“Practical solutions to adaptto Climate Change in production and post-harvesting sectors”Mozambique and Rwanda Projects’ experiences

LEARNING INITIATIVE

Call for Application

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Context of the Call

Climate change is a driver of vulnerability in particular for those people whose livelihood de-pends on natural resources. Rural people rely on ecosystems and biodiversity hence consider climate variability and change as an important threat and the negative impacts of these chang-es are endangering the livelihood of small-holder farmers worldwide.

This dramatic phenomenon has eliminated the element of predictability that allowed small-holder farmers to count on seasons and traditional knowledge to predict the weather and organize their farming activities. Nowadays, seasons, floods, droughts and storms no longer come when expected. Water stress, soil erosion and infestations are all contributing to making smallholder farmers more vulnerable.

In the ESA region, the effects of climate change are compounded by the region’s high poverty levels, weak infrastructure, poor natural resources management and dependence on rain fed agriculture. As a matter of fact, in order to cope with these changes and overcome their relat-ed challenges, rural communities are called to develop innovative and adaptive solutions, strategies and practices.

Effective adaptation to climate variability is dependent on several factors: (i) access to cli-mate-resilient infrastructure and technologies; (ii) access to climate information for the coming seasons; (iii) capacity-building on adaptive strategies and practices; enabling deci-sion-making for the present and the future; (iv) enabling socio-economic and financial envi-ronment; and (v) access to market.

In September 2012, the Adaptation to Smallholder Agriculture Programme (ASAP) was launched by the International Fund of Agricultural Development (IFAD) and it is currently the largest adaptation programme targeting smallholder farmers enabling them to improve their food se-curity and nutrition, raise their incomes and strengthen their resilience towards climate change negative effects on production and post-harvesting.

ASAP has become the largest global financing source dedicated to supporting the adaptation of poor smallholder farmers to climate change. The programme is working in more than 30 developing countries, using climate finance to make rural development programmes more climate-resilient.

In this framework, IFAD through the ASAP Fund and country projects collaborates with gov-ernments and communities in the region to introduce sustainable practices and adaptive technologies that reduce the vulnerability of smallholders relying on agriculture to climate change negative impacts. This includes on the one hand sustainable crop intensification and on the other hand climate-resilient post-harvesting infrastructures, technologies and practices.

Issues addressed

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A year long Learning Initiative (LI) on Climate Change Adaptation will take place in the East and Southern Africa (ESA) region, under the framework of the Programme: “Strengthening Ca-pacities and tools to scale up and disseminate Innovations” implemented by the PROCASUR Corporation and funded through IFAD’s large cross-regional grant. The Initiative is titled “Prac-tical solutions to adapt to climate change in production and post-harvesting sectors” and will draw from the cases of Pro-poor Value Chain Project in the Maputo and Limpopo Corridors (PROSUL) and Climate Resilient Post-Harvest and Agribusiness Support Project (PASP) in Mozambique and Rwanda, respectively.

The Learning Initiative will expose a group of selected projects and their stakeholders’ units to a set of innovation mechanisms and learning activities and it is aimed at involving its main actors to work towards the improvement of those units. It is intended to support collaborative learning and action between individuals and organiza-tions linked to IFAD to introduce sustainable practices, adaptive technologies and climate-re-silient post-harvesting infrastructures, technologies and practices. The LI will provide and facilitate opportunities to strategically fill gaps and make links between related production and post production processes in a manner that promotes more inclusive approaches and practical solutions to climate change negative impacts.

1. The implementation of a Learning Route (LR) in the ESA region (Mozambique and Rwanda).

2. The promotion of a set of activities that will be developed during the LR year-long ex-post phase, in particular:

• The setting up of a Capacity Building activity with the opportunity of learning directly in the field and from its protagonists in a peer to peer mechanism; • A customized set of Technical Assistance activities for the improvement and/or implemen-tation of the Innovation Plan exercise (1);• The development of a community of practitioners and the facilitation of working in net-works where sharing of information on issues relating to climate change adaptation will take place through the virtual platform of the LI;• The development of a dedicated page on PROCASUR’s website to share publications and documentations on best practices and lessons learned on climate smart strategies in produc-tion and post harvesting sectors.

What and why

Plan of Activities

Initiative Overview

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Main objective To scale up through peer to peer learning the Mozambican and Rwandan best multi stake-holders’ strategies, tools, practices and mechanisms of increasing farmers’ awareness and ownership in adapting to climate change negative impacts in order to reduce production and post-harvesting losses.

