Research Planning Workshop Preliminary Meeting

Wednesday, February 27th, 2013

Present:

Azage Tegegne– LIVES

BerhanuGebremedhin– LIVES- Chair

Dirk Hoekstra – LIVES

GetnetAssefa– EIAR

Kinde Getnet – IWMI

Fitsum Hagos – IWMI

Fanos Mekonnen – LIVES

MuluhiwotGetachew– LIVES- Secretary

Venue:IWMI Meeting Room, Addis Ababa

Time:9:00AM – 11:30AM

Agenda

Discussion on the upcoming Research Planning Workshop

Dr. Berhanu opened the meeting by welcoming participants and stating that the Research Planning Workshop has been scheduled to take place from March 26 – 28, 2013 at the ILRI campus.

  1. Objectives of the Workshop
  1. Develop and agree on an overall research framework for the project (types of research, modalities of implementation, roles of partners, finance, research methodology, data managementetc)
  2. Determine multi-location research topic priorities in support of proposed interventions in LIVES zones & align them with ILRI and partner research agendas
  3. Identify researchers who would take lead responsibility in multi-location research topics and syntheses across locations for each commodity.

Dr. Berhanu reiterated that when we decide on priorities, they will not only be for LIVES but will also be aligned with other partners as well.

  1. Participants:Preliminary list of participants for this workshop include staff from the MoA, EIAR, the 4 RARIs, IWMI (Simon, Philippe, Kinde,Fitsum, Gebre), ILRI (Steve Staal, Iain Wright, Alan Duncan, Jane Poole, Isabelle, Alexandra Jorge, Tom Randolph, Derek Baker, Iddo, Kathy (?)), Universities (Deans of Graduate Studies), EDRI, East African Productivity Program, EDGET, AGP, LMDP, PRIME, ENGINE, ATA, CIP, ICARDA, Ministry of Water, and the Horticulture Development Agency.
  1. Workshop Program Outline

Welcome from the LIVES Project – Azage Tegegne

Welcome from IWMI – Simon Langan

Opening of workshop - EIAR DG

Introduction to LIVES – Azage Tegegne

Summary of proposed Value Chain Interventions in the Zones and potential research areas – Dirk Hoekstra

Workshop Objectives & Program – Peter Ballantine/Ewen

Proposed overall research framework or principles of research framework – Berhanu Gebremedhin

Mainstreaming Gender in Irrigated and livestock value chain development –Ephrem/Kathy

Group work by commodity: (The commodities will guide the selection of specific individual participants to ensure that critical mass is available for each commodity value chain. Cross cutting issues of gender, environment, extension/knowledge management/capacity building, food safety, and crop-livestock interaction will be incorporated in each commodity value chain deliberations).

Dairy

Beef

Small ruminants

Poultry

Apiculture

Vegetables

Fruits

Plenary: groups reporting back

Plenary: Deliberation on cross-cutting issues (Gender, Extension/Knowledge Management/Capacity Building, Environment, Food Safety, crop-livestock interaction)

The comments by the meeting participants are summarized below:

  • Issues of irrigation management and methodologies that will be followed must also be presented
  • Modalities of research activities and engagement of EIAR and other partners must be discussed. EIAR staff are wondering about their role and need to be actively involved in the project so that they can own the project. We need to identify people from EIAR who should know what they will be expected to do and make appropriate changes. All partners who are actively involved MUST own the project. At EIAR, more people need to be aware of what LIVES is about since at the moment it is only Dr. Getnet who has knowledge about the project
  • There will be a core research group who will influence and implement the value chain research of each commodity. Perhaps the group can be divided into two. Since the workshop doesn’t have a ‘pre-cooked’ manual, what will be done during the project will be decided upon at this workshop
  • It might not be a bad idea to have a pre-cooked menu but if there have been no decisions, then what participants come up with might be too broad
  • A matrix will be prepared to show who will be responsible for each Commodity at each Zone as well as at the Federal level
  • There will be three types of research – Diagnostic, Action and Impact. However, after the Zonal workshops are complete, there will be a final list of interventions and research topics will be proposed based on the interventions.
  • What do we expect to gain out of this workshop? Will there be an agreed upon research agenda? Will we require additional time for participants to come up with ideas after the workshop ends? How will the workshop be structured every day?
  • It is important to have a commodity focus and decide who is in charge, and there could alsobe multiple partners. Today’s meeting should be followed up with another meeting to discuss the research topics, who’s responsible for doing what, and how will we go about it. For some, there are already methodologiesin place and none yet for others so the follow up meeting will be important for setting up methodologies
  • There should be a team of researchers for each commodity, for instance for dairy, there will be researchers from EIAR, LIVES and other ILRI programs
  • The research topics will be decided upon at the workshop but the teams will come up with the actual research proposals later on.
  • In terms of research priorities of our partner organizations, they should look at what LIVES is trying to achieve and try to see how their own agendas can be aligned with it.
  • The time frame for the upcoming activities should be as follows
  • Research Planning Workshop – March 26 – 28, 2013
  • Proposal Development – end of April
  • Review Agreements/Governance - ??
  • The team for each commodity should be represented by EIAR, LIVES, RARIs, ILRI, IWMI and each team will have a ‘leader’.
  • In terms of interventions, it’s important that LIVES picks the ones where we know there is insufficient knowledge
  • Diagnostic Research – trying to understand the situation as it is. How do we support these results by quantified data? It is best done by a multidisciplinary team and a rapid market appraisal is an example of this type of research. However, diagnostic research might not be necessary for every commodity
  • Action Research –It’s about conducting research on interventions to evaluate them and their benefit to farmers (efficiency & effectiveness) and also do a cost/benefit analysis
  • Impact Research – to try and see what market oriented development changes took place, for instance revenues from sale of improved/non improved livestock that can be attributed to project interventions. Real impact research is about ‘where are we now’ and to see increases in income due to the project. Impact research is about identifying challenges and problems for future follow up in addition to knowing impact.
  • Some interventions might not vary from Region to Region and may not be commodity specific either (e.g. capacity building)

The meeting was adjourned at 11:30 and Dr. Berhanu stated that we would share the minutes of the meeting and thanked the participants for their contribution to this meeting given their busy schedules. A follow-up meeting may be called after the minutes are circulated.

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