MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS OF SCARDA – BY 30TH JUNE 2010

• Agricultural Research Management capacity strengthening plans were developed and fully implemented by all 12 focal institutions.

• A total of about 400 management staff were trained in various management and professional courses in the 12 focal institutions.

• About 50% of FI staff with management responsibility was mentored in most of the focal institutions.

• At least two management tools were developed and implemented in each of the 12 focal institutions.

• At least 70% of focal institution course participants expressed satisfaction with Agricultural Research Management training and mentorship in each focal institution.

• Capacity strengthening plan on quality agricultural research in all FIs were developed and implemented

• A total of 78 focal institution employees have been committed to MSc training in key subject areas in universities in the sub-regions and at the University of Greenwich; 4 MSc candidates have completed their studies and others are due to finish by Oct 2010.

• About 50% of research scientists in the 12 focal institutions were mentored

• About 25% of focal institution and 10 satellite institution research staff (20% female) per country were trained in at least one subject area.

• At least 70% of participants expressed satisfaction with training and mentorship in the identified competence areas

• All the focal institutions strongly endorse the SCARDA approach. They believe that the program is highly relevant (i.e., addressing crucial bottlenecks in their organizations) and offers the right mix of capacity strengthening instruments to address them – i.e., agricultural research management (ARM) courses, short courses to improve research and technical skills, and MSc-degree education.

• It is to be expected that the various capacity strengthening activities by SCARDA will have some lasting impact and particularly so because of the ‘embedded’ approach to capacity strengthening (i.e., proper identification of capacity strengthening needs and post-training mentoring).

• Innovation capacity through cross-institutional and cross-border collaboration has been strengthened. At the national level, stakeholder analysis has helped to place the issue of cross-institutional collaboration on the agenda. In particular the collaboration between research organizations and universities has been improved because of SCARDA. Regional ARM courses and other regional events have been useful in establishing contacts across borders.

• Focal institutions can identify benefits (expected and actual) arising from specific SCARDA initiated change management interventions. This is confirmed in focal institution employee survey results.