Specific objectives1. To identify climate-smart practical solutions in production and post-harvesting sectors to reduce losses and enhance resilience of smallholders living in affected territories;2. To recognize how to best promote relationships between farmers and financial institu-tions to enhance farmers’ access to the market and their capacities to build partnership with private investors and how these can be used to manage increased climate risks;3. To gain an overview on local community models of farmers’ organizations and their abilities to strengthen their relationships with local stakeholders;4. To enhance projects’ staff capacities in the institutional and political dialogue at local and national level.

Learning Route

Objectives

Rwanda

Mozambique

Africa

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A Learning Route is a planned journey with learning objectives that are designed based on i) the knowledge needs of development practitioners that are faced with problems associated with rural poverty and, ii) the identification of relevant experiences in which local stakehold-ers have tackled similar challenges in innovative ways, with successful results and accumulated knowledge which is potentially useful to others. The Route allows for the experiential encounter between travelers and hosts, both having mutually useful experiences and knowledge.For more information on LRs, visit www.africa.procasur.org.

Learning Route

When and whereThe Learning Route will be implemented between the 6th and 16th of November 2016 trav-elling across various districts in Mozambique and Rwanda. Participants must arrive in Maputo (Mozambique) on the 6th of November to travel back to their own countries from Maputo on the 17th of November.

Hands on Learning: during the 11-days Learning Route, the present Learning Initiative will aim at exposing participants to experience exchanges with the Mozambique ad Rwanda public officials at central and project levels through field visits to outstanding rural communities and through panel discussions with experts and practitioners from the ESA Region.

Hosts and main learningThe LR will be hosted by outstanding public and private development champions linked to:• Pro-poor Value Chain Project in the Maputo and Limpopo Corridors (PROSUL) in Maputo

(Mozambique); IFAD and the Government of Mozambique;• Climate Resilient Post-Harvest and Agribusiness Support Project (PASP) in Kigali (Rwanda);

IFAD and the Government of Rwanda.

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Learning RouteLearning Route

PRO-POOR VALUE CHAIN PROJECT IN THE MAPUTO AND LIMPOPO CORRIDORS (PROSUL) - MOZAMBIQUE

The goal of Pro-poor Value Chain Project in the Maputo and Limpopo Corridors (PROSUL) is to enable improved and climate-resilient livelihoods of smallholder farmers in selected districts of Maputo and Limpopo Corridors.

The project’s development objective is to achieve sustainable increased returns to these farmers from: (i) increased production volumes and quality in the targeted value chains; (ii) improved market linkages; (iii) efficient farmers organisations; (iv) higher farmers’ share over the final added value; and (v) partnership / business model.

Climate-resilient investments in PROSUL project focus on: • diversifying cropping systems, experimenting with drought –resilient crop varieties; • promoting low-cost yet climate-resilient horticultural techniques; • promoting of dry season feeding techniques among the livestock keepers;• providing efficient water management structures in drought prone areas; and • giving smallholders access to weather forecast and finance

PROSUL operates in 3 provinces located in the south of the country.

What we will learn from them1. To identify climate-smart solutions (in terms of practices and technologies) to improve horti-

culture production and access to water for irrigation;2. To understand how to sensitize and enhance farmers’ Climate Change adaptive capacities and

access to climate-resilient technologies;3. To identify climate-resilient solutions to improve cassava production and waste management;4. To investigate how to improve farmers’ access to market and to partnership with private sec-

tor; and 5. To explore how to manage climate data collection and analysis and climate information dis-

semination.

CLIMATE RESILIENT POST-HARVEST AND AGRIBUSINESS SUPPORT PROJECT (PASP) - RWANDA PASP is an ‘avant-garde’ project that enhances local capacity by supporting five main commodi-ties (maize and beans, cassava, Irish potato and dairy) from harvest to markets in order to reduce post-harvest losses. It is enabling smallholder access to financial resources for investing in post-har-vest climate–resilient infrastructures and technologies (e.g. solar dryers or cooling systems).

Post-harvest losses are recognized in Rwanda as one of the greatest sources of inefficiency in agri-cultural production in the country. Current losses are likely to increase given the country‘s reliance on rain fed agriculture and its vulnerability to climate change.

To tackle climate issues PASP is supporting the integration of climate risk management in the plan-ning and implementation of the investment undertaken by HUBs owners through the promotion

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and demonstration of climate resilient practices, structures and innovations. These innovations range from promoting crop and forage varieties with maturity periods better suited to the chang-ing growing season length to demonstrating the use of solar power suppliers and biogas systems as cost-effectiveness approaches for all the focused commodities value chains.

PASP operates in 12 districts of the country located in the Northern, Western, Southern and Eastern provinces.

