Johannesburg, South Africa; CAADP XP4 Programme, a European Union funded Programme managed by IFAD is undergoing a Mid Term Review (MTR) organized by the International Fund for Agricultural Development(IFAD) at Birchwood Hotel in Johannesburg, South Africa, from 16th to 22nd May 2022. The MTR meeting will focus on the impact pathways of the thematic areas of the Programme.
The CAADP-XP4 project is being implemented by the five organizations; African Forum for Agricultural Advisory Services (AFAAS), Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in East and Central Africa (ASARECA), West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research and Development (CORAF), the Centre for Coordination of Agricultural Research and Development in Southern Africa (CCARDESA) and Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA). The Programme that started in 2019 is mid way its implementation and thus the need to review its progress.
Thematic and institutional working sessions were organized to review the Programme under all the five thematic areas; policy, capacity building, knowledge management, gender and finance.
During the sessions, it was cross cutting amongst thematic working groups that a lot has been done by members of the CAADP-XP4 organizations and their constituencies but it’s not always well disseminated and visible, Collaboration between the five CAADP XP4 organizations has happened but more efforts need to be done, The question of target beneficiaries for the CAADP XP4 was discussed since it was unclear and it seemed difficult for some organizations to expect impact down to the last miles, Despite the COVID-19 restrictions most organizations managed to implement the Programme relatively well and some like AFAAS had even implemented an impressive number of activities at country level.
Further more, the consortium partners appreciated the collaboration between the organizations which has contributed to organization strength individually and collectively.
Additionally, the Research to Extension initiative proposed by AFAAS might be very relevant to value the existing research results and for the dissemination at grassroots as well as ensuring sustainability which needs to be well prepared from the beginning of the Programme