March 10th, 2023 Kigali-Rwanda, The Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), the Association of Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA) and the Eastern Farmers Federation (EAFF) has today concluded a five-day training on communication and knowledge management for the third-party projects under the Strengthening Agricultural Knowledge & Innovation Ecosystem for Inclusive Rural Transformation & Livelihoods in Eastern Africa (AIRTEA) project implemented in Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda.
The workshop was organized to achieve the main objective of the AIRTEA project which seeks to strengthen the capacity for collective learning, knowledge exchange and communication, including the use of the Innovation platform Portal. The training also aimed at preparing thirdParty project outputs for the Annual AIRTEA Project review meeting and the Africa Agriculture Science Week (AASW8) side event.
As a knowledge driven project, Knowledge Management and Communications are key to the realization of the project’s objectives. The Communication and Visibility Plan of the project describes how partners and stakeholders, including the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) with the assistance of a Technical Assistance Unit (TAU) and the European Union (EU), will communicate internally among themselves and externally with stakeholders in order to achieve the project objective which seeks to contribute to a sustainable agrarian livelihoods and rural transformation.
Virtually present for the kickoff, was the project lead, Dr. Antwi Kwaku who emphasized the need for effective communication of project activities to achieve the intended impacts by the various third-party projects. “There is need to communicate our achievements, not only to ourselves, but to broader stakeholders by using appropriate communication and knowledge management guidelines and tools,” he said.
“We learn best by doing and sharing. Building on the gains of PAEPAED, the AIRTEA workshop was aimed at equipping project beneficiaries with the right tools and skills to advance agricultural communication, knowledge sharing and learning. It will advance the fortunes of African farmer/agripreneur and provide visibility for the funder” Says Mr. Benjamin Abugri, Knowledge Management Cluster Lead at FARA.
Mr. Wycliffe Wanjala Kaluka appreciated the Consortium for organizing the training as he had learnt a lot ranging from how to communicate effectively to both internal and external stakeholders while being gender inclusive.
“I have learnt the need to document clearly the project activities in both text, graphical and video so that we can be able to share out the impact created by the project to a wider population in various media platforms such as our company websites, Facebook, tweeter and the media houses. This publicity not only has an impact on the wider population but very key in appreciating the donors financing the project.” Said Wycliffe
Following this workshop, the third-party project communication teams will be able to effectively document and disseminate knowledge to the last mile. They will also be showcasing the lessons and good practices from the project interventions at other bigger upcoming events
including the AIRTEA Project annual review meeting in April and the during the 8th Africa Agribusiness and Science Week (AASW8) from June 5 to 8, 2023 in Durban, South Africa.
About AIRTEA Project.
The Strengthening Agricultural Knowledge & Innovation Ecosystem for Inclusive Rural Transformation & Livelihoods in Eastern Africa (AIRTEA) Project is implemented by the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), the Association of Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA) and the Eastern Farmers Federation (EAFF) and funded by the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) through ACPInnovation Fund which itself is funded by the by the European Union (EU) through the 11th European Development Fund (EDF). The OACPS is supported by a Technical Assistance Unit (TAU) – which is responsible for the implementation of the OACPS Research and Innovation Programme (https://oacps-ri.eu) to which the ACP Innovation Fund belongs.
The implementation model of the project involves a competitive grants scheme that is expected to provide grant to third-party projects in the field of academic and research institutions, ministries, departments, and government agencies responsible for ICT or science, technology and innovation, farmer cooperatives, SMEs, and civil society groups in the East Africa region to implement their respective actions towards the objectives of the project.
The implementation of the AIRTEA is expected to comply with guidelines and principles ascribed by the European Commission. These principles are clearly defined in the EU funds requirements, processes, procedures, and regulations, and includes the principles of partnerships with clearly defined roles and responsibilities of partners. Over the past one of the projects, FARA, EAFF and ASARECA as well as the eleven (11) third party projects have been working together implementing various activities aimed at realizing the objectives of the project.
For more information, contact;
Ibenu Sharon,
Communications and Stakeholder Engagement Expert,
sibenu@afaas-africa.org
+256705524167
www.afaas-africa.org