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Whilst the potential of agricultural research for development is widely acknowledged, making it work and achieving impact that significantly benefits the sub-region remains a huge challenge. The scope and scale of the task is enormous. The ten ASARECA member countries cover a surface area of 8.5 million km2 (in comparison the European Union extends over 3.9 million km2). The sub-region represents an immense diversity in terms of agro-ecological zones, languages, cultures and traditions, historical backgrounds, religions, political systems and levels of economic and social development. The total population of the sub-region amounts to more than 280 million people and is increasing at a rate of 6.7 million people per year. Climate change, globalisation, pandemics like HIV/AIDS and the overall low level of human, physical, institutional and financial capacity represent additional problems.
Within this context, ASARECA's challenge lies in improving both relevance and performance of agricultural research and in establishing the organisational and administrative mechanisms required to efficiently operate as a sub-regional institution. The European Commission, ASARECA's largest donor, significantly contributes to these objectives through the Regional Support Programme (RSP) with a total allocation of 29.3 million euros for a 51/2-year period. GFA is providing long-term technical assistance to support the Uganda-based ASARECA Secretariat in the management and implementation of the RSP. Areas financed by the EDF include a Competitive Grant System (CGS) for research projects, an endowment fund, regional research network coordination units, core support to the Secretariat, capacity building, reviews, audits and technical assistance.
Competitive Research Funding
Competitive Grant Systems are a flexible and powerful funding mechanism used in agricultural research with both, advantages and disadvantages. They are based on the principles of genuine competition, transparency, accountability and performance. They can be an instrument to enforce desired key principles like demand responsiveness, alignment with identified research priorities, stakeholder participation, inter-disciplinarity, cross-national collaboration, multi-institutional cooperation, technology promotion to name only a few. It is assumed that competitive research funding will lead to more efficient, effective and focussed investments, which should produce better and more relevant results that will be more successfully communicated and promoted for uptake by users.
However, a CGS is not appropriate in all situations and it should be linked with other funding sources for research, extension and capacity building to promote a complementary system of research for development funding. It is a complex instrument with comparatively high transaction costs that requires competent management and relatively mature research organisations. A CGS must secure long-term financial support and a critical level of funding in order to justify the high initial set-up and ongoing overhead costs. It may produce adverse effects in excluding weaker, less competitive institutions and thus pushing them even further behind rather than strengthening them through participation.
Some of the general principles and requirements of competitive grant schemes which have guided ASARECA in the establishment of its CGS are as follows:
- Strong and independent governance of the CGS is essential to provide direction and strategic vision.
- The preparation of calls for proposals must be based on identified research priorities that reflect stakeholders' needs and sector strategies in order to address the real issues.
- Guidelines, manuals, formats must be carefully prepared, sufficiently detailed, user friendly and continuously revised as experience is gained. To facilitate this, a system has to be in place that allows capturing, documenting and internalising experiences made and lessons learned.
- A rigorous, independent and transparent review process must be maintained to attract and sustain interest and participation.
- A comprehensive stakeholder database has to be established in order to gain access to a wide range of potential collaborators and facilitate partnerships.
- A sound contractual system must be put in place, a customised financial management system including accountability and audit requirements set up, and an appropriate technical planning and reporting system developed.
- Given the administrative complexity and number of contracts that have to be managed under a CGS, a Management Information System (MIS) covering all aspects of the CGS is highly desirable.
- A robust M&E system with well defined indicators for the programme as a whole and for individual research projects must be set up to track progress made, indicate the need for intervention and show impact which will help to sustain donor support. Regular project progress review and evaluation missions can play a vital role in this respect.
- Institutional capacity can be very diverse which can result in the exclusion of weaker institutions and smaller countries in a contract award system which is based on competition. Mechanisms may be applied to balance the portfolio of contractors to avoid dominance of individual organisations or particular countries. However, the political will to include and therefore strengthen the weaker ones has to be well balanced against the need for delivery.
- There is the issue of balancing public and private objectives. By implication proprietary knowledge and technologies need to be protected to attract the participation of the private sector, while ensuring that public research funds are used for social objectives.
The ASARECA Competitive Grant System
The ASARECA CGS was launched in mid 2004. Approximately 14 million euros of the RSP budget are allocated to the Competitive Grant System. A CGS management team was put in place at the ASARECA Secretariat which is responsible for operating the scheme. GFA has supported the initial development of the ASARECA CGS and assists the association in the further refinement and operation of the scheme.
Following is a description of the major elements of the call preparation to project implementation process ASARECA has adopted for its CGS:
The Call Preparation
On the basis of a medium term research call plan and budget forecast which provides a three-year framework, ASARECA prepares the call. A call comprises a suite of projects (about 8) and is based on defined regional research priorities. It should be prescriptive enough to avoid loosing focus and attracting too many, too wide-ranging proposals, and clearly spell out key principles which ASARECA wants to have addressed by the proposals (e.g. institutional plurality, private sector involvement, a communication strategy). The call is then being released in the sub-region through various formal and informal channels, together with the necessary guidelines, instructions and forms for the preparation of concept notes and full proposals.
The Proposal Writing Process
ASARECA has adopted a two-step proposal writing process for its CGS. The first stage leads to the preparation of concept notes, relatively concise papers which describe the development rationale of the proposed project, its purpose, expected results and research plan/ methodological approach. The regional team of researchers and partners is presented as well as anticipated benefits and a description of the beneficiaries of the research. The competitive selection takes place at the concept note stage which helps to limit proposal writing costs and discouragement of unsuccessful applicants.
