ERAfrica Joint Call

Call publication date: 15 January 2013
Deadline for the submission of proposals: 15 April 2013

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

1. The ERA.Net ERAfrica
The ERA-Net scheme is a component of the European Commission’s Seventh Framework Programme providing funding to improve the cooperation and coordination of national research activities and thus strengthen the European Research Area (ERA) with other regions of the world.

Building on mutual interest of Programme Owners in African countries, EU Member States (EU MS) and countries associated to the EU RTD Framework Programme (AC) to implement coordinated joint activities towards a multilateral funding scheme a “Group of Funding Parties” has been established.

This Group of Funding Parties is supported in this process by the consortium of the ERAfrica Project, which is funded by the European Commission as a Coordination and Support Activity under the 7th EU RTD Framework Programme.

2. Objectives of the Joint Call
The goal of the Joint Call is to create long-term research collaboration between EU Member States and/or Associated Countries and Africa. Research collaboration of a high standard between teams from EU Member States and/or Associated Countires and Africa will be supported through open competition.


ERAfrica is going to publish a Joint Call for proposals in the three thematic areas:

1. Renewable Energies
2. Interfacing Challenges (e.g. health, food + energy security, telecommunication gap, societal challenges…)
3. New Ideas (thematically open, with focus on the novelty of the idea/approach).

The tentative period for the evaluation of proposals is May‐August 2013.

Appreciation of CIRAD on the PAEPARD users led process

11 January 2013. Yaoundé, Cameroon. During the PAEPARD communication workshop, Patrice Grimaud - Regional Director if CIRAD for Central Africa Yaounde, Cameroon - was interviewed about his participation to the PAEPARD workshop of 10th – 12th December 2012. Nairobi. LINKING RESEARCH TO APPLICATION WITHIN THE EXTENSIVE LIVESTOCK VALUE CHAIN.

The general principle of the users led brokerage procedure is giving the lead to “research users” partners (especially FO) in the organization of brokerage activities, in particular the organization of “brokerage workshops” around a federating theme that they have themselves chosen.

Patrice Grimaud answered following questions:

1. What is your appreciation of the EAFF report on Pastoralism: Post handling of Extensive Livestock value chains in Eastern Africa with Specific Focus on Kenya and Uganda?
2. What is the advantage of a Farmer Organisation taking the lead?
3. Do you find the PAEPARD approach innovative?

Transcript/ tranlation:

1. The report is well argued,  detailed and complete. The choice of Jean Ndikumana was pertinent. In my former responsabilities in Uganda I already met Dr. Ndikumana several times at ILRI. Now that he is working at ASARECA on livestock. He certainly was the best choice for making this prelimenary report, which earmarks the activities and  priorities in livestock development. 
2. I'm convinced that a well established and legitimate farmer organisation such a EAFF with a strong institutional basis and policy making capacity in the sub region that they are one of the best intermediaries to link needs to research questions as aimed by PAEPARD.
3. It is certainly innovative and unusual for the type of projects funded by the European Commission. I see the weight in Cameroon of the EC in forest management and the production of banana plantain and those approaches are totally different. This approach through a farmer organisation is certainly innovative and I hope FO will be able to give a follow upon the projects developed by PAEPARD.

Oxford Farming Conference

2 - 4 January 2013. This Conference was held at the Oxford University Examination Schools. The conference included a hard-hitting political debate session, a session on technology & innovation and one on inspiration & global technology. The 2013 Research examines what farming delivers to society - it is a seminal piece of work which quantifies the non-direct contributions farming makes to society in a financial context.

The most surprising intervention was the presentation by a self-confessed former anti-GM lobbyist. Environmentalist Mark Lynas used to be a fierce opponent of GM crops. Yet he told delegates at the Oxford Farming Conference his view has completely changed.

Mark Lynas from Oxford Farming Conference on Vimeo.

I want to start with some apologies. For the record, here and upfront, I apologise for having spent several years ripping up GM crops. I am also sorry that I helped to start the anti-GM movement back in the mid 1990s, and that I thereby assisted in demonising an important technological option which can be used to benefit the environment.

See full transcript of the speech

First Pesticidal Plant conference

21st to 24th January 2013, Nairobi, Kenya. The International Centre for Insect Physiology and Ecology is hosting the first Pesticidal Plant conference at their main campus. 

