Week 2-Question 4: Generating results for other countries?
Do you think that by addressing the constraints to value chain development in one country there is the ability to generate research results and technologies applicable in other countries?
Please comment on what can be done to strengthen such benefits.
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CGIAR Research Program on Livestock and Fish 
There is limited collaboration between researchers in the region so generation of research results and technologies in a selected country may not be applicable in the other countries because the constraints in the other countries may not have been addressed.
The regional organizations can solve this constraint.
Yes in most regions the constraints tend to be similar, like in East African region aquaculture development is hindered by factors like poor quantity and quality of seed, readily available fish feed, poor extension services, uncordinated and undeveloped internal markets e.t.c, factors cutting across all countries. To strengthen such benefits in neighbouring countries, we need to pilot the success stories of the selected country in the neighbouring countries and improve the technology where necessary and then scale out.
Sharing expereinces from other countries could assist in solving constraints to value chain. We are in a global vilage and we have to share research results so as to avoid duplication or re-eventing the wheel.It activities,it would be better to evaluate and choose technologies which are appropriate to a particulra country or continent.
Networking with the stakeholders across country and developing inventory of approaches, technology, sucess and failure story, expert human resopurces, etc may be the end and mean in this regard. the system should have the flexibility to adapt and intregate the resources/approaches for differencial conditions.
yes, I agree, collaboration with research institution create forum to share information and knowledge.
The potential for creating IPGs depends on the similarity of constraints across regions, this should be inclulded in the secletion criteria for the value chains.
This is possible where we talk of countries having similar constraints. Given that the CG could not be physically present in every country, we need to use an approach of partnerships that enlists players in countries of focus in order to factor in all relevant constraints.
It is true to consider that the world is the same village. It is also true to observe some differences between the continents. In Africa, we do not have major differences between the countries except the good governance, which can generate a development.
While this approach is valid, it is important to involve the intended regional beneficiaries in some way. This will greatly assist with any finetuning necessary to realise targeted technologies for faster adaptation and adoption.
Yes, certainly possible to share experiences from other countries. But still country specific peculiarites have to be considered. These may refer to broader areas of policy, governance, health, education, agroecologies etc.
Yes, because I believe that major contraints are almost the same in the case of Northe Africa. The research results in this case could easly be shared and regenerated in a similar context of another country. When a coutry has to adopt a technology it has to choose the best and appropriate ones.
With the Africa organizing itself into economic blocs (EAC, SADK,COMESA) and academic groupings (VICRES, IUCEA, FARA, ASARECA) there is an opportunity to go to scale with value chain impact delivery to large blocs of Africa. What is lacking is the funding to sufficiently demonstrate, document and deliver the impacts to other nations. Sometimes, simultaneous demonstration in multiple countries have proven to be of value to countries – eg projects carried out under the Lake Victoria Research Initiative (VicRes, Bio-EARN, ASARECA. IT IS DOABLE
Continued investment / collaboration to build skilled global teams (skilled in knowledge integration and communication) and knowledge networks will strengthen such benefits. CGIAR should augment global efforts aimed at linking knowledge hubs.
The answer lies in the detail of the approach adopted in the research. If sufficient information about the context of the production system is recorded and the objectives are to understand how and why potential barriers limit impact then the answer is yes, but if more of an empirical approach is taken to linking cause and effect, then the answer is no. From my perspective the CG system should be doing the former.
I think the researchers should share the informations as they are in similar situations.
A better methodology would be to have a 2×2 matrix for each set of value chains such that within country and across country comparisons, as well as comparative value chain cases ‘sector’ (pigs etc.)provide some range of differences attributable to local factors (contextualization as I discussed in my comments on week one questions. What such a matrix would then involve is the development of paired countries and paired value chains across different countries. For example, in Uganda there would be a fish value chain as well as small ruminants value chain. In a different country there would possibly be the same two value chain or in two different countries there would be a fish and a small ruminants value chain.
To strengthen the benefits in neighbouring countries, we need to project success stories and visit of stakeholders including policy makers. Demonstration and country specific modification are also required to scale out.
Please see my response to Q3 re upscaling. A well conducted constraint analysis (including those identified based on VCA) provides a wide range of clues that allow the researchers to design research that qualify for being of wider benefits.
I am a bit confused about the terminology “value chain development”. Value chain is that of a commodity from pre-production to post- use and disposal. As such VCA is a process of “identifying” the various stages, players, products and challenges along the value chain. This is not a VC “development“ process.
Yes, because regions may experience similar constaints which may be neccessary for a holisic approach in dealing with constrints along distribution chains. However there may be instances where certain regions or a beneficiary country can have perculiar constraints which may demand a different approach to solving the constraints.