ICRAF Resource Mobilization Newsletter September 2006 – No. 4

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Contents

1. Message from the Director General

2. Land Degradation Surveillance Programme

3. A Novel Approach to Scaling Up Agroforestry Innovations

4. Resource Mobilization Notes

Carbon Credits – Gates – European Union – NEPAD – Millennium Promise

5. Recently Submitted Proposals and Concept Notes

6. Fund Raising Tips: Mainstreaming Budgets

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1. Message from the Director General

Nearly two years ago, SLT established the Resource Mobilization Group to get a better grasp on the fund raising challenges that ICRAF faces and to set in motion a process that would help us to tackle important challenges. The RMG has proven to be an excellent device to get all of the actors engaged in RM together to review the status of our fund raising initiatives, identify gaps, and organize more coordinated efforts to reach the finish line. Under Mohamed Bakarr’s leadership, RMG is proving to be a real bonus to our organizational approach to resource mobilization.

One of the things we’ve learned over the past couple of years is that ICRAF scientists are very good at responding to external calls and deadlines for proposals for competitive grants. In that respect, I want to acknowledge all of you who participated in recent calls for proposals, especially through the Gates Foundation. An enormous amount of work from a great many players went into meeting that deadline. Hopefully, those efforts will pay big dividends.

That said, the experience of the RM Group is that while we respond quite well to deadlines and external calls, what is not being done as effectively as it might be is to establish, meet, and execute internal deadlines for non-solicited proposal. Unless we can produce compelling project documents within a stated timeline and deliver them effectively to investors, we will be missing an important opportunity to bring donors onto our radar screen, rather than simply respond to a dwindling number of competitive calls. This is the area that the RM Group will be focusing more intensively over the next few months. I believe it is a major challenge that ICRAF needs to address. To end, I would urge to communicate your thoughts and ideas either to me personally, to Mohamed or informally to any of the members of the Group. Your input will be an important part of the process.

2. Land Degradation Surveillance Programme

Land Degradation Surveillance Programme

An excellent example of an internally generated project is the work now underway by Keith Shepherd and his colleagues to develop ICRAF’s newLand Degradation Surveillance Programme (LDSP). LDSP will bring together under a new umbrella all ICRAF-developed methods for land degradation assessment. The initiative will address a number of important research questions, including the impact of land degradation on social and ecological systems; what are the tradeoffs to society for managing land degradation, and what strategies should governments and local communities use to prevent further land degradation and restore degraded lands? In addition, LDSP will provide direct assistance to other agencies to help them monitor, evaluate and act on land degradation issues in their own projects. The World Bank’s Terra Africa programme, for example, which is expected to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in the coming years, would like to use ICRAF methods to evaluate the impact of its projects. LDSP would help to facilitate that process. Fund raising for the surveillance centre will be a major emphasis of the centre’s fund raising over the next several years and the RM group will be working hard to move that effort forward. The Centre’s budget has been tentatively calculated at $20 million over five years and includes funds for an assessmentof land degradation in sub-Saharan Africa and for building national capacity.

3. A Novel Approach to Scaling-up Agroforestry Innovations

Another example of an internally generated project is the work now underway to scale-up agroforestry practices in Southern and Eastern Africa. Working in cooperation with our regional programmes and the Academy for International Education (AED) in Washington, DC, Steve Franzel, Charles Wambugu, Frank Place, and Ed Sulzberger are moving quickly to capitalize on AED’s strong fund raising capacities and their expertise in social marketing using theSCALE concept, an innovative approach to communication for social change. While the target focuses on scaling-up, the project will have a strong research component that will highlight a number of important questions, including how to identify the technological innovations needed for success at a given location. In addition to fodder and fertilizer trees, the project will also have strong components involving the development of year-round fruit tree portfolios and other improved agroforestry innovations.

4. Resource Mobilization Notes

  • Negotiations between ICRAF, World Wildlife (WWF) and CINCS, the Carbon Investment Network for Carbon Sequestration, are nearing completion and should result soon in the formation a consortium that will develop the technology needed for smallholder farmers to access international carbon markets. Fund raising is being spearheaded by WWF and is expected to result in significant resources being generated in the near future.
  • Three concept notes were recently submitted to the Gates Foundation in response to their call for concept notes in the area of market chains (see section 5 below). With help from numerous collaborators across the centre, Tony Simons organized the development of projects on Allanblackia and Shea, while Patrick Matakala and his team produced a concept note entitled Building Equitable Market Opportunities to Increase Rural Household Incomes in Sub-Saharan Africa. ICRAF also partnered in concept notes developed by CIRAD, Ecoagriculture Partners, the Berkeley Institute of the Environment, Michigan State University, EMBRAPA, Conservation International and ICIPE.
  • ICRAF-led projects submitted to the EU failed to win approval in the latest round of European Union grants. However, ICRAF was successful in winning support as a partner in four other projects: 1) an FAO led initiative for work in Cameroon (with CIFOR); 2)a CIRAD convened project on markets andlivelihoods in the Lake Kivu region(with CATIE, the University of Wales, and Bangalore University; 3) a project with the NGO FANAMBY for evaluating agroforestry andnatural resources management in Madagascar; and 4) the University of New Castle for research in Southeast Asia.
  • Responding to a request by Jeffery Sachs, head of Millennium Promise, ICRAF has developed a $24 million seed development project to help meet future demand for planting material. The project document was developed by Tony Simons and his colleagues from Trees and Markets.

