New MAFAP team meets for the first time to take stock of 2022 success and strategize for 2023
The MAFAP team gathered at FAO HQ in Rome for a three-day “retreat” in November to take stock of work accomplished so far in 2022 on food and agriculture policy monitoring, policy prioritization, and policy reform – the three main pillars of MAFAP’s work – and to lay the groundwork for activities in the coming year.
2022 was a busy year for MAFAP team. First on the agenda was a review of the policy monitoring (PM) work, which involves engagement with government agencies, data collection, classification and analysis on public expenditure and on price incentives for agricultural commodities, the team provided support to core MAFAP countries, in particular Ethiopia, Mozambique, and Nigeria, as well in Malawi, United Republic of Tanzania and Sierra Leone. Looking ahead to 2023, MAFAP will continue its PM work in the 8 core countries and is set to broaden its PM portfolio to the Near East to include Tunisia and most likely Egypt. The public expenditure dataset will also grow in 2023 to cover more sub-Saharan Africa countries, including Niger and Togo.
New to MAFAP in 2022 was the policy optimization tool, which is based on an economy-wide model that calculates the allocation of spending that would deliver the best potential outcomes in terms of inclusive agricultural transformation. In 2022, the team managed to run the model and present the first run of results to the Governments of Ethiopia and Uganda. In the first half of 2023, the team will apply the model to Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mozambique and Nigeria.
On policy reforms for inclusive agricultural transformation, the team supported 5 reforms by supporting efforts to: 1) boost coffee productivity and exports in Rwanda through a coffee tree rejuvenation initiative; 2) devise National Digital Agriculture Strategy for Rwanda; 3) draw up a new Dairy Policy Action Plan in Uganda, 4) diagnose the oilseeds value chain in Mozambique to pave the way for new regulation, and 5) encourage public-private investments in storage facilities for onions in Bangladesh.
Also on the agenda was recap of communications and publications outputs. Among the deliverables were 9 publications (on MAFAP in English and French; a policy monitoring review on Mali; three reports for Uganda – one on milk price incentives for dairy production and exports here, one on beef export competitiveness here and a Working Paper on spatial prioritization of commodity-specific investments; a Working Paper and Policy Brief on incentives in low- and middle-income countries during the first wave of COVID-19; and a Policy Brief on public expenditure in sub-Saharan Africa). Communications highlights included the MAFAP social media video, and promotional video for the MAFAP policy monitoring e-learning course on public expenditure and price incentives, media coverage in core countries such as Nigeria and Uganda, and the official launch of MAFAP III.
Joining the meeting, which took place from 8 to 10 November 2022, were team members based in Rome and in MAFAP’s 8 partner countries: Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda and Uganda, as well as home-based colleagues.
The retreat, therefore, also provided the chance for team members to learn from each other by exchanging experiences working “in country” on food and agriculture policy. Colleagues working in Burkina Faso, Ghana and Uganda shared their knowledge, best practice and lessons learned on government engagement and policymaking in their respective MAFAP country to further MAFAP’s outreach, visibility and results.
During the retreat, the team enjoyed two external talks on agrifood value chains and development given by the London School of Economics and Political Science, and on increasing professionalism in agribusinesses by SCOPEInsight.
See a photo of the MAFAP team here.
Starting on the back row from left: Carine Tuyishime, Lucia Battaglia, Thibault Meilland, Selina Agandaa, Michele Bruzzichini, Valda Boldyreva, Craig Lawson, Emiliano Magrini, Francisco Fontes, Davide del Prete, Juan Egas Yerovi and Firew Woldeyes.
On the bottom row starting left: Anne Chele, Nana Cabrel, Tebila Nakelse, Renata Baborska, Marco V. Sánchez, Christian Derlagen, Alethia Cameron, Jean-Philippe Lodugnon-Harding, Ivânia Mondlane and Valentina Pernechele.