AATF Inaugural Report - African Agricultural Technology Foundation

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A New Bridge to Sustainable Agricultural Development in Africa While the Foundation forecasts a growing demand for its interventions over time, it does not anticipate a material increase in its staff or operating budget. Its focus on cost-effectiveness – on the wise and effective use of donor funds – and on integrating the valuable lessons that come with project experience into its ongoing efforts will enable it to meet growing demand without substantial increases in funding for its own operations. The vast majority of additional funds that come to AATF will be devoted to covering its direct investments in project activities. In fact, the Foundation’s overheads, as a proportion of total project costs, are projected to fall from their current level of about 51% during AATF’s start-up to between 10–12% by 2012. Thus, as the Foundation mobilises new resources for project activities, very little of any new funding obtained will be allocated to maintaining the organisation itself; growth will instead occur in project activities that lead to payoffs for intended beneficiaries. 32
Crossing to the Other Side Building Public–Private Partnerships The formation and management of dynamic and lasting public–private partnerships will make the difference between success and failure in achieving AATF’s goals and objectives. The Foundation is itself the result of a unique partnership between the public and private sectors in Africa, Europe and North America. The primary reason for creating the organisation – the need to negotiate access to and transfer of proprietary and other technologies held by both the public and private sectors – also points to the need for efficient networks to manage the deployment of these technologies at all stages along the product value chain. In general terms, AATF’s role is that of a muchneeded honest broker, one that can act as the “responsible party” in facilitating continuing collaboration and alliances. Enduring partnerships rest on the desire to work with others to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes, and the belief that more can be achieved jointly than separately. Building such relationships involves facilitating negotiations among different organisations at different stages of project development, entering into agreements and looking into issues of regulatory compliance. To date, AATF has focused its efforts on building alliances that expedite access to, and the delivery of, appropriate new technologies. The Improving Cowpea Productivity Project described on pages 29 and 30 is the Foundation’s flagship initiative relative to enhancing access. The Foundation’s work relative to technology delivery is best exemplified by a project aimed at reducing the impact of the parasitic weed Striga on maize production, described on pages 28 and 29. In both cases, AATF is participating as a neutral third party, taking into account the interests of all partners, including the resource-poor smallholders who are, in the end, expected to reap the benefits of these collaborative efforts. The building of enduring alliances among diverse public- and private-sector organisations requires partners to recognise and embrace each other’s relative strengths – and to earn one another’s trust – as they join forces to achieve mutually beneficial goals. AATF’s experience shows that a neutral third party can ensure that the interests of different partners are served without jeopardising the overall goals of the alliance. It also clearly demonstrates that the best partnerships are those that are based on equality. If partner organisations are not on an equal footing, the alliance will not endure. The Foundation’s experience as a neutral third party shows that it is essential to clearly define in advance the roles and responsibilities of each partner. This builds respect for each other’s strengths and provides each collaborator with an important sense of belonging and of adding value to the relationship. Indeed, a clear understanding of roles and responsibilities is the best arbitrator of disagreements that inevitably arise in complex public–private partnerships; such clarity helps everyone involved to focus on truly relevant issues, including where, how, and by whom progress is being made. The trend towards public–private partnerships is essential to achieving sustainable agricultural development in sub-Saharan Africa. Partnerships that are well thought out, carefully planned, efficiently implemented and fairly managed benefit all parties equally. Clearly, however, while the principles that underpin such partnerships are essentially the same from one to the next, no two partnerships are the same. The diversity of goals, objectives, values and organisational cultures that characterise such relationships must be explicitly recognised by those who manage each alliance, and become a genuine source of strength and inspiration for everyone involved. 33
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AATF Inaugural Report - African Agricultural Technology Foundation

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