The selected concept notes (normally one per project) will be developed into full proposals by the teams. This is partly done during a facilitated full proposal preparation workshop which is conducted by ASARECA. Experience has shown that the capacity for proposal writing is limited in the sub-region and that proposals of adequate quality are unlikely without specific training input. Full proposals contain the same main elements as the concept notes, but in more detail. In addition, they include a logframe, an implementation schedule, and a detailed budget table.
The Review and Approval Process
In a first step, concept notes and full proposals are reviewed for administrative compliance by the CGS management team. Non-compliant submissions will be rejected. An internal budget review is also conducted to verify compliance with the financial guidelines and limits pertaining to the ASARECA CGS.
The technical/ scientific review of concept notes and full proposals is carried out by the Technical Support Group (TSG). This is a ten-member panel of outstanding professionals from the sub-region with broad disciplinary and institutional backgrounds. TSG membership is arranged on a rolling, multi-year basis to ensure that experience and institutional memory are built up. Small teams of three reviewers normally assess particular proposals. After the individual home office exercise, ASARECA convenes a TSG consultative meeting to discuss and harmonise views and findings and to prepare a review report with recommendations for the approval giving body.
The final decision on TSG recommendations is made by the Grant Authorising and Advisory Board (GAAB) which consists of five highly respected and well-known sub-regional senior leaders in research. Similar to the TSG, membership is rolling and multi-annual. Besides the technical/scientific merits of the recommended proposals, the GAAB also takes into consideration strategic criteria which helps to balance ASARECA's research portfolio and may therefore overrule the TSG recommendations.
De-linking technical reviews from final decision-making increases independence and transparency of the entire process and protects the TSG from external pressure that it may be exposed to.
Project Commissioning
The average ASARECA CGS project is implemented by a team of five partner institutions from three countries. It has a budget of around 420,000 euros and a duration of three years. One of the team members assumes the lead role with associated specific project management responsibilities. However, for legal and institutional capacity reasons on the part of the lead organisation, ASARECA has to enter into contractual relationships with every project partner.
After signing grant contracts with all project team members, the lead organisation submits the consolidated first project advance request that initiates the disbursement of funds by ASARECA directly to the individual project partners.
Project Implementation
Project implementation starts with an inception workshop. Fine-tuning of implementation plans, budget revisions, roles and responsibilities as well as project internal administrative arrangements are discussed and agreed upon. Any weaknesses or shortcomings in project design identified by the TSG during full proposal review are addressed. ASARECA provides training and instructions on project administration including regular planning and reporting requirements, financial management, accountability and audit requirements, and provides project teams with the necessary guidelines and formats.
In the course of the project, ASARECA monitors the implementation progress through an M&E system. CGS project data has to be captured and entered in an MIS to have the necessary information at hand for informed management decisions. However, the ASARECA M&E system and the MIS are not yet fully operational.
All CGS projects undergo a mid-term review to assess overall progress made and to enable management to intervene or adjust project design. End-of-project evaluations amongst others serve as an important mechanism to identify strengths and weaknesses, and document lessons learned which can be used to guide future approaches in agricultural research for development.
Experiences made with the ASARECA CGS
A CGS requires a well-developed management system and a capable team to operate it. Establishing the financial, legal, planning, reporting, review and control mechanisms has proved to be complex and challenging given ASARECA's regional dimension. Moreover, a successful CGS has to extend far beyond the mere administration of projects. It requires strategic thinking and exploration of unconventional approaches to research for development in order to bring about measurable change.
Only a sufficiently high level of human and physical capacity will enable the CGS to reach its full potential. Chronic gaps and weaknesses are prevailing in the sub-region. Capacity building is therefore vital at the different levels involved in the CGS to ensure competent management, proficient technical and financial reviews of proposals and high scientific standards in research implementation.
Experience with the first commissioned CGS projects has shown that the absorption capacity of NARS institutes is well below expectation. A thorough analysis of the underlying reasons needs to be conducted to enable ASARECA to address the matter adequately. The task, however, is overwhelming given the number of different organisations involved throughout the ASARECA sub-region.
Institutional sustainability is a matter of concern. A CGS should not be administered by short-term arrangements which are following specific donor procedures. ASARECA has succeeded in developing its own internal contractual, financial, planning and reporting systems for the CGS which have been accepted and approved by its main donors. This has strengthened ASARECA and has built self-confidence, as well as a sense of ownership and identity.
Traditionally, research has been conducted in the narrow bracket of a particular scientific discipline. Mechanisms to ensure sufficient linkages and greater collaboration in technology generation between research, extension, private sector, education and consumers have to be promoted. Information on potential partners especially across national borders is often not available. ASARECA has to play an active role in the facilitation of partnerships, especially between the public and private sector.
A research project cannot end with the development of a new technology or methodology. The promotion of new technologies for uptake and up-scaling has to be explicitly incorporated into the research design and needs to be funded adequately. Related activities must accommodate the complementary roles of the different players in the production-to-consumption chain. This requires a paradigm shift for the sub-regional research systems that has to be driven by ASARECA.
However, we have to take into consideration that agricultural and rural development is a complex process. Biological and technical innovations are seldom the most important change factors. Institutional reforms, infrastructural developments, and increased emphasis of economic thinking on agricultural production are at least as important.
The ultimate question is:
Will the CGS produce sufficiently better results that benefit Africa's development to justify the complexity inherent in the system, the high demand on management and the high transaction costs? Will the national research, development and extension systems become mature enough for the CGS to reach its potential? Interesting assessments will probably be conducted in a few years from now. These will raise further questions and provide important insights that may lead to new approaches. In this respect, the CGS is a scientific experiment in itself.
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