political support for the SAKSS

SAKSS secretariat in FMARD

SAKSS Coordinator, Knowledge managers, administrative secretary, thematic working group coordinators

Will provide the personnel needed for carrying out the functions of the SAKSS

To coordinate strategic analysis, knowledge management, capacity building and policy dialogue. They will also lead the activities of the thematic group.

Thematic working groups (Research networks)

Networks of about 40 - 60 staff from the members of the steering committee and related organizations: government MDAs, civil society, farmers, development partners, research and data leaders.

To carry out research into strategic issues in the work plan. These research projects will all emanate from research gaps observed in relation to the NAIP’s programs.

Stakeholders

A wider group of MDAs, civil society, farmers, development partners, research and data leaders.

To ensure that knowledge management (including M&E) involves consultations with a large number of stakeholders in the country. This will ensure continuous policy dialogue and review processes.

To provide feedback on the design and impacts of the NAIP. This will provide insight on any areas where there are knowledge and capacity gaps. They will also provide feedback on analysis carried out. Interaction with stakeholders will provide an avenue for informing them about available information options for private and public policy makers.

Facilitators ReSAKSS WA ( ECOWAS) To ensure that links are maintained with the rest of the sub-region. This will support the shared operational framework of CAADP

Provide the SAKSS with guidelines adopted at the regional level. Also, to arrange interactions with other national and international organizations.


Page 21

Thank You For Your Kind Attention

Education

The role of ns as in agric sakss in nigeria2