On 19 to 20 April 2022 FAO Malawi, within the framework of the Tropical Agriculture Plaform and the EU-funded TAP-AIS project, together with the Department of Agricultural Extension Service (DAES) organised a two-day workshop to validate the capacity needs assessment findings for Agriculture Innovation Systems (AIS) Organizations. The assessment was recently completed by two consultants hired by FAO Malawi and it followed the overall national AIS assessment study completed in 2021.  

The capacity needs assessment identified specific capacity needs, gaps and opportunities for strengthening, facilitating and supporting agricultural innovation in five AIS organizations: the Department of Agricultural Extension Services (DAES); Department of Agricultural Research Services (DARS); Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR); National Association of Smallholder Farmers in Malawi (NASFAM); and Agricultural Commodity Exchange (ACE).  More than forty two participants including representatives of the District Agriculture Extension Services System (DAESS) for  Thyolo, Balaka, Ntchisi and Mzimba districts attended the meeting.

The meeting was opened by a presentation on the Tropical Agriculture Platform (TAP) and the TAP-AIS project by the Head of the Research and Extension Unit of FAO Rome, Mr. Selvaraju Ramasamy. On the second day, Dr. Jerome Nkhoma, Director of Agriculture Extension Services delivered an opening speech highlighting the important role of the TAP-AIS project as well as the journey so far.

The validation workshop gave a chance to AIS organizations to clarify and prioritize capacity development areas according to a shared understanding of their needs to better support agricultural innovation in Malawi. At the end of the two day workshop, the capacity needs assessment findings  were validated, each organization jointly drafted a capacity development action plan and the basic elements of the project outcome map were developed in a participatory session led by the two lead facilitators.

Once the inputs from the workshop are analyzed and consolidated, the delivery of the specific activities identified during the workshop will commence.