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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