Research Planning Workshop Preliminary Meeting
Wednesday, February 27th, 2013
Present:
Azage Tegegne – LIVES
Berhanu Gebremedhin – LIVES- Chair
Dirk Hoekstra – LIVES
Getnet Assefa – EIAR
Kinde Getnet – IWMI
Fitsum Hagos – IWMI
Fanos Mekonnen – LIVES
Muluhiwot Getachew – LIVES- Secretary
Venue: IWMI Meeting Room, Addis Ababa
Time: 9:00AM – 11:30AM
Agenda
Discussion on the upcoming Research Planning Workshop
Dr. Berhanu opened the meeting by welcoming participants and stating that the Research
Planning Workshop has been scheduled to take place from March 26 – 28, 2013 at the ILRI
campus.
I.
Objectives of the Workshop
1. Develop and agree on an overall research framework for the project (types of research,
modalities of implementation, roles of partners, finance, research methodology, data
management etc)
2. Determine multi-location research topic priorities in support of proposed interventions in
LIVES zones & align them with ILRI and partner research agendas
3. Identify researchers who would take lead responsibility in multi-location research topics
and syntheses across locations for each commodity.
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Dr. Berhanu reiterated that when we decide on priorities, they will not only be for LIVES but
will also be aligned with other partners as well.
II.
Participants: Preliminary list of participants for this workshop include staff from the
MoA, EIAR, the 4 RARIs, IWMI (Simon, Philippe, Kinde, Fitsum, Gebre), ILRI (Steve
Staal, Iain Wright, Alan Duncan, Jane Poole, Isabelle, Alexandra Jorge, Tom Randolph,
Derek Baker, Iddo, Kathy (?)), Universities (Deans of Graduate Studies), EDRI, East
African Productivity Program, EDGET, AGP, LMDP, PRIME, ENGINE, ATA, CIP,
ICARDA, Ministry of Water, and the Horticulture Development Agency.
III.
Workshop Program Outline
Welcome from the LIVES Project – Azage Tegegne
Welcome from IWMI – Simon Langan
Opening of workshop - EIAR DG
Introduction to LIVES – Azage Tegegne
Summary of proposed Value Chain Interventions in the Zones and potential research
areas – Dirk Hoekstra
Workshop Objectives & Program – Peter Ballantine/Ewen
Proposed overall research framework or principles of research framework – Berhanu
Gebremedhin
Mainstreaming Gender in Irrigated and livestock value chain development –
Ephrem/Kathy
Group work by commodity: (The commodities will guide the selection of specific
individual participants to ensure that critical mass is available for each commodity value
chain.
Cross
cutting
issues
of
gender,
environment,
extension/knowledge
management/capacity building, food safety, and crop-livestock interaction will be
incorporated in each commodity value chain deliberations).
Dairy
Beef
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Small ruminants
Poultry
Apiculture
Vegetables
Fruits
Plenary: groups reporting back
Plenary:
Deliberation
on
cross-cutting
issues
(Gender,
Extension/Knowledge
Management/Capacity Building, Environment, Food Safety, crop-livestock interaction)
The comments by the meeting participants are summarized below:

Issues of irrigation management and methodologies that will be followed must also be
presented

Modalities of research activities and engagement of EIAR and other partners must be
discussed. EIAR staff are wondering about their role and need to be actively involved in
the project so that they can own the project. We need to identify people from EIAR who
should know what they will be expected to do and make appropriate changes. All
partners who are actively involved MUST own the project. At EIAR, more people need
to be aware of what LIVES is about since at the moment it is only Dr. Getnet who has
knowledge about the project

There will be a core research group who will influence and implement the value chain
research of each commodity. Perhaps the group can be divided into two. Since the
workshop doesn’t have a ‘pre-cooked’ manual, what will be done during the project will
be decided upon at this workshop

It might not be a bad idea to have a pre-cooked menu but if there have been no decisions,
then what participants come up with might be too broad

A matrix will be prepared to show who will be responsible for each Commodity at each
Zone as well as at the Federal level

There will be three types of research – Diagnostic, Action and Impact. However, after the
Zonal workshops are complete, there will be a final list of interventions and research
topics will be proposed based on the interventions.
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
What do we expect to gain out of this workshop? Will there be an agreed upon research
agenda? Will we require additional time for participants to come up with ideas after the
workshop ends? How will the workshop be structured every day?

It is important to have a commodity focus and decide who is in charge, and there could
also be multiple partners. Today’s meeting should be followed up with another meeting
to discuss the research topics, who’s responsible for doing what, and how will we go
about it. For some, there are already methodologies in place and none yet for others so
the follow up meeting will be important for setting up methodologies

There should be a team of researchers for each commodity, for instance for dairy, there
will be researchers from EIAR, LIVES and other ILRI programs

The research topics will be decided upon at the workshop but the teams will come up
with the actual research proposals later on.

In terms of research priorities of our partner organizations, they should look at what
LIVES is trying to achieve and try to see how their own agendas can be aligned with it.

The time frame for the upcoming activities should be as follows
o Research Planning Workshop – March 26 – 28, 2013
o Proposal Development – end of April
o Review Agreements/Governance - ??

The team for each commodity should be represented by EIAR, LIVES, RARIs, ILRI,
IWMI and each team will have a ‘leader’.

In terms of interventions, it’s important that LIVES picks the ones where we know there
is insufficient knowledge

Diagnostic Research – trying to understand the situation as it is. How do we support these
results by quantified data? It is best done by a multidisciplinary team and a rapid market
appraisal is an example of this type of research. However, diagnostic research might not
be necessary for every commodity

Action Research –It’s about conducting research on interventions to evaluate them and
their benefit to farmers (efficiency & effectiveness) and also do a cost/benefit analysis

Impact Research – to try and see what market oriented development changes took place,
for instance revenues from sale of improved/non improved livestock that can be
attributed to project interventions. Real impact research is about ‘where are we now’ and
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to see increases in income due to the project. Impact research is about identifying
challenges and problems for future follow up in addition to knowing impact.

Some interventions might not vary from Region to Region and may not be commodity
specific either (e.g. capacity building)
The meeting was adjourned at 11:30 and Dr. Berhanu stated that we would share the minutes of
the meeting and thanked the participants for their contribution to this meeting given their busy
schedules. A follow-up meeting may be called after the minutes are circulated.
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