Capacity Development Strategy Review Workshop

Capacity Development (CapDev) is one of the key enablers of the impact pathways for the CGIAR Research Program (CRP) on Fish Agri-food systems (FISH) and one of the key performance indicators for the program’s success. The global trend in agricultural research and innovation fora is to strengthen the focus on CapDev as necessary for realizing impact on the ground. Many International Organisations (FAO, IFAD, etc.) have put CapDev at the heart of their mandate, considering the development of capacities of societal institutions and organizations as the core of any development project and necessary for the success and sustainability of development efforts . CapDev in projects contributing globally to Sustainable Development can help researchers, institutions, fishers, and farmers to discover and develop their own expertise and confidence. However, it is through CapDev interventions directly from the communities and organizations in these countries, on these territories, that actions can affect and reduce poverty, food insecurity and environmental degradation . CapDev in the FISH CRP is already included in many activities, such as training, communications and media, mentoring and coaching of students, institutional development, partnership mediation, and many more with the goal of strengthening the capacities of individuals, organizations and systems and provide enabling environment for development. The FISH CRP, being a multi-centre research program, makes a strength in its geographical representation and will make its scientific research relevant by fostering the leap from individual learning to sustainable livelihood outcomes and impacts through an integrated cross-country CapDev approach paying particular attention to gender and youth issues and women’s empowerment. The approved FISH CRP proposal defined different components contributing to the CapDev (ToC, partnerships, strategic actions, etc.) and a preliminary strategy was drafted and included in the proposal (see page 24 of the FISH CRP Proposal). In the FISH CRP proposal, it was stated that CapDev will be continuously refined based on the outcome evaluation that will track assumptions and risks regarding mechanisms of change and our effectiveness in addressing them. Impact assessment will measure quantitative progress towards achievement of our SLO and flagship outcome targets, disaggregated to track benefits for men, women and youth. Outcome evaluation and impact assessment will drive program-level learning and adaptation, and we will periodically adjust investment in our research areas and geographies as we gather evidence on results. The CapDev activities implemented along the FISH CRP impact pathways are contributing to the following crosscutting sub-IDOs at the CRP level: enhanced institutional capacity in public sector and private research organizations and improved capacity of women and youth to participate in decision-making. Moreover, each flagship has identified crosscutting capacity sub-IDOs within its theories of change guiding strategic CapDev actions. The Capacity Development Workshop goal, which was held at WorldFish’s Head Quarters on the 23rd and 24th of May, 2019, was to review the effectiveness of the Capacity Development strategy by stimulating scientific dialogue around the framework to strengthen the FISH approach to capacity development.