Review team commences visits to Africa RISING activity sites
After two months of document reviews (between July and August 2019), the team of three eminent scientists undertaking an internally commissioned external review (ICER) of the Africa RISING program have commenced visits to activity locations for the three regional Africa RISING projects in West Africa, Ethiopian Highlands, and East and Southern Africa.
Mark Powell (back row, second from left), Nancy McCarthy (front row, center), and Christine Negra (front row, right) together with some Africa RISING project partners in northern Ghana. Photo: Wilhelmina Ofori-Duah/IITA)
The reviewers, Christine Negra, Nancy McCarthy, and Mark Powell, are currently visiting intervention communities in the Ethiopian highlands, having already visited activity sites in northern Ghana (15–21 September) and southern Mali (22–28 September). Visits by the team to project sites in Tanzania and Malawi will take place in February/March 2020.
This external review has been commissioned by the Africa RISING Program Coordination Team (PCT), which is made up of representatives from Africa RISING’s three lead CGIAR centers–IITA, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) activity manager. It is expected that the exercise will yield valuable feedback, which the program implementers can use to make necessary adjustments (where needed) as the program comes to the mid-point of its second phase.
The scope of the entire review process is to evaluate the program’s organizational structure; data management; monitoring, evaluation and learning; research and development partnerships achievements; and the program’s alignment with donor and country development strategies.
The site visits are part and parcel of a mixed methodology for information gathering that also includes extensive document reviews, key informant interviews, focus group discussions, stakeholder analysis, and field visits.
This is the second ICER being carried out by the Africa RISING program. The first one was done between September 2014 and April 2015 during Africa RISING’s initial five-year phase. The program is currently in its second five-year phase (2016–2021).
