CCARDESA Staff Review the Third Quarter Progress

The Centre for Coordination of Agricultural Research and Development for Southern Africa (CCARDESA), staff and project coordinators, met to review accomplishments and limitations against previously planned activities place on the 18th of October 2019 at Mokolodi Natural Reserve in Gaborone, Botswana.

The Executive Director Dr Simon Mwale, Executive Director of CCARDESA, reiterated the importance of the review meetings for the organization. Not only do the meeting reflect progress but they also allow for information sharing within the organization among the different programs and technical experts.  Keeping all staff members abreast with developments within the organisation is critical as it empowers them to be in position share sound information with outsiders about the CCARDESA modus operandi.

Dr Mwale added that the review meetings should be seen as presenting opportunities to also make adjustments and follow-ups to certain activities.  As part of his deliverables, Dr. Mwale reported on the process of developing CCARDESA 10 year Strategic Plan (2020 – 2030) which is nearly complete and only awaiting Board’s final approval. The acting Executive Director also acknowledged the two new officers who recently joined CCARDESA, namely Mr Moses Musikanga (Monitoring and Evaluation Officer) and Mr Sostino Mucumbi (Information, Communication and Knowledge Management Officer).

The new CCARDESA Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, Mr Moses Musikanga shared with the team the process that he had started of developing the new results framework including key indicators. He informed the meeting the need to agree on a set of indicators at strategic level which will be broad to cover the entire scope of CCARDESA implementation plan and which will act as a compass to achieving desired goals. He also shared his plan to develop an indicator handbook which will act as a means of verification during activity implementation.

The meeting also covered the update on 2020 annual planning meeting in which the status of preparations, roles and responsibilities moving forward was shared as well as up-coming events to internalise major events and update the calendar.

The Technical teams shared updates with notable achievements ranging from uptake of climate smart agricultural practices and technologies among member states and investment proposals including resource mobilization among others.

The Information, Communication and Knowledge Management team unveiled a significant increase in the numbers of posts on Facebook, Dgroup and Website as well as subscribers as compared to last quarter.

The quarterly review meeting was also an opportunity to share an update on the development of a new CCARDESA mobile App targeted at agricultural extension personnel in the SADC region. Hatfield and MindQ Consultants installed the test version of the app on the mobile phones of participants to kick off the testing process.  CCARDESA envisages to officially launch the app at the High Level Policy Dialogue in Kigale, Rwanda, scheduled for early November this year.

In agreeing with the adage which says “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”, the CCARDESA team ended the quarterly review meeting with a game viewing drive at Mokolodi Reserve and held a farewell Braii for Dr. Wiebke Förch, GIZ employee. Dr. Wiebke has been stationed the CCARDESA Secretariat since 2016 and has now been appointed to a higher position within her organization in Bonn, Germany. Wiebke had been instrumental in most of the achievements under the Adaptation to Climate Change in Rural Areas in Southern Africa (ACCRA) programme including the strengthening of the CCARDESA’s ICKM system. The CCARDESA quarterly review meeting was a success with staff members being content with the achievements that had been made towards meeting the organisation’s annual goals and targets.