5. Recently Submitted Proposals and Concept Notes

The following is a partial list of major grant proposals and concept notes recently submitted by ICRAF scientists.

Southern Africa

  • Coping with adverse climatic changes using agroforestry and conservation farming in Southern Africa. IDRC/DFID; CAD $ 3,366,689; Lead scientist Patrick Matakala.
  • Enhancing carbon sequestration in agroforestry practices and Miombo woodland of Southern Africa. IDRC/DFID; CAD $ 2,433,827; Lead scientist Patrick Matakala.
  • Building Equitable market opportunities for agroforestry tree products to Increase rural household incomes in sub-Saharan Africa. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation;US$ 8,687,709;Lead scientists Patrick Matakala and Festus Akinnfesi.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Wood production in small holder properties in the Amazon: Technological and organizational options for reducing poverty and land degradation. Euro 1.9 million; Lead scientist Roberto Porro.
  • Enhancing smallholder livelihoods through value-chain development for Amazonian palm products. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; US$3,494,000; Lead scientist Roberto Porro.

Southeast Asia

  • Community-based forest rehabilitation and capacity enhancement in the tsunami-affected west coast region of Ace; USAID; US$250,000.
  • Integrating knowledge and policy for the management of natural resources in international development: The role of boundary organizations. National Science Foundation; US$320,000 (approved).

East Africa

  • Capacity building for two community groups adjacent to KakamegaForest Reserve to take up and manage medicinal plant-based enterprises (in partnershipwith ICIPE). Ford Foundation; US$ 267,000; Lead scientist August Temu (approved).
  • Kenya agricultural productivity and sustainable land management project. World Bank; US$297,083 (approved).
  • Pro-poor rewards for environmental services in Africa (PRESA). IFAD; US$1 million; Lead scientists Brent Swallow and Thomas Yatich.

West & Central Africa

  • Promoting quality standards in the Shea industry to boost farmers’ incomes and the increase value of the tree resource. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; US$ 5,212,210; Lead scientists Tony Simons and Eliot Masters.

Pan African and Global

  • Letter of Inquiry to the Conservation and Sustainable Development Program
    entitled Climate change adaptation for human livelihoods and biodiversity in sub Saharan Africa. John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; US$585,000. Lead scientists Louis Verchot and Mohamed Bakarr.

Building a profitable and equitable small-holder enterprise in Africa with the novel tree seed oil Allanblackia. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; US$6,625,050. Lead scientist Tony Simons.

  • Improved rainwater management for sustainable development by global water partnership associated programme of the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF). European Union; Euro 1,842.095; Lead scientist Maimbo Malesu.

6. Fund Raising Tip: Mainstreaming Budgets

Don't be tempted to think of the budget as something additional to the project, as something that gets thrown together at the last minute after the real work has been done, says fund raising specialist Cheryl Kester. According to Kester, reviewers consider budgets carefully and look for inconsistencies between the budget and the project narrative. They also look for math errors and may become suspicious if your budget adds up to a perfect $50,000. Kester also recommends writing an easy to understand budget narrative that adequately explains all budget items and makes it clear how you arrived at your costs. If you've included as much detail as possible in the budget this section should be easy and just a matter of clearly linking all budget expenditures with easily identified project tasks. Finally, she says, be sure that your project narrative makes clear the role of the main items in your budget. Don't depend solely on the budget narrative to explain it. If no mention is made of the need for a certain piece of equipment, but the equipment appears in the budget (even if the budget narrative explains it), the reviewer may wonder what the purpose of the equipment is and how relevant it really is to your project. Not all fund raisers agree on this point, but its something to keep in mind, especially for large or unusual expenditures.

Cheryl L. Kester is a principal of Thomas-Forbes & Kester, a consulting firm in the United States that helps non-profits, institutions of higher education and faith-basedorganizations obtain grantfunding. Her recommendations about budget preparation were published in the Charity Channel.

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