1. Partnership to Cut Hunger. and Poverty in Africa
Partnership to Cut Hunger and Poverty in Africa Research-Based Advocacy for African Agricultural Development  
US Agricultural Development Assistance to Sub-Saharan Africa Julie Howard Executive Director & CEO Partnership to Cut Hunger and Poverty in Africa Presentation to the Brussels Rural Development Briefings Briefing n° Beyond Aid: Financing Agriculture in ACP countries Wednesday 15th September 2010 – 8h30 – 13h00 European Commission, Building Borschette, - Rue Froissart, 36- Brussels

2. Outline About the Partnership
Reports on US Agricultural Development Assistance
Scope & Methods
Findings: Trends in US Assistance
Key Issues in Monitoring Agricultural Development Assistance
Evolution of US Assistance Toward a Demand-Driven Approach
Challenges in Implementing Demand-Driven Programs and Priorities for Action
Conclusions

3. About the Partnership
Independent US-African coalition founded in 2001 by African Presidents, US statesmen, university and NGO leaders
Research-based advocacy to increase US investment in African ag & rural development and improve effectiveness of US policies and programs
Focus: food security and ag development policy; agricultural markets and trade; infrastructure; capacity building; food aid reform
Conducts focused research, synthesizes existing studies to inform policy, e.g., annual report on levels of US Assistance to African Agriculture
Convenes US and African experts to identify practical ways to address problems and opportunities in rural Africa
Advocates for these ideas to be implemented by US and global decision- makers, works to align donor and African national and regional policies and practices

4. Reports on US Agricultural Development Assistance
The Partnership has released two reports that examine levels and trends of U.S. agricultural development assistance to Sub- Saharan Africa.
First Report with funding from the Rockefeller Foundation -- “Investing in Africa’s Future: US Agricultural Development Assistance for Sub-Saharan Africa” reported on U.S. agricultural development assistance from 2000 to 2004 and was released in September 2005.
Second Report with funding from the Gates Foundation -- “Supporting Africa’s Strategy for Reducing Rural Poverty” reported on US agricultural development assistance from 2005 to 2008 and was released in October 2009.
Follow-up Report on US agricultural development assistance in 2009 will be released in October 2010.

5. Scope & Methods
Aims to capture in a simple, concise, and repeatable manner the agricultural development assistance conveyed by the US government and categorize each institution’s assistance according to the following categories:
On-Farm Productivity Enhancements,
Agriculture-related Physical Infrastructure, and
Agriculture-related Policy and Market Infrastructure
Emphasis is on institutions that contribute more than an incidental level of concessional or grant financing for agricultural development in Sub-Saharan Africa.

6. Scope & Methods
Reviewing each institution’s publicly available documents, interviewing personnel
Estimating each institution’s contribution to U.S. agricultural development assistance for sub-Saharan Africa.
Straightforward for bilaterals but for multilaterals requires 2 steps:
Deriving proportion of Institution’s contribution to agricultural development in Sub-Saharan Africa
Utilizing that proportion to determine the share of US contributions to the institution going to agricultural development in Sub-Saharan Africa
Categorizing agricultural development assistance
Two approaches used depending on data availability:
An examination of individual or a representative sample of projects and compacts – MCC, USADF, and USDA’s Food for Progress.
A correlation of the institution’s reporting at the element level with our individual categories – USAID, FAO and the World Bank’s IDA.
Soliciting feedback from each institution on estimates

7. Key Issues in Monitoring
Lack of a robust, consistently utilized operational definition of agricultural development assistance across the board
Ongoing revisions of reporting methods by the different agencies studied
Heavy reliance on numbers provided by each agency (i.e. data collection systems)
Complicated and time-consuming US budget process
Mixed reporting cycles: Some agencies report by fiscal year, others by calendar year
Meshing of pooled funding and targeted bilateral funding in multilateral organizations; and accounting for increase in inter-funding of programs among multilateral agencies.

