CRSCGIAR Partnerships Ten Years of Investment

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CRS-CGIAR PartnershipsTen Years of Investment

• Tom Remington

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Outline

• CRS Agriculture (1994 2006)
• CRS-CGIAR Partnership Experience
• CRS-CIAT Agroenterprise Learning Alliance

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Catholic Relief Services

• Relief Development Agency of the United States
  Catholic Conference of Bishops
• Large (500 million), Global (80 countries)
  Expanding
• Multi-Sectoral

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My Background

• Focus on African Agricultural Systems
• PhD from University of Wisconsin
• Since Peace Corp Mali in 1977
• CRS since 1994
• 3 years in Baltimore
• 10 years in East Africa

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Where were we? 1994

• Alive but comatose
• Agriculture FFW
• Not internally competitive
• Poverty Lending
• Child Survival
• Not externally competitive
• I didnt know CRS did agriculture
• CARE and especially WVI the big players
• Personal Vision
• Required partnership with research

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Where are we? 2006

• Several significant breakthroughs
• From ST to SVF
• From SA to AE
• CRS recognized as a leader in innovative
  agriculture recovery and agroenterprise in Africa
• Empowered hierarchy
• Freedom to innovate but not to deviate

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Research-Development Partnership More Relevant
than Ever

• Locating the IARCs on the Research-Development
  Continuum
• CGIAR NGOC freeze
• GFAR Global Partnership Program
• World Bank/CGIAR Innovation Marketplace
• FARA SSA CP

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The Challenge 2004

• NGOs should .. boycott .. the CGIAR. They are
  the handmaidens of big business and big
  government
• Dealing with NGOs is Integrated Pest Control
• 82 of CG respondents support Private Sector
  collaboration, but only 35 NGO

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CRS-CGIAR PartnershipThe Typology
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Components of Successful Partnerships

• Bilateral
• Specific Focused
• Individual Informal
• Asymmetry recognized dealt with
• Monitoring, evaluation and communication
• Openness agility

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Shift from Food Security to Agroenterprise

• First discussion in September 2001 in Entebbe
• Learning Alliance with CIAT and IITA/FoodNet in
  2002
• 8 countries in East Southern Africa
• 6 workshops from 2002 to 2006

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CRS Capacity Approach

• Completed the RAeD roadmap
• Territory identification
• Interest group formation
• Market opportunity identification
• Market chain analyses
• Integrated agroenterprise activities

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Existing Products Existing Markets

• Farming system intensification
• Institutional and farmer co-evolution learning
  together
• Dual Purpose Commodities
• Low barriers to entry (financial and human)

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From Effective to Efficient(and then Expansion)

• Navy bean in Ethiopian Rift Valley
• Two market premium varieties
• Two exporters
• 3000 farmers
• Chickpea Pigeonpea in Northern Tanzania
• 3 chickpea and 4 pigeonpea varieties
• 2400 farmers
• Also Rice in Burundi Groundnut in Kenya

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Agroenterprise Learning Alliance Embraced by CRS

• Both the topic and the approach
• From a learning to an action alliance in East
  Africa
• New learning alliances in Southeast Asia, West
  Africa South Asia (ongoing multi-institutional
  alliance in Latin America)
• Farmer Group integration concept
• Strategy for scaling up and scaling out
• Changed attitude towards research

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Focus on Farmer Organizations

• Identified gap in the learning alliance
• Perceived strength of CRS NGOs
• Led to a CRS-CIAT Farmer Group Study Tour
• 3 countries (Uganda, Bolivia, India)
• Different types (CIAL, SHG, FFS, Market Groups
  etc.)

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Farmer Group
Internal Savings Lending Financial Capital
Self Help Group Social Capital
Agriculture Learning Human Capital
Agroenterprise Physical Capital
Natural Resource Management Natural Capital
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Scaling Up Out

• Preparing Millions for the Market
• Three scaling labs
• India
• Ethiopia
• Tanzania
• Increased scope
• 35 countries in 7 CRS regions

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The CRS Niche

• Focus on farmers left behind
• Initially, focus on the dual purpose commodities
• Informal first order farmer groups
• Strong partnership with research for technology
  access and evaluation
• Emphasis on internal savings lending
• Objective of both scale and scope

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Last Slide
Expand
Increase scale
Increase scope
Focus on efficiency
Build trust
Start small
Learn to be effective