Structure and roles of the Prolinnova International Support Team (IST)
Revised 6 August 2010 (subject to change)
The International Support Team (IST) is composed of several individuals from various national and international organisations that are providing support in international programme coordination, capacity building, networking, website management, documentation, publishing, international policy dialogue, monitoring and evaluation (M&E) etc, as well as country/region-specific support to building up and strengthening the country/regional programmes (CPs/RPs).
The IST includes the coordinators of multi-country subprogrammes under the Prolinnova umbrella, such as FAIR (Farmer Access to Innovation Resources), HAPID (HIV/AIDS and Participatory Innovation Development) and PROFEIS (Promoting Farmer Experimentation and Innovation in the Sahel), some of which are funded partly from other sources than the core funds for the Prolinnova programme. The coordinators of these subprogrammes are responsible for:
• facilitating and coordinating planning, implementation and evaluation of the subprogrammes;
• advising partners on methodology, content-related matters and reporting requirements; and
• reporting on the subprogramme to the IST, POG and funding organisation(s).
Individual membership in the IST is determined according to tasks that the Prolinnova Secretariat (the NGO managing the Prolinnova programme, currently ETC EcoCulture in ETC Foundation) and the partner organisations holding a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with this NGO have allocated to their staff members.
At the current time (August 2010), the individuals and their host organisations that make up the IST and their fields of work within Prolinnova are (in alphabetical order):
Table 1: Division of responsibilities within the IST
Name / Organisation / Country / Fields of workAnn Waters-Bayer / ETC EcoCulture / Germany / Backstopping Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, PROFEIS & South Africa; climate change; gender & youth; HAPID; LISF; POG Secretariat; policy dialogue ARD fora; publications; website content; link to JOLISAA
Annie Secretario / IIRR / Philippines / Website / listserver management
Bara Guèye / IED Afrique / Senegal / PROFEIS (including backstopping all countries involved)
Brigid Letty / INR / South Africa / HAPID
Chesha Wettasinha / ETC EcoCulture / Netherlands / Backstopping Ghana, Nepal & South Africa; cross-visits; farmer-led documentation; gender & youth; HAPID; institutional change; M&E; PID training; POG Secretariat; publications coordination
Emily Monville / IIRR / Philippines / Coordination IIRR team; website management
Jean-Marie Diop / ETC EcoCulture / Belgium / Backstopping Niger, PROFEIS & Sudan; cross-visits; PID training; website content
Julian Gonsalvez / IIRR / Philippines / Backstopping Cambodia; M&E; publications
Laurens van Veldhuizen / ETC EcoCulture / Netherlands / Backstopping Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Pacific, Tanzania & Uganda; curriculum development; farmer organisations; institutional change; LISF; M&E; policy dialogue; programme management
Lilibeth Sulit / IIRR / Philippines / Publications production and distribution
Mariana Wongtschowski / ETC EcoCulture / Spain / Backstopping Andes, Cambodia, Mozambique, Nepal & Sudan; climate change; LISF; M&E; policy dialogue capacity building; programme management
Marise Espinelli / IIRR / Philippines / M&E; training
Sabina Di Prima / CIS-VUA / Netherlands / Backstopping South Africa & Uganda; curriculum development; IST representative in POG; SCI-SLM[1]
Will Critchley / CIS-VUA / Netherlands / Backstopping Ethiopia, Kenya, Pacific, Tanzania & Uganda; publications; SCI-SLM
Wim Honkoop / ETC EcoCulture / Netherlands / General support; M&E; website content
Note: Bold italics indicates that the primary coordination / backstopping role lies with this person.
For each CP/RP, at least one person from ETC or CIS–VUA has been assigned as first or second backstopper so that information from each CP is available for regular meetings at the Prolinnova Secretariat. The action list from these meetings is circulated to participants for corrections and then circulated to all other IST members (in the Netherlands and abroad) who were not at the meeting.
Seen on the basis of organisations, division of responsibilities – beyond country-specific backstopping – is as follows:
ETC EcoCulture: host of the International Secretariat for the Prolinnova programme, holds the ultimate responsibility for overall programme management including:
• drawing up MoU/contracts with programme partners at international, regional and national level
• drawing up annual workplans and budgets for international activities, in consultation with the IST members
• compiling and distributing six-monthly and annual reports on the programme
• programme monitoring and evaluation.
The programme manager reports to the POG and the funding organisations.
The Secretariat handles overall coordination of backstopping, climate change and PID, farmer-led documentation, international policy dialogue and publications. It coordinates the FAIR and supports the HAPID and PROFEIS subprogrammes. It serves as secretariat to the Prolinnova Oversight Group (POG). It also plays a large role in raising awareness of potential donors in Prolinnova activities and country networks, and coordinates fundraising for multi-country (sub)programmes.
