World Bank Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Agriculture and Agribusiness Management (CESAAM)

Egerton UniversityWorld Bank Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Agriculture and Agribusiness Management CESAAM Progress Report on Past Events and CESAAM Activities Contact Person: Prof

Egerton University

World Bank Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Agriculture and Agribusiness

Management (CESAAM)

Progress Report on Past Events and CESAAM Activities

Contact Person:

Prof G Owuor,

Centre Leader, CESAAM

Egerton University,

P.O Box, 536 – 20115,

Egerton

July, 2017

Table of Contents

Egerton University 1

World Bank Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Agriculture and Agribusiness Management (CESAAM) 1

Table of Contents 2

Word from Centre Leader – CESAAM 3

3

Introduction 4

1 Partnership Development 4

1.1 Virginia Tech (College of Agriculture and Life Sciences) 4

1.2 Nanjing University, China 5

1.3 Future engagements 6

2 New Program 6

3 Student recruitment 6

4 Participation in 4th PASET Forum and ACE-II Launch 7

5.World Environment Day 9

6.Inception Workshop 11

6.1 Break-out Sessions 11

Word from Centre Leader – CESAAM

I am delighted to have this chance to share, together with my team, a number of activities that have been taking place over the past at CESAAM The centre has made a number of strides that will go a long way to help it meet its purpose which is to ensure sustainability

in agriculture and agribusiness management Core in CESAAM’s overall objective is to build capacity in agricultural value chains of African countries; including those that are fragile and post-conflict The centre also has keen interest on promoting gender balance in agriculture where its target is to have at least 40% female fellows at the centre During the launch of ACE-II in Nairobi Kenya, CESAAM students and the university management made positive representations and further convincing remarks from our students who made part of the youth

The centre has since received its first batch of funding from the World Bank and proper procurement and accounting procedures are in place to help meet the laid down conditions for further engagement The centre has signed 2 important MOUs, whose details are included in this brief progress report A total of 923 applicants expressed interest in this fellowship and a transparent process ensued Of the number selected, 25 were MSc and 19 PhD fellows were successful Of the selected applicants (Overall representation), 43% of both MSc and PhD were female and 36% of the total applicants were from the region Egerton University is ready to

facilities are all set to host the students

CESAAM has since signed 2 important MOUs with Nanjing University in China and another with Virginia Tech University in USA The need for active collaboration came out quite strongly during these engagements and Egerton University staff and students look forward to benefiting from these partnerships Highlights for these engagements include infrastructural development, capacity building of students and staff, retooling workshops, exchange programs, joint supervision, equipping labs, joint teaching of short courses among others These activities on partnerships were followed closely by an Inception Workshop which was well attended by CESAAM partners, Egerton University management, staff and student representatives

The centre’s core-team and administrative assistants have all played a key role in ensuring smooth operations at the centre and I thank them I also offer gratitude to the World Bank Group and their ever supportive team I offer gratitude also to the IUCEA team and Egerton University fraternity even as this project continues

Prof G Owuor Centre Leader,

CESAAM

Food insecurity and poverty remain the major challenges to Africa’s development, affecting about 33% of its population One key approach in addressing Africa’s food insecurity is to build capacity along the agricultural value chains The Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Agriculture and Agribusiness Management (CESAAM) at Egerton University (Kenya), funded by World

Bank is modelled to address the above issues The broad objective of CESAAM is to contribute

to sustainable agricultural and agribusiness management through capacity development, research

and technology transfer for enhanced food security Key focus areas are: Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness Management, Animal Sciences, Crop and Soil Sciences, Dairy and Food Sciences among other related fields to sustainable agriculture In the recent past, the centre has been involved in a number of activities; mostly for laying foundation and structures for its operations that have since kicked off The following is a brief report of past activities that CESAAM has been engaged in:

1 Partnership Development

1.1 Virginia Tech (College of Agriculture and Life Sciences)

MoUs signed with new partner, University of VirginiaTech (college of Agriculture and Life Sciences) on 23 June 2017 Objectives of the MoU and possible areas of collaboration include the following:

1 Promote benchmarking and accreditation of selected programs in the faculty Help Egerton in the process of global accreditation

