Project Phase 2: 2001-2004
Developing the capacity of the National Agricultural Policy Center
Assistance for Capacity Building through Enhancing Operation of the National Agricultural Policy Center
- Institutional Development
- Policy Analysis and Communication
- Training (Preliminary, Basic, Specialized, Individually Tailored)
- Statistical Information
MAIN ACHIEVEMENTS: NAPC operational, staffing completed, new organizational structure and mid term work plan defined. AGRICULTURAL POLICY FORUM established
Under Phase II institutional support focused on the elaboration, monitoring, and managing implementation of NAPC mid-term and annual Work Plans, besides establishing a library, enhancing the support staff's skills and supplying office equipment. Moreover, the Project supported the definition of an enhanced organizational structure of the NAPC and facilitated operations of its governing bodies. A Steering Commission was set up, chaired by the Minister of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform and composed of representatives of the MAAR and other Ministries such as Irrigation, Economy and Trade, Finance, and the State Planning Commission. The Steering Commission approves the work plan of the NAPC, its financing and staffing and nominates the members of the Scientific Committee. This Committee, which meets twice a year, oversees the scientific quality of the Center and is composed of two international and two national experts from policy related organizations. Furthermore, the Project supported the establishment of a Library open to the broader community of Syrian scholars.
The Steering Commission and the Scientific Committee ensure link with and responsiveness to policy makers, and monitor and promote quality of research
During Phase II, the Project aimed at strengthening the capacity of the NAPC to perform agricultural policy analysis, to formulate and monitor agricultural policies, and to facilitate implementation of the agricultural development strategy, ensuring Government ownership of policy advice studies, establishing NAPC as a policy forum and supporting it in elaborating policy studies. Notably, the publication of periodical reports on Syrian Agricultural Trade and the State of Food and Agriculture in Syria are becoming core references for policy makers and are enriching public awareness on agricultural development issues.
PERIODICAL REPORTS
- The State Of Food and Agriculture in the Syrian Arab Republic
- The Syrian Agricultural Trade
THEMATIC STUDIES
- Promoting Export of Fruit and Vegetables to the EU
- Comparative Advantages of Syrian Agriculture
- Farming Systems
- Policy Monitoring of GAFTA Implementation
- Opportunities and Challenges of Syrian Accession to the World Trade Organization
- Option for Reforming Agricultural Support Interventions
New ways of promoting policy dialogue and communicating research outcomes have been introduced and integrated into the functioning of NAPC as an agricultural policy analysis organization. These refer to workshops involving the stakeholders in the various stages of the policy analysis work, publications (proceedings, books, reports) as a result of studies, a Newsletter, an intranet, a website and policy notes summarizing the outcomes of researches.
As from 2002, the NAPC has established a National Agricultural Policy Forum, a new communication experience in Syria , with the objective of promoting public awareness on critical policy issues. This Forum sees the participation of practitioners from various ministries and universities, as well as stakeholders from private sector and civil society organizations. Moreover, in 2003, the Project supported the NAPC in organizing with FAO the Regional Workshop on Institution Building for Agricultural Policies in the Near East with the participation of representatives from 15 countries of the region and various intergovernmental and academic organizations.
In the Regional Workshop the experience of the Project in building the National Agricultural Policy Center was presented as an example for the region. Participants from Afghanistan, Cyprus, Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey and Yemen, discussed the options for establishing similar institutions in their home country.
VISIT THE SITE OF THE
REGIONAL WORKSHOP
The Project paid special attention to bridge research and policy through the establishment and development of links between the NAPC and policy makers able to ensure responsiveness of the Center's work to the actual need of the country as well as the effective involvement of the NAPC expertise in policy formulation and trade negotiation. In order to enable continuous exchange of information, a formal institutional link with policy makers is guaranteed by the Steering Commission, while a continuous flow of information is ensured through permanent exchange with policy makers, “ad hoc” dissemination of research outputs and NAPC participation in front-line policy work such as the negotiation of the association agreement with the EU and other trade agreements, the formulation of strategic options and more specific sectoral policies.
AGRICULTURAL POLICY FORUM UNDER PHASE II
• 2nd National Agricultural Policy Workshop
• Strategic Options for Syrian Agricultural Policy (De Benedictis - Italy ,Anania – Italy , Shibani - Syria )
• Organic Farming: European Markets and Opportunities for Syria (Santucci - Italy )
• Economic Liberalization and Agriculture: a Critical Overview (Kydd - USA )
• WTO Negotiations on Agriculture: Implications for Developing Countries (El Amin, FAO)
• Agricultural Globalization in Developing Countries (Rao - India )
• Agricultural Policies Changes in the EU (De Filippis - Italy )
• Enhancing Export of Fruit and Vegetables to the EU Markets (Coque - Spain )
• Food and Agriculture in a Globalizing World Economy (Gorgoni - Italy )
• The Great Arab Free Trade Area: Impact on Arab Economies (Al Abrash – Syria )
• Regional Workshop on Institution Building for Agricultural Policy in the Near East
• Food security and Development (Viciani - Italy )
• Monitoring Implementation of the GAFTA Agreement ( Metz - Germany )
• 3rd National Agricultural Policy Workshop
The Project trained an additional cadre of specialized and talented personnel, able to ensure sustainability to the Center and to conduct related policy work in a number of counterpart institutions. Moreover, an articulated set of training activity was organized with the aim of enhancing the performance of the staff already assigned to the NAPC.
In-class training (2001 - 2004) (Number of hours)
Training delivered |
Preliminary |
Basic |
Specialized |
Total |
By national experts |
110 |
254 |
345 |
709 |
By international experts |
0 |
192 |
1018 |
1210 |
Total |
110 |
446 |
1363 |
1919 |
Total per trainee |
55 |
223 |
629 |
907 |
The intensive training program, articulated as in the previous phase of the Project, allowed a substantial increase of NAPC staffing to over thirty units, through the transfer of the best performing trainees to the Center. The outputs of these activities, carried out under the supervision of international consultants, comprise the publication of 3 studies, along with training materials on some of the subjects covered in class, such as Agricultural Economics, Agricultural Policies in Developing Countries, Economic Development, Environmental Economics and Sustainable Rural Development, Partial Equilibrium Analysis of Policy Impacts and Trade and Domestic Policies in an Open Economy.
For the staff of the NAPC, the Project provided ad hoc in-class and on-the-job training of an adaptive nature. A substantial enhancement of individual abilities was achieved through the establishment of task forces allowing NAPC staff to work in close collaboration with international and national experts. Furthermore, the Project organized many study tours and internship in research and academic institutions in developed and developing countries, four Master-level fellowships in the United States and various training activities on English technical writing and training on practical skills related to quantitative techniques, database management and computer applications.
One of the most relevant contributions of the Project to the study on Syrian agriculture is represented by the placement on line of the Syrian Agriculture Database (SAD), launched in 2003, with a new user-friendly electronic interface. It is based on the features of FAOSTAT database to provide at the URL http://www.napcsyr.org/sad.htm a web-searchable service fostering essential information-sharing. The SAD is also available on CD-ROM.
The substantial on-the-job training delivered during the production of SAD has allowed NAPC staff to develop the skills needed to updating and extending coverage of the SAD, which includes also trade and census data, in addition to the domains developed under Phase I of the Project.
Toward the end of the its second phase, the Project made available the international expertise needed to start establishing a documentation system integrating SAD, the library and the NAPC intranet in an information system to be selectively made available on the web.
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