About
RIU Tanzania is aiming to achieve impact at scale and in the process generate lessons about putting research into use, and that the main way it is doing this is through establishing and facilitating innovation platforms. The innovation platforms operating to 2011 are looking at indigenous poultry, agricultural information and, until 2010, smallholder access to farm machinery.
Following the 2009 reviews, a number of changes were made to the programme including:
This mean RIU Tanzania is concentrating on the work programmes with the most promise. This involves a focus on out-scaling and impact. There are experiments underway looking at ways of working to:
RIU works with a wide range of stakeholders through these innovation platforms, or networks, to encourage cooperation between stakeholders. These networks create opportunities to test different approaches to improving local innovation capacity. The process aims to improve the way issues are addressed and problems solved. It explores different techniques that can be used to increase the capacity of stakeholders to seek and utilise improved knowledge and technologies for increasing their productivity and profitability through innovation; overcoming obstacles and blockages or building capacity (adding skills, knowledge or infrastructure).
These ends may be achieved by a combination of:
Bottlenecks are regularly identified by the platforms. These demand the application of knowledge and it suggests a need for on-going facilitation from an organisation such as RIU.
One of the bottlenecks is the structure and resourcing of the government extension service.
As issues are resolved, RIU is able to capture the learning from putting research into use and use this to inform policy development or further implementation both here and elsewhere.
As part of the 2009 mid-term review, RIU Tanzania was given far greater autonomy. This has involved the delegation of flexible funds - making it easier to overcome obstacle through appropriate investments.
RIU Tanzania works with a range of private sector organisations; however business skills and business support are in their infancy in Tanzania. Building private sector capacities without direct financing takes time.
Work to date includes exploring a public private partnership-managed Agro-infoCom system (agricultural information). There was a good response to the request for expressions of interest from potential partners. The model establishes rural service centers with RIU's role focusing on capacity building for service delivery and developing of linkages between the centres and our extended networks.
RIU's work in poultry involves capacity building and other support systems for commercial rural indigenous poultry enterprises. Changes in demand make commercializing indigenous poultry farming very timely. However, a great deal of work is needed to develop the hatchery industry for indigenous chicks.
The Ministry of Agriculture and RIU co-hosted hosted a very successful meeting on mechanization. They took on board the farmers' suggestions for developing new legislation. RIU is now working with 4 financial institutions, advising the government to develop a better loan and guaranteed scheme for the sector.
Block farming is now a government agenda where innovation processes and outputs can be up-scaled faster and more efficiently.
RIU Tanzania is aiming to achieve impact at scale and in the process generate lessons about putting research into use, and that the main way it is doing this is through establishing and facilitating innovation platforms. The innovation platforms operating to 2011 are looking at indigenous poultry, agricultural information and, until 2010, smallholder access to farm machinery.
Following the 2009 reviews, a number of changes were made to the programme including:
- phasing-out the Dairy and Post Harvest Innovation Platforms
This mean RIU Tanzania is concentrating on the work programmes with the most promise. This involves a focus on out-scaling and impact. There are experiments underway looking at ways of working to:
- impact on commercial indigenous poultry production for small-scale rural farmers
- increase access to agricultural information
- increase smallholder farmers' access to farm machinery as an important input for increasing agricultural productivity
RIU works with a wide range of stakeholders through these innovation platforms, or networks, to encourage cooperation between stakeholders. These networks create opportunities to test different approaches to improving local innovation capacity. The process aims to improve the way issues are addressed and problems solved. It explores different techniques that can be used to increase the capacity of stakeholders to seek and utilise improved knowledge and technologies for increasing their productivity and profitability through innovation; overcoming obstacles and blockages or building capacity (adding skills, knowledge or infrastructure).
These ends may be achieved by a combination of:
- building the capacity of stakeholders - for systems analysis, self-organisation and coordination
- facilitating platform processes
- community mobilisation - for promoting fundamental behaviour change from the traditional legacy of subsistence agricultural production to business orientation
- promoting a habit of seeking and using information and technologies to solve system challenges
- building sustainable linkages and partnerships among various actors in the system for increased capacity to unblock system challenges
- training - to impart relevant skills and knowledge
- brokering between service providers and users
- monitoring progress and proposing new course of action to help system actors improve their practices.
Bottlenecks are regularly identified by the platforms. These demand the application of knowledge and it suggests a need for on-going facilitation from an organisation such as RIU.
One of the bottlenecks is the structure and resourcing of the government extension service.
As issues are resolved, RIU is able to capture the learning from putting research into use and use this to inform policy development or further implementation both here and elsewhere.
As part of the 2009 mid-term review, RIU Tanzania was given far greater autonomy. This has involved the delegation of flexible funds - making it easier to overcome obstacle through appropriate investments.
RIU Tanzania works with a range of private sector organisations; however business skills and business support are in their infancy in Tanzania. Building private sector capacities without direct financing takes time.
Work to date includes exploring a public private partnership-managed Agro-infoCom system (agricultural information). There was a good response to the request for expressions of interest from potential partners. The model establishes rural service centers with RIU's role focusing on capacity building for service delivery and developing of linkages between the centres and our extended networks.
RIU's work in poultry involves capacity building and other support systems for commercial rural indigenous poultry enterprises. Changes in demand make commercializing indigenous poultry farming very timely. However, a great deal of work is needed to develop the hatchery industry for indigenous chicks.
The Ministry of Agriculture and RIU co-hosted hosted a very successful meeting on mechanization. They took on board the farmers' suggestions for developing new legislation. RIU is now working with 4 financial institutions, advising the government to develop a better loan and guaranteed scheme for the sector.
Block farming is now a government agenda where innovation processes and outputs can be up-scaled faster and more efficiently.
| Vera Mugittu of RIU Tanzania receives a copy of 'Made to Stick' in the RIU 'Oscar ceremony' at the Africa Country Programmes meeting, February 2010 |  |
Related information
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Stimulating demand for information in Sub-Saharan Africa Connecting know how with know who to improve livelihoods. Summarising RIU's work in Africa, with an introduction to the work of appointed country teams and their partnerships 2007 (PDF 570KB) |
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