The National Inception workshop of the TAP-AIS project was held in Asmara, Eritrea, on 17 September 2020, with a mix of virtual and in-presence participation. Thirty-one representatives of the main institutions operating in the Agricultural Innovation System in Eritrea, took part in the half day meeting. Mr Saeed A. Bancie, FAO Country Representative (FAOR) Eritrea, Mr Gabriel Lonte, Head of Cooperation at the EU Delegation in Eritrea and Mr Semere Amlesom, Senior Advisor of the Minister of Agriculture opened the meeting and highlighted the importance of this project and alignment with Ministry of Agriculture 2019 – 2023 development plan.

Mr Semere Zaid presented the one-month assessment (stocktaking) report on the AIS in Eritrea. In his presentation, he highlighted 20 major climate smart innovations with brief explanations, some of which were: conservation agriculture; energy saving ‘Adhanet mogogo’; tree species / provenance selection; agroforestry practices; integrated watershed management; development of stress tolerant crops; MIHAP (Minimum Integrated Household Agricultural Package); hydroponics; forest area enclosure; restoration of degraded land; post-harvest, management (silo); fodder production.

Overall constraints for the scaling up of ten of these technologies were analysed. Mr Seyoum Haile, Country Project Manager, presented the project implementation plan and participants raised questions for further clarification.

In Cambodia, the National Inception Workshop took place on 21 October 2020 in Phnom Penh. The Inception Workshop was presided by H.E. Ho Puthea, Deputy Director of General Directorate of Agriculture, Mr Antonio Schiavone Head of Operation, FAO Country Representative (FAOR) Cambodia, and Dr. Youdy Jasmit Regional Representative of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in Cambodia. It was attended by 50 participants from key stakeholder organizations such as the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), the Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology (MoWRM), research institutions, education and training universities, agriculture cooperatives, farmers and NGOs. During the meeting findings of the stocktaking report were presented and experiences among the key AIS actors and development partners were shared. Priority needs and project entry points were identified.

The National Inception Workshop of the TAP-AIS project was held in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, on 22 October 2020. The workshop brought together thirty representatives of key pillar-AIS organizations and important resource people such as Mr François Lompo, former Minister of Agriculture and other Director Generals in charge of Rural Development, Research and Education.

The Inception Workshop aimed at:

• presenting the overall strengths and weaknesses of the national agricultural innovation system;
• the on going initiatives to develop and coordinate innovation support services;
• and developing the Theory of Change of the TAP-AIS project.

The participants appreciated the general approach of the project, as put forward by Mr Lompo, former Minister of Agriculture, ‘it starts from the results of the CDAIS project (2015-2019) and which builds on the on going initiatives at the national level to co-design innovative actions for the strengthening of the current agricultural innovation system, while linking with climate change issues’.

In addition, the methodology for a participatory and action-oriented assessment of the national AIS was introduced to the participants by the Centre D'etudes, De Documentation Et De Recherche Économiques Et Sociales (CEDRES), University of Ouagadougou, who are in charge of the implementation. The Directorate General of Scientific Research and Innovation (DGRSI) underlined ‘the importance to provide information and evidence to policy makers on the current state of the AIS and possible leveraging actions to strengthen it’. The process of the assessment will be closely monitored and supported by the project Technical Monitoring Committee and key AIS actors. The Inception Workshop was used as a first opportunity, on a participatory base, to identify a set of indicators to measure the AIS functions.