| The three day workshop in Aleppo and associated field visits will support knowledge exchange and technology transfer on new developments in dryland agricultural science and technology. The workshop will include around 70 participants, including approximately 30 IFAD staff representing the NENA Division, 15-20 from IFAD country programs, 5 representatives of partner development organizations, and 15-20 ICARDA scientists and research managers. They will present and discuss what they consider to be major needs and priority areas that would benefit the design of development projects for NENA countries.
ICARDA benefits through the design of regional grant proposals that are in line with investment projects having similar themes in the NENA portfolio. IFAD benefits by maximizing uptake of the most recent and feasible agricultural science and technology. This close consultation will lead to the development of effective mechanisms to better link research to development along the research-for-development continuum.
The workshop will (1) strengthen country capacities in the NENA region on the latest agricultural packages available from research, (2) align ICARDA operations with country strategic opportunities programmes (COSOPS) and IFAD loan programmes, (3) foster strategic partnership between ICARDA and IFAD country programmes, and (4) take stock of joint initiatives and assess future collaboration opportunities.
This strengthening, alignment, fostering and assessment of collaboration between ICARDA and IFAD member countries in the NENA region can be considered as five interrelated topics:
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Research - the potential use of new agricultural science and technology packages. |
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Development - out-scaling the packages in investment projects. |
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Partnerships - identifying effective collaborative arrangements along the impact pathway. |
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Relevance and effectiveness - achieving impact and empowering poor rural communities through improved access to new technologies and practices. |
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Developing country needs - prioritizing topics within the agricultural sector in specific countries. |
The specific objectives (expected outputs) from the workshop are:
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IFAD country program staff are informed about innovations, approaches and technologies generated from ICARDA’s research that could be usefully incorporated into on-going investment programs, or could usefully contribute to the design of future investment programs. |
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ICARDA is informed by IFAD country program staff on country-specific priorities, practical needs, systematic bottlenecks encountered in project development, and related pipeline investment opportunities. |
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Mutually agreed suggestions are developed, based on the above, for: (a) country-specific grant proposals (either for small grants program, or large grants program) that link directly with investment programs, or cover pre-investment initiatives (e.g. strategic and diagnostic studies, innovative research, testing and validation of innovations); (b) regional grant-financed instruments that assist in the development of pro-poor technologies and innovations in a regional, collaborative networking context involving several countries; and (c) stand-alone support activities such as technical assistance, capacity building, knowledge management, etc. |
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A framework is established for regular and organised communication between IFAD country program staff and ICARDA. |
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Effective mechanisms are identified to better link research to development investments along the impact pathway. |
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