Science and Technology Mailing List Archive

["Marcel Nwalozie" <<address removed>>]

Dear Participants,
My name is Marcel Nwalozie, the scientific coordinator of the West and Central 
African Council for Agricultural Research and Development (CORAF/WECARD). 
CORAF/WECARD is a sub-regional organisation (SRO) mandated to facilitate and 
coordinate sub-regional research cooperation for development initiatives.

This email is not to directly respond to the points raised by Dana Dalrymple, 
but perhaps add value to it via another sense.

Where as it may be necessary to continue to ensure that the CGIAR play its role 
in knowledge generation and transfer of technology, I think development 
agencies such as DFID may need to examine a new dynamism introduced at the 
sub-regional levels. This approach involves the use of sub-regional competitive 
funds which seek to encourage the participation of a broader spectrum of actors 
(scientists - i.e. from research institutes and universities; NGOs, producer 
organisations; and the private sector). This approach involves some advanced 
research systems of the north and of the CG in some cases) at the national and  
regional levels of research for development. Each project of the sub-regional 
competitive funding mechanism seeks to involve not les than three countries in 
a research consortium; seeks to capitalise on the collaborative advantage of 
members of the consortium; and seeks to strengthen capacity of NARS structures 
involved in the consortium. In my opinion the CGIAR and other IARCs (AVRDC, 
ICIPE, IFDC as cited by Dana) could be involved as back-stopping mechanism in 
this kind of model.

There is a huge benefit derivable from sub-regional research cooperation, and I 
believe that DFID should lay more emphasis on this sub-regional mechanism. 
There are three sub-regional organisations in Sub-Saharan Africa; in the 
Eastern Africa is ASARECA; in Southern Africa is SADC; and in Western and 
Central Africa is CORAF/WECARD. Each of these SROs has developed its strategic 
plan, and are implementing the plan via a competitive funding mechanism. In the 
Western and Central African sub-region the strategic plan for the sub-regional 
research cooperation was drawn from the the priorities of the National systems. 
DFID may have to look at these strategies, and together with the leadership of 
the SROs see how they may intervene in the implementation of such plans using 
the competitive funding mechanism of the SROs.


Marcel Nwalozie