UNDP/AGRA catalytic grants have proven benefits for farming cooperatives in the groundnut value chain in Malawi
19 May 2023
Regional Hub
The 12 country projects are connected by the Regional Hub, a cross-cutting unit whose core focus is to coordinate the country projects, ensure cross-project learning and collaboration, and monitor and assess programmatic progress.
Partners
AGRA, Bioversity International – CIAT Alliance, Conservation International, FAO, ICRAF, UNDP, UN Environment
Resilient Food Systems’ Regional Hub is a cross-cutting unit whose core focus is to coordinate across the 12 implementing countries to ensure learning and scaling-up of sustainable technologies and interventions on smallholder farms. In collaboration with a range of partners and via existing platforms in sub-Saharan Africa, the Regional Hub helps address institutional and policy barriers for the inclusion of ecosystem services approaches into policies and investments for improved and sustainable smallholder agriculture and food value chains.
The focus is on facilitation of dialogue, models, metrics, and practices which bridge the agricultural and environmental agendas at various scales. This involves, where possible, strengthening of existing partnerships and institutional frameworks, learning and scaling successful methods and facilitating the creation and strengthening of multi-stakeholder science and policy platforms in sub-Saharan Africa.
The Regional Hub relies on the efforts of a range of partners, each responsible for contributing towards one of the Hub’s four core objectives:
1. Create and strengthen integrated institutional frameworks and mechanisms for scaling up proven approaches.
Regional Hub partners UN Environment and FAO help address institutional and policy barriers to the inclusion of ecosystem services approaches into policies and investments for improved and sustainable smallholder agriculture and food value chains.
2. Identify and scale up successful integrated approaches for making food systems more sustainable and resilient.
Regional Hub partners UNDP and AGRA use a value chain (VC) approach to identify and scale up best practices for “greening” food value chains, while FAO provides capacity development and technical support to countries for strengthening agricultural advisory services.
3. Monitor and assess global environmental benefits and agro-ecosystem resilience.
Regional Hub partners Conservation International, UN Environment and Bioversity International – CIAT Alliance are responsible for monitoring the global environmental benefits of the programme and strengthening the capacity of country projects to apply appropriate tools and practices for monitoring and assessment.
4. Coordinate, report, and perform general management functions across RFS projects to enhance programmatic impact, visibility, and coherence.
Within the Regional Hub, the Programme Coordination Unit, run by ICRAF, coordinates the linkages between all 12 country projects and is responsible for programme-wide knowledge management and communication activities.
Regional Hub Activities
Each RFS project conducts activities that fall under common thematic areas within the programme. Explore each project theme relevant to the Regional Hub project below to see which activities are being implemented under each theme.
Science, Policy & Institutions
- Sharing best practices on policy for Sustainable Land Management (SLM) and Integrated Natural Resources Management (INRM)
- Developing guidelines on how to integrate SLM and INRM best practices into existing regulatory frameworks
Monitoring & Evaluation
- Developing a framework for multi-scale monitoring and assessment of ecosystem services and socio-economic benefits
- Establishing a regional web platform through the Vital Signs portal with methods and datasets for monitoring Global Environmental Benefits (GEBs)
- Providing quantitative baselines for ecosystem services and gender disaggregated measures of food security
- Conducting regional training and capacity building for use of M&E protocols, tools, and platforms
Value Chains & Market Access
- Demonstrating how to address key issues related to sustainability and resilience of food value chains of regional significance
- Developing a toolkit on integrating sustainability and resilience in value chain development and scaling-up models
- Linking country projects to established networks of seed companies and private agro-dealers as well as enhanced post-harvest and financial tools
Rural Extension & Capacity Development
- Conducting regional training on integrating sustainability and resilience in value chain development and scaling-up models
- Developing capacity and technical support for strengthening of agricultural advisory service and private sector engagement
Knowledge & Learning
- Developing a scientific knowledge interface and policy-support tools to meet project needs
- Facilitating learning exchanges, encouraging a culture of peer-to-peer learning between project teams
- Developing and disseminating knowledge sharing material (best practices, lessons learnt, progress, etc)
Regional Hub News
Learn more about the activities being implemented under the Regional Hub. Stay up-to-date on key workshops, events, and lessons learned throughout the programme.
Relevant resources
We have a growing library of reports, briefs, case studies, media, tools and guidelines. Explore all resources related to the Regional Hub to get greater insight into our programme activities.
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Draft Agenda: Resilient Food Systems Final Workshop and Science-Policy Learning Day
23 May 2023More infoResilient Food Systems (RFS) country project representatives, partners and Consultative Committee members are invited along with other practitioners to the RFS Final Workshop, to be combined with a Science-Policy Knowledge Exchange Day capitalizing on RFS learnings for improved policy advocacy in Africa.
This document outlines the draft agenda of the Workshop from 6-8 June 2023.
This draft version was up to date as of 23 May 2023.
Resilient Food Systems 2022 Programme Highlights
28 April 2023More infoIn 2022, the RFS programme made significant progress toward enhancing the long-term resilience and sustainability of smallholder farming systems. The 2022 Programme Highlights report showcases the achievements and innovations of the RFS regional partners, country project teams and beneficiary communities in 12 countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
The 2022 reporting period was marked by our efforts to enhance the sustainability and scaling of project interventions. 2022 saw the completion of 8 country projects and continual actions by the remaining projects to implement further sustainability measures and keep the programme benefits going. This report captures and highlights the considerable learning and knowledge that has been generated, shared and possible by the collective efforts of all RFS partners.
2022 RFS Workshop Report
15 December 2022More infoThe stakeholders from the Resilient Food Systems programme met in Blantyre, Malawi in September 2022 to attend the Annual Knowledge Exchange & Learning Workshop.
The 4-day workshop consisted of jointly-designed learning labs, sessions from Hub partners, and an interactive evidence and experience wall. The RFS Malawi team also hosted the participants on a field trip to visit their project sites in Zomba and Phalombe districts.
Country Projects
Burkina Faso
Burundi
eSwatini
Ethiopia
Ghana
Kenya
Malawi
Niger
Nigeria
Senegal
Tanzania
Uganda
Regional Hub
Project Themes
Agroforestry & Reforestation
Gender
Integrated Water Resource Management
Knowledge & Learning
Monitoring & Evaluation
Rural Extension & Capacity Development
Science, Policy & Institutions
Sustainable Land Management
Value Chains & Market Access
© 2020 Resilient Food Systems.