2 Capacity building in analytical research, furthering the ability to conduct research

3 Joint supervision of students

4 Conduct staff and student exchange programs

5 Conduct short courses for staff, students and interaction with private sector

6 Collaborate on a variety of scientific topics in areas touching on climate smart agriculture, agricultural education and extension

7 Collaborate in developing proposal for funding to achieve the above objectives

1.1.1 Activities and timelines

The table below shows the main activities in the short term for the partnership between Egerton University and Virginia Tech

1 Benchmarking and outcomes assessment

b Guideline preparation for 2 programs VirginiaTech November, 2017

2 Exchange program

a Research development:

Identifying possible research collaboration areas

and developing proposal concepts ahead of time

November, 2017

Egerton University

Immediate

3 Research Analytical Retooling

a Coaching and review programs for

cross-cutting issues

4 Peer observation

2018

5 CESAAM International Conference

a CESAAM international conference on

sustainable agriculture and agribusiness

management

1.2 Nanjing University, China

The MoU between Egerton University through CESAAM and Nanjing University was signed on 10/7/2017 in Beijing during China Africa Centers of Excellence Forum The centre leader (Prof

G Owuor) and the Vice-Chancellor Prof R Mwonya represented CESAAM during a visit to China They visited Nanjing University where their interests were to link CESAAM to Chinese institutions

A signed MOU between Nanjing University and CESAAM was particularly on infrastructural support and exchange program for MSc and PhD CESAAM then prepared a work plan that was discussed with the team from Nanjing University who will visit Egerton University in September

1.2.1 Side Meetings

During side meetings, the need to establish points of strength and partnership across centres was discussed This involved having inter-university students exchange programs where students are sent to different centres of excellences across Africa

On infrastructure, the Nanjing University will offer support in terms of the Laboratory equipping,

a computer room and an agriculture vocational centre which will both be at CESAAM

1.3 Future engagements

Two MoUs under discussion are with Michigan State University and Louisiana State University-USA Private sector MoUs with Nation media on Seeds of Gold, East African Breweries and Kenya Seed companies are presently being worked on

2 New Program

Among many other programs that Egerton plans to develop, Master of Science in Agrienterprise Development has since been approved Other are still in developmental stage and are yet to be presented before the university Senate for approval The Commission of University Education of Kenya (CUE) plays a very crucial role in approval of courses in Kenya Nevertheless, CESAAM has plans to have this expanded further to include regional approval of programs This will be done in partnership with CUE and IUCEA

3 Student recruitment

The advert was release on February 2017 and closed on 30th April, 2017 Both print and electronic media was used as a way of advertising We received a total of 923 applicants from across Africa Below is the summary of shortlist

Newly enrolled students into Masters level programmes 2017

preparing to report on 21st August,

2017

Newly enrolled students into PhD level programmes 2017

preparing to report on 21st August, 2017

National Female 5 26 ''

The total number of applicants for MSc were 25 while those for PhD were 19 Of the MSc applicants, selected regional fellows comprised of 36% of the total MSc Applicants where 4 were male and 5 were female Of the remaining 64% Kenyan fellows, 10 are male while 6 are female for MSc On the other hand, for PhD, 37% of the total applicants (19) were from the region where 4 were male and 3 were female The overall female representation for both MSc and PhD was 43%

4 Participation in 4 th PASET Forum and ACE-II Launch

The centre participated in the 4th PASET Forum: Partnerships & Innovation for Skills Development in Africa, Safari Park Hotel in Nairobi, Kenya on April 5-7, 2017 Present during these events were the Cabinet Secretary in charge of Education Dr Fred Matiang’i and World Bank Vice President Mr Keith Hansen The need to focus on capacity building and quality training for the ACEs were highlighted by most of the speakers The strategic position of Egerton University in sustainable agriculture and agribusiness management was also highlighted

Dr Fred Matiang’i, Cabinet Secretary in charge of Ministry of Education officially launched the ACE-II project Key among his points are the following:

1 That the government is committed to offer support for this project He confirmed that plans are underway to disburse funds to universities to help run activities at the centers

