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Long-Term Agriculture Training Assessment for USAID

Long-Term Agriculture Training Assessment for USAID. Preliminary Findings and Recommendations Presented to the Board for International Food and Agricultural Development (BIFAD) Washington, DC - March 3, 2010 Andrew Gilboy, Team Leader Dr. Cornelia Flora, Iowa State University

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Long-Term Agriculture Training Assessment for USAID

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  1. Long-Term Agriculture Training Assessment for USAID Preliminary Findings and Recommendations Presented to the Board for International Food and Agricultural Development (BIFAD) Washington, DC - March 3, 2010 Andrew Gilboy, Team Leader Dr. Cornelia Flora, Iowa State University Dr. Bhavani Pathak, USAID Ron Raphael, USAID

  2. Agenda • Background • II. Findings and Recommendations • III. Discussion

  3. What Happened to Long Term Training? • Rise and Fall of USAID • Long Term Training for Africans • Rise 1960 -1990 • Decline 1990 – 2005 • Pilot Programs 2005 – 2010 • Building the Future 2010 -

  4. USAID Support for Degree Training • USAID Long-Term Degree Pilot Programs • UILTCB • HEPAD • Mali biotechnology linkage project • Collaborative Research Support Programs (CRSPs) • Higher Education for Development (HED) • Borlaug LEAP Fellows Program • Independent Training Programs

  5. Why U.S. Graduate Study? • Availability of courses outside research focus • Course work requires interaction with other students and class presentations • Critical thinking encouraged • Problem solving through team work • Learning environment includes farmers, industry and advocacy groups

  6. Why this Study? • A Multi-Program Assessment to: • Identify Effective Design Elements • Establish Best Practices for Program Design • Build Toolkit to Help Implement Program

  7. Sources of Data • Documents from existing and past projects • Interviews with key institutional actors in the US and Africa • Questionnaires from former USAID participants with (U.S. or African) graduate degrees • Focus groups with former participants in eight African countries

  8. What do we mean by capacity building? • Working with systems rather than individuals • Institutional approach – using HICD* (Performance Gap Analysis) • Long-term perspective * Human and Institutional Capacity Development

  9. African Institutions NARS, Faculties of Agriculture, Ministries, NGOs • What is the USAID Mission’s involvement in selecting the institutions to be strengthened? • Does each targeted institution have a strategic plan that identifies priorities? • Are the selected participants employees? • Is there a plan for retention and replacement?

  10. African Participants • Characteristics that maximize • institutional capacity building • Work experience in field • Currently employed in partner institution • Demonstrated leadership • Research plan derived from institutional priorities • Not using English fluency as selection criteria

  11. Pre-Graduate Participant Support • The following require support to ensure equity in selection and sufficient pre-departure preparation for graduate study: • GRE • English training • TOEFL • Statistics

  12. What makes a good U.S. partner university? • History of African on-going involvement in Africa • International research and service rewarded by the university • Research linked to African food security • Committed to collaborate with the USAID country mission

  13. Masters or PhD? • Ratio of PhD to MS degrees varies based on African institution’s strategic plan • Funding PhDs does not necessarily build institutional capacity • Legitimate institutional function for MS

  14. Leveraging Institutional Linkages • Identify US advisor interested in research area • Local focus of research • US advisor plays an active role in local institutional capacity building • Maintain communication post-degree • Fund post-program research

  15. Integrating HICD • Performance based emphasis to guide acquisition of knowledge and skills • Institutional gap analysis determines the program • Participant training is one tool in institutional capacity building • Based on institutional analysis • Performance improvement of institution is the basis of evaluation of the HICD interventions • If the organization does not change, trained impeded in improving performance

  16. Discussion Reaction and Feedback Next Steps

  17. Contacts • Andrew Gilboy, Consultant in Capacity Development and Evaluation • Associates for Global Change AGChange@agchange.com • 7525 Blair Road, Suite 11 +301-565-4040 • Takoma Park, MD 20912 • Dr. Cornelia Flora, Charles F. Curtiss Distinguished Professor of Sociology • and Agriculture and Life Sciences • 317 East Hall cflora@iastate.edu • Iowa State University +515-294-1329 • Ames, IA 50011-1070 http://www.soc.iastate.edu/staff/cflora.html • Dr. Bhavani Pathak, Advisor in Capacity Development and Evaluation • Bureau for Economic Growth, Agriculture and Trade, Program Office • 1300 Pennsylvania Ave., NW bpathak@usaid.gov • Washington, DC 20523-0001 +202-712-4939 • Ron Raphael, Advisor in Monitoring and Evaluation • Bureau for Economic Growth, Agriculture and Trade, Office of Education • 1300 Pennsylvania Ave., NW rraphael@usaid.gov • Washington, DC 20523-3901 +202-712-5244

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