1 Agricultural Statistics Capacity Building PRESENTED BY Chris Gingerich October 30, 2009 Views expressed are the authors’ own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

2 The Gates Foundation & Agricultural Development Overview Overview of Selected Policy and Statistics Grants Capacity Building Outline

3 Our Grantmaking Areas FOUNDATION OVERVIEW 25% Global Development Program 50% Global Health Program 25% United States Program Greater opportunity for all Americans through the attainment of secondary and postsecondary education Increasing opportunities for people in developing countries to lift themselves out of hunger and poverty Discover, develop, and deliver life saving health solutions to people that need them most $2.8 billion in grants in 2008; ~$20 billion since inception

4 Our Areas of Focus Global Development makes grants in the following areas: GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT Agricultural Development Financial Services for the Poor Policy & Advocacy Special Initiatives Water, Sanitation & Hygiene Global Libraries Urban Poverty Emergency Relief Science & Technology Farmer Productivity Market Access Policy &Statistics

5 The Agricultural Development team is comprised of four focus areas AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT 1. Science & Technology  2. Farmer Productivity3. Market Access 4. Policy & Statistics Quality seeds Irrigation Fertilizer Education and training Research and development on crop improvement issues Access to information Access to new and existing markets Structured demand Data and statistics Research and analysis Advocacy and policy change Learning and improvement

6 Policy and Statistics Our Strategy: Improve the evidence base that is necessary for better agricultural investment and policy decisions. Support analysis, outreach and advocacy for evidence-based decision-making. Invest across the “policy wheel,” including: Data and statistics Research and analysis Advocacy and policy change Policy implementation Impact and learning AG POLICY & STATISTICS

7 We have an Integrated Statistics, Policy and Advocacy Strategy Policy-relevant data systems Better access to data Capacity to collect and use data Understand the policy context Disseminate data & analysis Develop advocacy plan Build networks Strengthen policy networks, mobilize stakeholders, Build capacity amongst decision-makers The “Policy wheel” Implemen- tation Monitoring, evaluation & priority setting Data & Statistics Research & Policy Analysis Deliberation, negotiation & policy selection Performance Tracking Sharing lessons Improving approach Understand issues Build analytical tools Evaluate and prioritize policy options Develop capacity for policy analysis

8 Data Collection for increasing availability, consistency and quality of data Household surveys in Sub-Saharan Africa & South Asia, with focus on small farmers and smallholder agriculture (WB-LSMS, WFP CFSVA, ICRISAT VLS) Policy and business-climate indicators (WB-DBA; FAO MAFAP) Technology adoption indicators (ASTI) Data & Statistics Platforms for improving access to data and statistics for analysis and decision support FAO CountryStat, IFPRI Harvest Choice, AgCommons Capacity Building aligned with the Global Strategy for Agricultural Statistics Furthering the use of remote sensing, GIS and other technologies for improving the quality, consistency and cost-efficiency of data collection Strategies for human resource and institutional capacity building Integration with National Statistics Development Strategies (NSDS) Data & Statistics Investment Areas AG POLICY & STATISTICS

9 Open Education Resources (OER) Open Educational Resources (OER) are teaching and learning materials that are freely available for anyone to use, reuse, adapt, and share for teaching, learning, and research. OER can exist as smaller, stand-alone resources (reusable learning objects), that can be mixed and combined to form larger pieces of content (e.g. larger course modules or full courses). OER can also include syllabi, texts, software, workbooks, journals, and other tools. These materials are considered open if they are released under an open license such as a Creative Commons license. Materials can be shared and customized/localized by faculty, students, researchers, government staff, NGO staff, extension staff, enumerators, farmers, etc AG POLICY & STATISTICS

10 Grant Profile – AERC / Collaborative Masters in Agricultural Economics Approach Pan-African master’s program involving 12 universities First year at one of six accredited universities; 3 rd semester “capstone” at Pretoria; theses research at home university Graduates targeted for employment in government ministries, research institutes, NGOs, and agribusiness Strengthen network for agricultural economics research. Support for teaching and research capacity at universities. Expected Outputs and Outcomes: 282 MSc graduates across three cohorts Cadre of African professionals with tools and knowledge to improve African agricultural policy AG POLICY & STATISTICS

11 Grant Profile – World Bank / LSMS-ISA AG POLICY & STATISTICS Living Standards Measurement Studies – Integrated Surveys in Agriculture Approach: Nationally representative panel surveys in (so far) Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Niger Surveys are multi-topic, with detailed agriculture module Surveys conducted by National Statistics Organizations, with technical assistance from World Bank staff Utilizes Computer-Assisted Personal Interviewing and GPS for data collection Strong focus on capacity building, institutionalizing household survey systems, and integrating across data sources (e.g. census surveys, satellite data) Expected Outputs and Outcomes: Open access, high quality datasets used extensively for research, policy and programs Strong country-owned stats systems for monitoring rural poverty and agriculture’s role

12 Geospatial Investments in Agriculture Remote Sensing for Ag Statistics Research Project: Review past, current and future projects that utilize remote sensing in the production of agricultural statistics in sub-Saharan Africa; understand successes, challenges, learnings, and opportunities; (RCMRD, Kass Green) Possible future project to answer open questions and demonstrate proof of concept for cost-effective and sustainable application of RS to ag statistics in SSA AgCommons Geospatial technology platform combined with information & services targeted at improving the lives of small farmers in Africa Coordinated by BioVersity; Steering committee with representation from public sector, private sector, NGOs, FAO; African organizations; (Stan Wood, IFPRI) AG POLICY & STATISTICS

13 Capacity Building Starts with Needs Assessment & Gap Analysis To address capacity building across multiple dimensions, we must first assess needs along multiple dimensions... AG POLICY & STATISTICS User needs/gap: demand for data, statistics & indicators Users: Government, academia, think tanks, private sector, NGOs, M&E, etc… Human resources needs/gap: existing skills/capacity vs skills/capacity required to meet information needs Technical / methodological needs/gap: Tools, practices, standards, definitions, norms required to meet information needs ICT needs/gap: mobile devices, remote sensing, software, connectivity, GPS, data sharing, etc required to meet info needs Institutional needs/gap: institutions & orgs needed to support info needs (e.g. NSDS, inter-agency coordination, etc)

14 Capacity Building Activities are Driven by Needs Assessment & Gap Analysis AG POLICY & STATISTICS Human resource needs Institutional needs Technical/methodological needs ICT needs Training Technical Assistance Research

15 We Need Coordinated Strategies, Plans & Proposals for Capacity Building AG POLICY & STATISTICS Training (including needs assessment & gap analysis) Build upon the survey that was distributed this morning Sustainability – Training provided by African orgs, regional institutions, country-to-country collab ; E-learning & open educational resources Training of current staff and future workforce; scholarships? Technical Assistance (incl needs assessment & gap analysis) FAO, World Bank, Paris21, and many others Regional & country-to-country Research (including needs assessment & gap analysis) Research by African institutions; in partnership with international orgs Global Strat for Ag Statistics; NSDS; AfDB, FAO, other CB Programs

16 © 2009 Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation | Women farmers play a large & important role in agriculture… Women must also play a large & important role in agricultural statistics 16 Women in Statistics

17 Thank you