What we will learn from them1. To identify climate-smart solutions in post-harvesting to reduce losses and enhance resilience

of smallholders living in affected territories;2. To discuss and understand best strategies to promote relationships between farmers, private

sector and financial institutions enhancing farmers’ access to the market opportunities;3. To understand how the creation of products and business aggregation points (namely HUBs)

help to reduce post-harvesting losses and enhances links between farmers’ cooperatives and private sector; and

4. To promote partnerships and effective communication tools for downscaling daily and sea-sonal climate forecast information.

Learning Route

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In the framework of this Initiative, and throughout the whole learning process, project’s teams and participants are called to work on the development of an Innovation Plan (IP).

Procasur will provide technical assistance and support not only in the formulation of the Inno-vation Plan but also in the following phase related to its possible implementation, facilitating a community of practitioners and a permanent learning space to share their experiences in search of the good and most innovative practices as well as the Local Champions performing it.

Procasur team will follow up the participants’ advancements along all the Learning Initiative, during the year proceeding from the realization of the Learning Route and the featuring of the Innovation Plan by each of the Learning Initiative fellows, within the framework of the Pro-gramme: “Strengthening Capacities and tools to scale up and disseminate Innovations” imple-mented by the PROCASUR Corporation and funded through IFAD’s large cross-regional grant.

Learning Route follow up phase

The Innovation Plan is a knowledge management tool aimed at:

(i) identifying issues to be solved back in their country/project/community;

(ii) proposing a plan with potential strategies to solve those issues thanks to the exposure they get during the LR to successful practical solutions put in place by practitioners under similar conditions.

The Learning Initiative is targeting:

• Highly qualified IFAD-funded projects staff members (professional and technical staff);

• Key stakeholders in the public, private and community sectors working on Natural Resources Management (NRM) and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) in production and post-harvesting systems linked to IFAD-funded projects in in East and Southern Africa (ESA), West and Central Africa (WCA), Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) and Asia and Pacific (APR) regions.

The nomination of IFAD project teams –including key stakeholders from public, private and community sectors– is encouraged. As a matter of fact, the presence of a leading team at pro-ject level will be likely to push the process towards positive transformation and impact. Gender balance among participants will be ensured during the selection process.

Participants’ profiles

Learning RouteLearning Process

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Terms of participation

In order to join this Learning Initiative, each participant and/or its sponsoring organization need to fulfill the following requirements:

1. Submit a timely, correct application form and institutional endorsement letter;2. Cover the participant’s travel expenses from the place of origin to and from Mozambique;3. Cover her/his travel insurance for the 11 days of the Learning Route;4. Obtain a Visitors Entry Visa to Mozambique and Rwanda from each participant’s respective coun-tries (if required), and cover the costs associated (invitation letter to be provided by PROCASUR);5. Pay a Training Fee of USD 5.000 for the services described below.*

PROCASUR will provide technical and operational services as follows:1. Technical and operational assistance before, during and after the Learning Route;2. Payment of experts, trainers, translators and interpreters;**3. Accommodation in three-star hotels as well as in the local communities, when home-stay is available;4. Three daily meals and two coffee breaks (no-alcoholic beverages);5. Air transportation between Mozambique and Rwanda;6. Internal transport inside Mozambique and Rwanda during the Learning Route, including air-port pickup and drop-off.

* Limited Scholarship Fund for those needing partial co-funding for the Training Fee is available. The Fund targets IFAD-funded projects teams. Sponsorship will be for 1 (one) person per project or country. For more information, please contact PROCASUR a.s.a.p.

** Please note that the language used during the Learning Route will be English; simultaneous interpretation from local languages will be provided.

Conditions and services

Application processPotential candidates for this Learning Initiative are welcome to submit their application forms and endorsement letters before the 10th of October 2016, to lfantini@procasur.org and l.Irungu@procasur.org. Early applications are encouraged. We will be happy to provide you with more information on the Learning Route and guide you in the application process.

For more information please email or call PROCASUR: Ms. Laura Fantini: lfantini@procasur.org Phone: + 254 (0) 718914793Ms. Loise Irungu: l.Irungu@procasur.org Phone: +254 (020) 2716036

We will be pleased to assist you!

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Procasur Corporation is a global organization specialized in harvesting and scaling-up home-grown innovations. The organization’s mission is to foster local knowledge exchange to end ru-ral poverty. By sharing innovations through customized local knowledge-management tools and methodologies, the organization connects global institutions with local talents, providing the structured learning platforms necessary to spread innovation. Procasur has facilitated learning opportunities in over 40 countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean, affecting the lives and livelihoods of thousands of rural talents across the globe.To learn more, visit: www.africa.procasur.org.

Third White Gate on the Right,General Mathenge Lane,

Nairobi, Kenya.Phone: +254 20 2716036

http://africa.procasur.org