International Institute of Rural Reconstruction (IIRR): coordination of training, ICT, website, listserver, ME, and production and distribution of publications.
Centre for International Cooperation, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (CIS–VUA): coordination of curriculum development, support to publications, and coordination of SCI-SLM (Stimulating Community Initiatives in Sustainable Land Management), an associate programme working with some of the same partners plus other, non-Prolinnova partners.
Institute of Natural Resources (INR): coordination of the HAPID subprogramme.
Innovations, Environnement, Développement en Afrique (IED Afrique): coordination of PROFEIS subprogramme.
In addition, Prolinnova partners in Kenya, South Africa and the International Secretariat are collaborating in the EU-funded research and networking project JOLISAA (Joint Learning in Innovation Systems in Sustainable Agriculture) which runs from February 2010 to July 2012. This makes use of the Prolinnova network and should enrich the learning within this network.
There will be a similarly close relationship with INSARD (Including Smallholders in Agricultural Research for Development), currently under negotiation with the EU. This will support efforts to increase the influence of civil society (farmer organisations and NGOs) in decision-making related to agricultural research and development at national and international level.
Figure 1: Relationship of the IST to the Prolinnova Secretariat and ETC EcoCulture
Backstopping
Country/Regional Programme backstopping. Each of the initial nine countries in the Prolinnova programme supported by DGIS (Netherlands Directorate General for International Cooperation) has a main backstopper and a supporting backstopper from the International Support Team (IST). The main backstopper has a close relationship with the CP in reflecting, analysing, planning and advising and in facilitating self-evaluation. S/he should ensure that copies of all major correspondence related to the CP are sent to the supporting backstopper. The latter can replace the main backstopper if the need or opportunity arises (e.g. response to urgent messages, specific technical expertise, overseas travel for another purpose); otherwise s/he would normally not visit the CP. S/he gives a second opinion on issues related to the CP.
At the current time, the backstopping responsibilities are allocated as follows:
Table 2: Backstopping of DGIS-funded Country Programmes
Country / Main backstopper / Supporting backstopper(s)Cambodia / Julian Gonsalvez / Mariana Wongtschowski
Ethiopia / Ann Waters-Bayer / Will Critchley
Ghana / Laurens van Veldhuizen / Chesha Wettasinha
Nepal / Chesha Wettasinha / Mariana Wongtschowski
Niger / Jean-Marie Diop / Bara Guèye / Ann Waters-Bayer
South Africa / Ann Waters-Bayer / Sabina Di Prima / Chesha Wettasinha
Sudan / Jean-Marie Diop / Mariana Wongtschowski
Tanzania / Laurens van Veldhuizen / Will Critchley
Uganda / Will Critchley / Laurens van Veldhuizen
The DGIS funds cover face-to-face backstopping activities (one visit per year) in these countries, but not in the new CPs/RPs. The persons listed in the table below are contact persons within the IST for the new networks. If new CP/RPs raise funds that include a budget line for backstopping by IST members, these persons may become the main and supporting backstoppers. It is up to each new CP/RP to decide whether it wants to backstopping and, if so, to include the costs in its budget.
Table 3: Contact persons for new/emerging CPs/RPs not funded by DGIS
Country / Main contact person / Supporting contact personAndes / Mariana Wongtschowski / -
Burkina Faso / Jean-Marie-Diop / Bara Guèye
Cameroon / Jean-Marie Diop / Ann Waters-Bayer
Kenya / Laurens van Veldhuizen / Ann Waters-Bayer
Mali / Bara Guèye / Jean-Marie Diop
Morocco / Jean-Marie Diop / Will Critchley
Mozambique / Mariana Wongtschowski / Ann Waters-Bayer
Nigeria / Ann Waters-Bayer / Laurens van Veldhuizen
Pacific / Will Critchley / Laurens van Veldhuizen
Philippines / Emily Monville / -
Senegal / Bara Guèye / Jean-Marie Diop
Vietnam / Laurens van Veldhuizen / (IIRR)
Individuals from the existing CPs/RPs have occasionally advised other CPs/RPs (existing or emerging) on an assignment-by-assignment basis after consultation between the requesting CP/RP and the Prolinnova Secretariat. As much as possible, the network envisages that this trend will grow and that less backstopping will be done by IST members from international or northern-based organisations. Thus, the roles of the IST will change over time, although there will still be a need for close contact of the IST with the CPs for international policy-dialogue purposes.
