PROGRESS REPORT

80 PROGRESS REPORT PROGRAM LEVEL PROGRESS REPORT 81
Special Projects
Why is transformation needed in this program area?
The Special Projects Program area provides a platform
to address unique issues and pilot innovations that
do not easily fit into other program areas within
the Transformation Agenda, but which do have
the potential to catalyze the transformation of the
agriculture sector by addressing a key structural or
systemic issue.
These projects tend to be new to the Ethiopian
context but leverage international best practices (in
their design) and existing systems and infrastructure
(in their execution). These initiatives are based on
proven concepts and results that have accelerated
transformation of the agriculture sector in other
economies, but contextualized to the Ethiopian
environment.
Objectives of the GTP I Transformation Agenda Deliverables
Special Projects deliverables work across many value
chains and systems areas, aiming to provide solutions
for wide ranging systemic and operational bottlenecks.
The major objectives include: development and
scaling-up of ICT tools to expand access to up-to-date
agricultural information critical for decision making
Overall Performance Summary
Special Projects
The deliverables in the Special Projects area primarily
aim to accelerate the market-orientation of smallholder
farmers and existing government interventions, and
to leverage information communication technology
(ICT) tools to improve the decision making abilities
of smallholder farmers and decision makers. These
deliverables cut across the entire value chain, focusing
on specific commodities, geographies and markets.
For example, the Agricultural Commercialization
Clusters (ACC) initiative, which integrates several
interventions in its approach, including innovative ICT
tools, has the potential to contribute ~$1B to $1.5B
in revenue gains annually, mainly through import
substitution, increased exports, and the creation of 1.5-
2 million new jobs. 30
for both smallholder farmers and policy makers;
accelerating the transition of smallholder farmers
from subsistence to market orientation by supporting
alignment of different stakeholders working to create
effective market linkages and large demand sinks in
key markets; and creating the facilitating environment
for tef export.
Key Success Areas
Two deliverables under the Special Projects area have
been classified as being “On Track.”
In Deliverable 80 (ICT-based Information
Dissemination System), the ATA and the MoA have
developed an innovative way to distribute information
to smallholder farmers and rural communities – an
Interactive Voice Response/Short Message Service
(IVR/SMS) system. The IVR/SMS system allows
users to call into a hotline and access a wide range of
agronomic best practices and other related information.
Over the past year, through a comprehensive
promotion and awareness campaign, more than 1.1
million callers have registered for the service, with
72% identifying themselves as a smallholder. These
registered users have called in 7.3 million times over
the past year. The system has also broadcasted
Areas with Challenges
One deliverable (14%) under the Special Projects area
has been classified as being “Significantly Delayed,”
and four deliverables (57%) as “Slightly Delayed.”
Deliverable 78 (ICT in Agriculture Strategy)
is “Significantly Delayed,” as challenges were
encountered with outsourcing the strategy to an
external partner. The deliverable owner and key
stakeholders are exploring other options and partners
to take the lead in the development of the strategy
going forward.
Although Deliverable 79 (Institutional survey) is
classified as “Slightly Delayed,” substantial progress
has been made in collecting valuable data on
agricultural institutions in all cluster woredas. A web
portal that will visualize and provide analytics of data
collected in cluster woredas is also under development
and is expected to be available in late 2015.
400,000 IVR and 100,000 SMS messages explaining
how to identify and protect against specific diseases.
In Deliverable 84 (Agricultural Commercialization
Clusters (ACCs)), a major project has been launched
in order to integrate all Transformation Agenda
deliverables in key commodities/geographies. The
identification of cluster woredas and design of the
initiative follows extensive consultations at both federal
and regional levels (including the MoA, Regional
Presidents and Cabinets, RBoAs, NGOs, major private
sector actors, and other federal and regional actors)
to ensure full alignment on and refine the concept
of agricultural commercialization. Based on rigorous,
pre-set criteria, priority commodities were agreed upon
in 31 clusters in the four regions of Amhara, Oromia,
SNNP and Tigray. An additional 16 clusters were further
prioritized and specific interventions identified for initial
rollout during 2015.
Deliverable 81 (Input Tracking System (ITS)), which
aims to monitor the input distribution supply chain, has
been classified as “Slightly Delayed” due to challenges
some users have encountered entering data into
mobile devices and obtaining granular data as far
down as the kebele level. Areas of progress from this
deliverable include training approximately 500 regional,
zonal, and woreda experts and cooperative members
from a total of 325 institutions on how to use mobile
devices and the Input Tracking System to centralize
and automate the existing paper based process.
Although Deliverable 82 (G8 New Alliance
Cooperation Framework) has been classified as
“Slightly Delayed,” major progress has been registered
in the policy commitment revision and formulation
process. This followed a highly participatory,
consultative process in which a set of 22 proposed
policy recommendations under 7 broad policy areas
The Special Projects area includes seven diverse
deliverables, four of which are related to ICT solutions.
Two of the deliverables in this program area (29%) are
“On Track,” while four (57%) are considered “Slightly
Delayed,” and one (14%) is “Significantly Delayed.”
Special Projects deliverables have a primary thematic
area of either Policies/Strategies/Regulations or
Introduction of Innovative Ideas, with the “On Track”
deliverables in the second area and “Delayed”
deliverables in both.
On Track
Slightly Delayed
14%
57%
29%
As a whole, these deliverables form a significant
share of Transformation Agenda achievements across
three main results indicators: 1) implementation
of 5 new institutional structures; 2) piloting of 5
innovative concepts (with scale-up of 4); and 3) just
under 650,000 smallholder famers reached with new
technologies and almost 6,000 stakeholder experts
trained.
Significantly Delayed