8. Key Findings: Trends in US Assistance to African Agriculture
: US assistance for African agriculture flat ($460-$514 million)
: significant increase due to Millennium Challenge Corporation and African requests for agricultural infrastructure ($677-$840 million)
2008: Global Food Price Crisis motivates increase to $1.1 billion
2009: At L’Aquila G8 Summit, historic global commitments of $22b over three years, including $3.5b from USG

9. Evolution of US Assistance: Moving Toward a “Demand-Driven” Approach…
Adoption of Rome Principles (World Food Summit 2009)
(1) invest in country-owned plans
(2) foster strategic coordination at national, regional, and global levels
(3) strive for a twin-track, comprehensive approach to meet immediate needs as well as foster long-term development
(4) ensure a strong role for the multilateral system
(5) ensure sustained and substantial commitment by all partners to investments in agriculture, food security and nutrition

10. Feed the Future Guided by Rome Principles
We will elevate coordination within the U.S government to align our diverse resources and effectively partner with other stakeholders to leverage and harmonize our investments for the greatest collective impact. We see our role and that of other donors as catalyzing pro-poor economic growth through providing diplomatic, economic, and development assistance. We envision a world where private investment drives sustainable growth, and where country and market-led development supplants foreign assistance
Guided by Rome Principles
address root causes of hunger and under-nutrition
encourage lasting food security through country-owned processes and multi-stakeholder partnerships
make sustained and accountable commitments
Address needs of small farmers and agribusiness by
harnessing the power of women
building on US comparative advantage in research, innovation and private sector-led growth
increasing investment in nutrition, ag development while maintaining support for humanitarian food assistance

11. Feed the Future Progress
Feed the Future Guide (strategic plan) released May 2010
Phase I investments: foundational investments/capacity building
Phase II investments: country investment plan implementation
Multi-year implementation plans will strategically target investments in focus countries
20 initial plans for US investment issued FY2010:
Africa:
3 regions: East, West and Southern Africa
13 countries: Ethiopia, Ghana, Liberia, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania Uganda, Zambia
Asia: 2 countries
Latin America: 2 countries
Joint USDA/USAID Norman Borlaug Commemorative Research Initiative launched

12. Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP)
Multi-donor trust fund hosted at the World Bank
Intended to assist in implementation of G-8 commitments through “the immediate targeting and delivery of additional funding to public and private entities to support national and regional strategic plans for agriculture and food security in poor countries”
Provides near-immediate funding to meet demand, in contrast to slow bilateral and multilateral mechanisms
Reduces transaction costs and better aligns donor responses
Investments may target: agricultural productivity, market linkages for farmers, risk mitigation, non-farm rural livelihoods, institution/capacity building
Created April 2010, after wide consultation with potential recipients.
Housed at World Bank

13. GAFSP Progress
Donor contributions to date total $900m over three years (US, Canada, Spain, South Korea, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation)
First allocations, totaling $224m, were made in June to: Bangladesh ($50m), Haiti ($35m), Rwanda ($50m), Sierra Leone ($50m) and Togo ($39m)
For the October 2010 Steering Committee decision meeting, $120m is available to >25 applicants
New financial commitments are expected through 2013, with implementation through 2019
Donors can channel finances through a public mechanism or private mechanism. Private mechanism is run by the IFC and addresses core agriculture and food security areas.
The first Call for Proposals was issued to IDA countries on May 21, 2010.
·   Bangladesh ($50 million):  To enhance the productivity and resilience of smallholder farmers against tidal surges, flash floods and frequent droughts, the fund will finance the adoption of improved seed varieties and better water management techniques. ·   Haiti ($35 million):  The fund will raise the productivity of smallholder farmers, especially women, by improving access to seeds, fertilizers and technology.  ·   Rwanda ($50 million):  With 90 percent of Rwanda’s arable land on hillsides, the GAFSP investments will transform hillside agriculture by reducing erosion and bolstering productivity in an environmentally sustainable manner. ·   Sierra Leone ($50 million):  GAFSP will finance commercialization of smallholder farmers through better inputs, farm management training and linking farmers to market. ·   Togo ($39 million):  The fund will bolster yields in rice, maize and cassava through the provision of improved seed varieties, technical assistance for smallholder farmers and better smallholder access to affordable credit.