Purposes of CP/RP backstopping
• To provide (to the CP/RP being backstopped and from it to others, also beyond the Prolinnova programme) information and inspiration about approaches and experiences in promoting local innovation and Participatory Innovation Development (PID)
• To advise the CP/RP on issues linked to programme planning, implementation and M&E
• To facilitate critical analysis and learning within the CP/RP
• To support the National Steering Committee (NSC) in giving strategic direction to the CP/RP
• To provide technical support to the CP/RP in its implementation
• To contribute to capacity building of the CP/RP partners.
Thematic backstopping. In addition to the persons who serve as advisors of specific CPs/ RPs, there are persons who give advisory support on specific subprogrammes (FAIR, HAPID, PROFEIS) or themes (farmer-led documentation, gender, policy dialogue etc) or for specific purposes, such as an international topical workshop. Thus far, most thematic backstoppers have come from the IST, but a few specialists from the CPs or outside of the Prolinnova network have been called in as advisors for, e.g., farmer-led documentation, HAPID and policy dialogue.
CPs/RPs may direct requests for advisory support for specific activities, such as capacity building, proposal writing, workshop facilitation, to the Prolinnova Secretariat, which will try to find the best option. The IST has started to draw up a roster of specialists from both within and outside the IST and CPs/RPs, to help in identifying suitable advisors. These include advisors in documenting local innovation, facilitating PID, policy dialogue, farmer-led documentation, gender issues, HIV/AIDS issues, curriculum development, LISFs etc.
It has been agreed within the IST that thematic backstoppers will always keep the CP/RP backstoppers informed about important correspondence and activities in “their” CPs/RPs.
Guiding principles in backstopping
A backstopper functions as a sounding board for the CP/RP, and provides ideas and an “external” perspective on issues of concern to it. Backstopping is based on a relationship of trust and partnership: the backstopper becomes a team-mate in accomplishing the CP objectives. As the backstopper should be facilitating the worldwide sharing of country-level learning, s/he needs to play a pro-active role in requesting information from the CP/RP and in offering support to stimulate practice-based learning in the country and to capture the lessons learnt. Where the backstopper recognises a learning need, s/he may offer support even if the CP/RP has not requested it.
The guiding characteristics and principles of backstopping in Prolinnova are:
• The backstopper is an “insider” as s/he has good insight into the CP/RP and is, at the same time, an “outsider” bringing different perspectives and information to the CP/RP.
• The CP/RP coordinator keeps the main and supporting backstopper updated on important developments, i.e. not only should the backstopper be supporting the CP, also the CP should support the backstopper by providing information needed for policy dialogue, fundraising, international learning etc.
• A backstopping visit may take place when requested by the coordinator or Secretariat of the CP/RP for specific purposes, or if an opportunity presents itself for the backstopper to be in the country/region and meaningful activities can be arranged with the CP/RP for this period.
• The backstopping support is provided within the overall framework set out by the CP/RP.
• The overall management of the CP/RP is the responsibility of the CP/RP coordinator, guided by the NSC; the backstopper plays an advisory role.
• If requested by the CP/RP, the main backstopper can be replaced in consultation with the Prolinnova Secretariat at ETC EcoCulture
• If additional expertise is needed in order to implement the CP or subprogramme plan better, the backstopper should encourage the involvement of other persons from within or outside the country/region, within the budget limitations of the programme.
Main tasks in backstopping
• Contribute to capacity building and skill development in technical and social aspects
• Facilitate critical analysis and joint learning processes
• Contribute to learning through knowledge management and capitalisation of experience
• Provide specific inputs, advice and support to develop new strategies, plans and proposals
• Comment on proposals, reports, documents, publications etc
• Provide support in developing and applying participatory planning, monitoring and evaluation formats, tools and processes
• Assist in preparing key in-country or regional events and, if necessary and possible budget-wise, support their facilitation
• Provide support in awareness raising, policy dialogue and mobilising funds for the CP/RP or subprogramme and encourage it to be pro-active in seeking in-country and external funds
• Link with similar experiences elsewhere, and promote information exchange at international level (networking between and beyond the CP/RPs and subprogrammes).
In some cases, a backstopper may need to encourage the CP/RP coordinator to install Skype software, to use information from the Prolinnova website and to submit information to the website or, in general, to coach them in using the Internet.
Modalities of backstopping
• Backstopping is carried out by means of:
- electronic communication, telephone, Skype, video conferencing (to minimise costs, this
“distance-backstopping” is the main modality of support)
- one face-to-face backstopping visit per year to each CP receiving DGIS funds (or more visits,
if opportunities arise); wherever time and funds allow, this should include a field visit
- face-to-face backstopping during international meetings and workshops attended by the
backstopper and one or more CP/RP partners.