Each case study will be prepared in close collaboration with the leaders of agricultural research institutions, departments, agencies and other institutions involved in agricultural research as part of the National Agricultural Research System, under the overall supervision of the FAO Research and Technology Development Service (SDRR), the Special Programme for African Agricultural Research (SPAAR) and the Team Leader. The Government authorities, the FAO Representative and donors (bilateral and multilateral) active in agricultural research will be intimately informed of and involved in the exercise. Specifically the resource person will include the topics listed below:
1. Background
1.1 Natural resources and environment (soil, climate and rainfall)
1.2 Economic indicators (total and rural population; total GDP and agricultural GDP)
1.3 Government policy and priority for agricultural development
1.4 Donors' contributions to agriculture sector development
2. Agricultural research, institutions and system
2.1 Evolution of the agricultural research system
2.2 Organization, structure and management
2.3 Agricultural research network: number of centres, stations, distribution by agro-ecological zones, etc.
2.4 Research personnel: number of professional staff, educational level (PhD, MSc, BSc. or equivalent) distribution between nationals and expatriates by age and seniority, number of support staff, etc.
2.5 Research budgets:
breakdown by category, salary, infrastructure and equipment and operating costs and as percentages of total budget;
origin of budgets (give year and exchange rate against US$);
i) national sources: absolute amount and as percentage of total budget
ii) foreign sources: absolute amount and as percentage of total budget
research intensity: research budget as percentage of GDP of agriculture
2.6 Infrastructure and facilities: appropriateness and state of maintenance
2.7 Linkages within and outside the system: institutions of higher education, extension and development agencies, regional and international research institutions, donors, etc.
3. Analysis of foreign assistance to agricultural research: donors' policies and strategies for assistance to agricultural research in the following areas:
3.1 Programme/project formulation and priority setting mechanism; decision-making process; governance; target beneficiary; resource-poor farmers, commercial farmers, environmental considerations, etc.
3.2 Timeframe of the assistance: short- (two to four years), medium- (five to ten years) or long-term (10 years or more) commitment
3.3 Implementation modalities/mechanisms:
i) donor-managed programmes and projects with expatriate expert input: number, age, professional qualifications and seniority relative to nationals; evolution during programme or project life. This category could include CGIAR/NARS executed research projects;
ii) donor/recipient country jointly managed programme or project, with limited expatriate expert input: number, age professional qualifications and seniority relative to nationals; evolution during programme or project life;
iii) national executed programme or project: modalities of monitoring and evaluation mechanisms; procedures of programme or project reporting.
3.4 Priority areas for agricultural research assistance:
i) institutional building type: multidisciplinary or multi-sectoral research programmes or projects;
ii) commodity-oriented research programmes or projects;
iii) research-extension development programmes or projects;
iv) research-education-training programmes or projects;
v) adaptive, on-farm research component of agricultural or rural development programmes or projects
3.5 Human resources development: policy and practice
i) training of professionals and support staff:
long-term academic training, number, discipline and level of training for research scientists (PhD, MSc, BSc or equivalent)
short-term training, including seminars and workshops
field of training (research management; maintenance of equipment; experiment stations management, etc.)
ii) salaries, incentives and social welfare for national staff;
iii) social and recreational facilities for research centres and stations
3.6 Infrastructure development and equipment: policy and practice:
i) building of new infrastructure:
laboratories, offices, libraries and documentation facilities
experiment station development, etc.
staff houses and amenities
equipment procurement for the above
ii) refurbishment of, upgrading or expansion of existing infrastructure (same as above)
3.7 Recurrent and operational costs: policy and practice:
i) operational and maintenance costs of the above-mentioned infrastructure and equipment;
ii) research activities cost per se
iii) as percentage of overall programme or project cost and institution budgets
iv) breakdown of cost elements by sources (government as counterpart contribution, donors, self-financing, etc.) and relative percentage
4. Assessment of the role and contribution of foreign assistance to the development of three institutional national agricultural research capacity. Based on the information and data collected above, the resource person will assess the impact of foreign assistance, using the following indicators:
4.1 Quality of research management: in terms of policy formulation, planning, priority setting, organization, etc.
4.2 Improvement of institutional stability: how much reorganization and restructuring has the institution gone through during donor involvement?
4.3 Personnel stability: ratio of turnover of staff; did it improve or worsen; conditions of service, job satisfaction, work environment, etc.
4.4 Level of budget and stability funding:
adequacy of expenditure per research and evolution from year to year
level of operating costs versus staff salaries; equipment and maintenance
regularity and timelines of disbursement of budget
4.5 Research programme: stability and relevance:
programme formulation and priority-setting process; involvement of stakeholders in the processes
coherence of programmes with national development policy and priority of the agriculture sector
influence of leadership change on the programming process
importance given to adaptive, on-farm and participatory research approaches
agro-ecological distribution of the research programmes and structures
4.6 Linkages with the World Knowledge System:
linkages with NARS components (universities, other research institutions, NGOs, private sector)
linkages with the regional and international research institutes, particularly those of the CGIAR
4.7 Size of the research institution/system:
increase or decrease in staffing, network of centres and stations, etc.
correlation of the size with:
i) importance of the agriculture sector for the economy;
ii) sustainability in relation to public or national funding resources, etc.
4.8 Monitoring and evaluation:
mechanisms of monitoring and evaluation of research institutions, programmes and projects
performance evaluation of staff, reward system, etc.
5. Conclusions and recommendations for efficient and effective use of foreign assistance:
recommendations and conclusions of a general nature
recommendations addressed to recipient country, research leaders, government authorities, etc.
recommendations addressed to donors