14. Challenges in Implementing a “Demand-Driven” Approach and Priorities for Action
The Partnership’s February 2010 US-Africa Forum gathered > 200 members of the US and African development community to:
take stock of progress over the past year
discuss the main challenges affecting the ability of the US to respond to country-determined food security priorities and the “Rome principles”
identify options for addressing these challenges
2009 conference issued call for a demand-driven, African-owned approach to food security assistance
2010 conference, “Putting Principles into Action,” sought to “develop a clearer understanding of the most critical challenges affecting the ability of the US to more swiftly respond to country-determined food security priorities” and to “identify pragmatic options for addressing these challenges.”
Keynote speakers, panels, and break-out sessions addressed these challenges in more detail

15. Fostering New Ways of Working Together
Fostering new ways of working together on strategic problems—with private business, civil society and academia in the host country and US; across USG agencies; and with the multilateral system
What incentives are in place to motivate improved coordination among national government agencies? Among bilateral donors?
What does demand-driven mean? Whose demand? How are private sector and civil society, including int’l and domestic NGOs, involved in developing and implementing CAADP-like plans? Do non-government entities feel ownership and responsibility for these priorities and plans?

16. Meeting the Challenge of Capacity Building
Meeting the challenge of capacity building, i.e., focusing external technical assistance in the near term on the longer term strategic goal of building the expertise and institutions to plan, manage and drive agricultural development agendas in-country
What capacity-building investments –in individuals and institutions -- will be necessary to create the next generation of African scientists, civil society leaders, businessmen/women and government managers of the future? What training institutions will deliver continuously updated information about agriculture, nutrition, health and business development strategies to communities?

17. Increasing Private Sector Investment at National and Regional Levels
Food security will not be achieved without substantially increased private sector investment in production, processing, storage, marketing, and trade of food and agricultural commodities.
What – very specifically – must be done to Improve enabling environments for agribusiness, e.g., what are the highest priority national and regional infrastructure investments; how are land administration and ownership issues being addressed?
How to improve the flow of information about opportunities to potential investors within Africa and globally?
Farmer associations and cooperatives are core private sector businesses with the potential to attract and manage greatly-expanded investments. What specific skills are needed and how will these be delivered?
How can African- based business development services (BDS) be nurtured to support food and agricultural system development (production, processing, marketing, storage, export)?

18. Improving Metrics and Accountability
A shared commitment to expanded monitoring, analysis, evaluation and learning (M&E +) is essential to facilitate transparency, accountability, and trust among partners and to ensure that implementing organizations become “learning” organizations. Priorities include…
Going beyond government and donor entities with M&E+. How will civil society and private sector organizations be engaged in planning, reporting and learning from agricultural program implementation in a cost-effective way, and in a way that strengthens their ownership of programs?
Developing common metrics shared by national, regional and donor partners to achieve cost- and other efficiencies in data-collection, capacity-strengthening, and messaging
Investing more in statistics and data collection, especially strengthening the capacity of African organizations to conduct surveys and analyze results
Building M&E + “learning” activities into contracts and grants so that implementing partners have incentives to use and share knowledge
Conducting retrospective evaluations to understand key issues and interventions more thoroughly

19. Conclusions We are witnessing historic changes
A significant increase in funding and political support for agriculture and food security
New commitment from the US and other donors to country-driven development and other Rome Principles

20. Conclusions
But this is only the first step. What will be needed to assure successful implementation of “demand-driven” food security programs?
Challenges include:
Fostering new ways of working together
Meeting the challenge of capacity building
Increasing private sector investment at national and regional levels
Improving metrics and accountability

21. Thank you