2 He confirmed the commitment of the National Select Committee (NSC) to efficiently and

in a timely manner help universities focus on proper service delivery

3 The CS reminded the center leaders that they have to deliver in a timely manner to access resources

Present also during the ACE-II launch was the World Bank Vice President in charge of Human Development, Mr Keith Hansen who, apart from confirming the World Bank’s commitment towards development of many more centres, underscored the following issues:

1 That Africa heavily depends on Agriculture, mining and oil but for these fields to grow further, there is need to invest in skill and knowledge development of the African youth

2 He further highlighted that in the region, firms face serious challenges when it comes to recruiting young people to fill technical and managerial positions, a fact attributed to low quality and relevance of their education and training

3 He added that the ACEs will be expected to build institutional capacity to provide quality post-graduate training, develop partnerships with national, regional and international academic institutions and to improve institutional governance

4 He added that the youth (ACE students) are the main reason for conceptualization of the centers of excellence He further added that the youth hold Africa’s future in their hands

He focused also on skill development, competitiveness of young people and mobility of human capital to meet arising needs in different areas

Also during the same period was participation in World Bank Workshop on Financial and Procurement procedures on 5th April 2017 Participated in the Workshop: Center Leaders, Deputy Centre Leaders, University Finance Officers, Project Accountants, University Procurement Officers, Project Procurement Officers

From top left Dr Fred Matiangi Cabinet Secretary Ministry of Education, Vice President of World Bank, Mr Keith Hansen and Prof Colleta Suda, the Permanent Secretary in charge of Higher Education in Kenya From Egerton University: VC Prof Rose Mwonya and Mr Thoya

Wallace (student) making their remarks.

5 World Environment Day

Each year in May, the world marks its World Environment Day (WED) Egerton University, being at the core of environmental conservation and climate start agriculture, hosted the national WED celebrations In attendance was the Cabinet Secretary in charge of the Ministry of Environment, Prof Judy Wakhungu CESAAM played a critical role in the planning and representation of the Faculty of Agriculture in the exhibitions that also took place Present under CESAAM were MSc Agri-enterprise Development Students, student enterprises from the department of Dairy Food Science and Technology and the Agro-Science Park who made a mark during the exhibitions marking the W.E.D

Evident during this celebration was the fact that institutions of higher learning have to take a lead role in conserving the environment; since it is from the environment that we get all the food we eat Further to that, the role of innovative enterprise development was also underscored during the meeting where the role of young people in innovating alternative packaging material to be used instead of polythene bags, which have since been banned in Kenya, was highlighted The pictures below show representatives from CESAAM who exhibited

Members of CESAAM exhibit products from the Agro-science Park, Diary and Agribusiness

during WED

6 Inception Workshop

Masada Hotel in Naivasha Kenya The meeting, which brought together representatives from all collaborating universities except from University of Rwanda and University of Burundi During the meeting, there was representation from University of Juba, Gulu University, VirginiaTech, Michigan State University and Sokoine University Other institutions and private sector partners included KEPHIS, ICRISAT, Kenya Seed, Green Forest Foods and CARD

6.1 Break-out Sessions

6.1.1 Partner Roles: University Partners

Preamble

Several institutions were represented in this group They included:

1 Green Forest –Private Sector

2 ICRISAT-Research Institution, International

3 KALRO-Research Institution, National

4 Community Action for Rural Development-CARD-Non-Governmental Organization

5 Kenya Seed: Seed Company-National Public Sector

6 Faida Seed - Private Sector National

7 East Africa Breweries-Private Sector, National

8 Egerton University, University Management

9 and CESAAM Team

10 Moi University-Center of Excellence in Phytochemical

11 Gulu University-Regional Partner, University

12 University of Juba-Regional Partner, University

13 Sokoine University of Agriculture, Regional Partner, University

14 Virginia Tech University, International Partner, University

15 Michigan State University (MSU), International Partner, University

16 Kenya Plant Inspectorate Institute-Public Sector, National

The presentations centered on the 10 key activities of CESAAM, and were as follows:

A: Gulu University

Strengths:

an operational community call centre through which innovations are being disseminated

that links students to farmers

to engage with communities and guide research

Egerton provide opportunities for cross movement of staff and students

Areas needing strengthening:

creators