Regional Strategic Analysis and Knowledge Support System

Especially in the agriculture-based economies of Africa, agriculture is the sector that can affect not only poverty reduction and food security, but can also foster economic growth and sustain the environment.[http://publications.worldbank.org/ecommerce/catalog/product-detail?product_id=6966252 World Bank: World Development Report 2008: Agriculture for Development] African countries have set up CAADP to reach these goals and a Mutual Accountability Framework (MAF) to measure the program's progress. ReSAKSS plays an important role in this monitoring system by collecting relevant data and undertaking systematic analyses.ACORD, ActionAid, Oxfam. 2011. Synthesis Report: The 1st Pan-Africa Non-State Actors (NSA) Policy Dialogue Meeting on CAADPJohnson, Michael, and Kathleen Flaherty. 2008. [https://web.archive.org/web/20111024235143/http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PNADS607.pdf Strategic Analysis and Knowledge Support Systems (SAKSS): A Guidebook for Practitioners] ReSAKSS Working Paper No. 4.

In November 2009 a conference was held to assess progress in implementing CAADP in African countries with several countries surpassing the target of 10% of their annual budgets to agriculture.Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA). 2009. [http://farastaff.blogspot.de/2009/11/africa-wide-conference-to-discuss.html Africa-wide Conference to Discuss Strategies to Boost Agricultural Development], accessed July 2, 2012

Besides Strategic analysis, information and data management and capacity strengthening activities to support CAADP implementation and informing policy and decision-making processes in Africa more generally, ReSAKSS data is used by various other actors to analyze and monitor African agricultural development.

For instance, the data has been used by the G8,[https://2009-2017.state.gov/documents/organization/189889.pdf G8 Camp David Accountability Report: Actions, approach and results] G20, the OECD,[http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/16/59/50544691.pdf Sustainable Agricultural Productivity Growth and Bridging the Gap for Small-family Farms: Interagency Report to the Mexican G20 Presidency] USAID,USAID. 2010. [http://www.feedthefuture.gov/sites/default/files/country/strategies/files/FTF_2010_Implementation_Plan_Southern_Africa.pdf Feed the Future Implementation Plan 2010: Southern Africa] and the Heinrich Böll Foundation.Heinrich Böll Foundation. 2009. [http://www.boell.de/downloads/worldwide/HighFoodPrices-WhoGetsTheMoney_Kenya.pdf High Commodity Prices – Who gets the Money? A Case Study on the Impact of High Food and Factor Prices on Kenyan Farmers]

The initiative is governed by Steering Committees that are chaired by the African Union Commission (AUC) and AU–NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency (NPCA) at the Africa-wide level and by Common Market of Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and Southern African Development Community (SADC) for each of the African sub-regions. The Steering Committees with representatives of the different CAADP stakeholders provide political and strategic guidance to ReSAKSS.

The regional nodes are housed at three Africa-based centers of the CGIAR: the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Ibadan, Nigeria; the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Nairobi, Kenya; and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) in Pretoria, South Africa in collaboration with the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT). The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) provides the overall coordination across the three nodes.

ReSAKSS and its regional and local components have received funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the UK Department for International Development (DFID), the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.[http://www.resakss.org ReSAKSS Website: About Us], accessed June 29, 2012

The CGIAR, whose member organizations host and manage ReSAKSS, and its donors, namely the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have been criticized for their connections to Western governments and multinational agribusiness for furthering a technology-driven agenda that favors large agribusiness at the expenses of small farmers.SciDev Net. 2010. [http://www.scidev.net/en/features/are-gates-and-cgiar-a-good-mix-for-africa-.html Are Gates and CGIAR a good mix for Africa?], accessed on July 4, 2012Lobbywatch Profile [http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=295 CGIAR - Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research], accessed on July 4, 2012 However, many mainstream sources recognize CGIAR as having support of smallholders and poor farmers central to its mission.The Economist. (2-18-2012) [http://www.economist.com/node/21547771/ “The nutrition puzzle: Why do so many people in poor countries eat so badly—and what can be done about it?”] “Marie Ruel, of the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington, DC, ticks off some of the tasks: focus on the first 1,000 days of life (including pregnancy); scale up maternal-health programmes and the teaching of good feeding practices; concentrate on the poor; measure and monitor the problem.”Tran, Mark. (2011-09-02) [https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2011/sep/02/east-africa-crisis-investment-pastoralists? “Investment in pastoralists could help combat east Africa food crisis”] The Guardian. "The ILRI, based in Nairobi, is a proponent of pastoralism and asserts that herding in dry areas makes better economic sense than irrigation."The Economist (4-23-2000) [http://www.economist.com/node/295708 “Biting the silver bullet”] “CGIAR… help poor farmers”New Agriculturist (1-2007) [http://www.new-ag.info/en/view/point.php?a=1 “Confronting the Challenges of Change”] “The CGIAR has a very long and successful history of providing agricultural science for the benefit of poor people across the world, and that remains our core mission.”New Agriculturist (1-2005) [http://www.new-ag.info/en/pov/views.php?a=1268 “The CGIAR: A Bridge to the Future?”] “Tropical agriculture has benefited very significantly from the work of the CGIAR (Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research)….the CGIAR's impact, since its founding in the 1970s, is an estimated US$9 return on every US$1 invested.”

• [http://www.resakss.org ReSAKSS website]
• [http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/33/4/46552392.pdf?contentId=46552400 Comprehensive Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Report for the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP)]

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