National Food Policy Capacity Strengthening Programme

Presented at the Workshop onINFORMED POLICY MAKING FOR FOOD

SECURITY:Research in support of the National Food Policy

5 and 6 December 2007, Dhaka

Preliminary Report: An Evaluation of Selected Research Organizations in Bangladesh

Stanley R. JohnsonFAO Consultant

Outline of Presentation

• Introduction

• Selected Findings

• Possible Guidance for the NFPCSP

• Agreements/Contracts

• Recommendations

IntroductionObjectives of the Evaluation

• Relevance of research focus on food security

• Quality and quantity, availability, and capacity of technical staff

• Quality and timeliness of delivery of research outputs

• Links with other research centers, national and international

• Record of joint work with other institutions, national and international

IntroductionMethods

• Survey of research organizations

• Follow up questionnaire

• E-mails and calls for added information

• Access to web pages, annual reports, publications, brochures and other materials

IntroductionOrganizations Surveyed

• Academic 3

• Government 3

• NGOs 9

• International 2

• Specialized 1 __ Total 18

IntroductionTypes of Visits

• Surveys with directors and senior staff

• Usually with a NFPCSP staff member

• Organizational representatives visited were very willing to answer questions and share impressions on food policy issues

• Many of the organizational representatives as well provided example publications and other materials

IntroductionTable of Information Supplied

• Most provided organizational brochures

• Most had web sites

• Most supplied example publications

• Most supplied vitas of key researchers

• Few had annual reports

• Few had journals or other periodic internal publications

IntroductionAreas Food Policy Research

Needs in Research Organizations• Production and availability

• Physical and access

• Economic access

• Utilization and nutrition

• Cross cutting issues

• Other areas

Selected FindingsAreas of Food Security Policy

Research• Production and availability 14

• Physical and social access 11

• Economic access 11

• Utilization and nutrition 9

• Cross cutting issues 14

Selected FindingsStaffing

• Directors and management (1 to 4)

• Professional and technical (1 to 110)

• Support staff (2 to 470)

• Consultants (0 to 300)

Selected Findings Stylized Characteristics

• Organizations affiliated with the university had large numbers of faculty available to work on projects

• International NGOs and government organizations had great variation staffing patterns (largely related to budget)

• NGOs separated into two groups, again on budget, but in general used larger numbers of consultants

• Generally, newer organizations had higher ratio of consultants to regular staff

• We have gone back to the organizations to be sure we have the workforce appropriately classified

Selected FindingsApproximate Annual Budgets ($)

• Nine with $35,000 or less

• Four with $200K to 450K

• Two with $4 to 5 million

• One with $20 million

• One Greater then $20 million

• One not available

Selected FindingsPublications

• Peer reviewed (journals, books, chapters)0 to 144

• Research reports 0 to 180

• Other documents 0 to 52

• Other materials (magazines, videos, dialogue documents, etc) Many

Selected FindingsCharacteristics of Publications

• University, government organizations and International NGOs had more journal articles

• National NGOs had more books and chapters in books, perhaps reflecting a different market for information locally

• National NGOs had larger numbers of more popular types of publications—designed apparently to influence policy

Selected FindingsSelf Reported Priority Areas

• Total research areas 1-5

• Production and availability 7• Physical and social access 3• Economic access 12• Utilization and nutrition 4• Cross cutting 9

• Note some had only one priority

Selected FindingsSelf Reported Priority Areas

• Under the cross cutting area environment was mentioned by many organizations

• Local governance was mentioned under several of the research areas

• Many of the national NGOs have programs underway investigating community safety nets for the poor

• Investigations of changes in the agricultural research and extension system are gaining importance

Selected FindingsCollaborations

• Internal 1 to 35

• External 1 to 5

• One not available

• Perhaps the variance is related to not giving explicit instructions—but the collaborations are substantial

Selected FindingsCollaborations

• Few collaborations involved organizations actually working together on funded projects

• Collaborations with donors were largely related to funding relationships

• Little opportunity for donors to select among organizations systematically for perspective projects, or to engage the organizations jointly in projects

Possible Guidance on Food Security Policy for the

NFPCSP

• Monitoring systems have four major components– Availability at the market or national level– Household availability and intake– Anthropometric measurements – Rapid response approaches

• Interventions, focus, design and evaluation

Agreements and ContractsBasic Elements

• Terms

• Itemized duties

• Exclusive relationships

Contracts and AgreementsLeadership Models

• Bid for total responsibility• Bid for limited responsibility• Advisory committee• Advisory committee, appointed lead• Task force• Select a core set of organizations• Consortium, with a possible stake in

finance

Contracts and AgreementsOrganizational Performance

• Authority• Accountability• Responsibility• Capacity to organize and lead• Capacity to place and manage contracts• Ability to carry out needs assessments• Capacity to communicate monitoring results

Contracts and AgreementsTable and Definitions of Terms

• Define carefully the meaning of each type of leadership model

• Define carefully the meaning of each the criterion for contract performance

• Make a two way table with the above mentioned terms on the axes and “score” the leadership models against the criterion for contract performance

• Tabulate scores and develop better definitions of terms—learn from the exercise, iterate

RecommendationsLeadership Role

• Better and integrated national surveys

• Reduce the attention to “one off” projects

• Tighter tying of institutes in contracts

• Invest in data sets that are public goods

• Require institution to work with large data sets

• Greater enforcement of food quality

• Enhance seminars linking researchers government and donors

• Shared views with donors about research priorities

RecommendationsWays to Support Leadership

• Host training sessions, if the leadership option is adopted

• Encourage joint bids for leadership role

• Carefully itemize duties/use the model presented

• Term of contract for lead should be several years

• Post not pre qualification, to lead and for individual contracts

RecommendationsTraining

• General training for bidders for next contracts (explore different contracting systems)

• Training for leadership contract bid, however awarded

• Training for researchers and government officials to go to government or other organizations that have good monitoring systems

Recommendations General

• Budgets of research organizations were small relative to contract size in the first tranch—extend periods of contracts

• Give greater preference to organizations that do not include consultants as principals in bids

• Develop contracts to add value to the research organizations

• Assist directors in anticipating the issues rather than reacting to FAO and other donors

Conclusion

• It has been a pleasure to meet with and better understand the food policy research organizations in Bangladesh

• I hope that this report leads to improved involvement of the research organizations in setting the agenda for food security policy research

• Comments appreciated