This conference is organised by the African Dryland Alliance for Pesticidal Plant Technologies: A network for optimising and promoting the use of indigenous botanical knowledge for food security and poverty alleviation in Africa.

ADAPPT is a project supported by a European Union grant through the ACP Science and Technology Programme to establish a network of scientists and agricultural technicians, from NGOs, agricultural institutes, ministries and universities from Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe and the United Kingdom with a focus on pesticidal plants* as environmentally benign and safer alternatives to synthetic pesticides. The specific partners are listed on the Partners page of this website.

Subthemes:

1. Bio-prospecting: Product development, Bio-safety, Standardization and Commercialization
2. Environmental conservation and climate change: synthetic biology and biotechnology
3. Access and benefit sharing: Intellectual Property Rights, Innovation, Advocacy and Policy
4. Culture and indigenous knowledge

Subject areas:

1. Stored product protection
2. Field crop pests
3. Livestock and human disease vectors
4. Plant disease control
5. Weed management
6. Bio-fertilizers and biopesticide technologies
7. Propagation and conservation
8. other pesticidal plant research

Advancing a Science and Technology Agenda for African Agriculture

15 January 2013. Ababa, Ethiopia,  – In an event that highlights continued progress towards African agricultural sustainability, African Union Commission (AUC) Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture, H.E. Rhoda Peace Tumusiime and Chief Executive Officer of the Consortium of International Agricultural Research Centers (CGIAR Consortium), Dr. Frank Rijsberman signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on behalf of the two organizations.

The MoU describes a strategic partnership under the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) of the AUC and CGIAR Consortium to facilitate, “enhanced coordination, collaboration, and alignment between CGIAR Consortium members and initiatives and those of African agricultural research and development organizations at the country, sub-regional, and continental levels with regard to their respective priorities, objectives, and programs for increased agricultural productivity in Africa.”

The MoU calls for joint actions to guide implementation of alignment of programs and support activities for CAADP, including: 

1. a research alignment plan that coordinates research programs with CAADP National Investment Plans; 
2. a Science and Technology Agenda for African Agriculture; 
3. a joint plan to support regional and sub-regional research activities; 
4. the development of joint African and CGIAR technology platforms; 
5. technical support; 
6. and joint sharing of information and knowledge.

Building ICM strategy development skills of agriculture and rural development organisations in ACP countries

The Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) has published the “Information and Communication Management (ICM) - Strategy Development: (i) Faciltators’ Manual and (ii) User's Guide”.

The Guide and Manual have been developed to meet a need expressed by agriculture and rural development organisations in African, Pacific and Caribbean (ACP) countries highlighted in the needs assessment studies conducted from 2003-2012 by CTA.

The Guide & Manual primarily aim to meet the need for building ICM strategy development skills of agriculture and rural development organisations in ACP countries. These organisations range from small NGOs to medium-sized organisations, to large government departments or research institutes. The suggestions the publications contains can be adapted to local conditions.

Download the Facilitator’s Guide:
http://publications.cta.int/publications/publication/1726/
Download the User’s Manual:
http://publications.cta.int/publications/publication/1727/

Multi-Stakeholder Platform Meeting Sustainable Livestock Agenda

22-24 JANUARY 2013 NAIROBI, KENYA. 3rd Multi-stakeholder platform meeting. The Global Agenda of Action towards sustainable livestock sector development1 (GAA) has embraced the concept of improving “natural resource use efficiency”2 (NRUE) by means of new technologies to meet the world’s growing demand for livestock products while also reducing the environmental costs of the sector.

A policy brief entitled "Capitalizing on pastoralism to feed people and achieve livestock sector sustainability", signed by the CELEP coalition and initiated by the League of Pastoral Peoples, IIED, the Life Network, et al. proposes an alternative approach to increasing livestock sector output without adding to environmental externalities: enhanced and more efficient use of the biomass in arid and remote areas by means of strengthened and modernized pastoralist production systems. 

This policy brief was created on the occasion of the GAA, now renamed Sustainable Livestock Agenda, that was launched on 22/01/2013 in Nairobi.

see www.livestockdialogue.org for more information.
Download the agenda of the meeting here