In Eritrea the TAP-AIS project has implemented three different capacity development activities targeting the five national organizations that have been prioritized in the Agricultural Innovation System (AIS) assessment: Regulatory Service Department (RSD), National animal and plant health laboratory (NAPHL), Agricultural Extension Department (AED), Zoba Maekel Beekeeping Association, and National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI). The activities that were carried out between July 2022 and April 2023 focused on policy dialogues, report writing and communication skills, and training in agribusiness management and entrepreneurship.

Training workshop on policy dialogue

The two-day policy dialogue training workshop was organized by the FAO country office, MoA, and FAO OIN through a hybrid training on 11 – 12 July 2022 and 14 experts (four female) participated.

The training disseminated information about the different possibilities of addressing policy analysis requirements; allowed to reach a common understanding of the relevance of innovation and the role of policy development in promoting agricultural innovation and helped to better identify policy needs. It also developed individual capacity to organize policy dialogue events and manage communication activities that support policy dialogue processes effectively.

Fundamentals of Report writing and communication skills

Report writing and communication skills was one of the gaps identified in the capacity needs assessment. A training on these topics was organized to strengthen the skills of selected staff members of the Ministry of Agriculture: 60 staff members (33% -20 trainees- of the total participants were female) were trained for 60 facilitation hours from 4th July to 9th September 2022.  The training aimed at developing critical reading skills that will help them to identify elements or features of good report writing; it identified participants’ weaknesses in their language and writing skill and helped them to develop ways to address those in assignments.

Agribusiness Management and Entrepreneurship training

On 13-15 March 2023, TAP-AIS Project organized a Training on Agribusiness Management and Entrepreneurial skills at the conference hall of the Association of Eritreans in Agricultural Science (AEAS).

The general objective was to assist the Ministry of Agriculture in introducing the Agribusiness management to the staff and producer associations which will help the producers’ associations to support market oriented sustainable production, to promote small and medium scale agribusiness development and improve performance.

The training on Agribusiness management and entrepreneurship was the first of its kind for almost all the participants. A total of 28 participants (18% female) from the management board of five producer association and farmers from five regions, Agricultural Extension Department, and Planning and Statistics Division (PSD) of the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) experts attended the training.  Through this workshop knowledge and understanding of trainees on Agribusiness Management and entrepreneurship was improved and the management capacity of producers’ associations was enhanced.

The following training/capacity development activities will be implemented in 2023:

• Farmers Field school/Agro-pastoralist field (planned in May 2023)
• Policy dialogue events
• Leadership and management trainings
• Introduction of knowledge management practice
• Training in Agriculture data generation Sector planning, monitoring and evaluation.