Recommendation

equests from national advocates and regional champions, RAC produced and
published three investment guide products with PowerPoint presentations to
inform and guide investors, implementers and policy‐makers. The guides were
closely aligned to the CAADP process, which was in sync with the RAC regional
advocacy strategy and the prevailing development agenda for Sub‐Saharan Africa.
Analysis: RAC succeeded in raising investment in OFSP from local government
leaders because the simple investment guides directed them on what to invest in
and how much to invest, based on the needs of their communities. Indeed,
government, donor, private sector and philanthropic investors are more likely to
allocate resources to projects where carefully targeted investment guides help
them visualize what and where to invest, what it takes to turn ideas into
programmes and projects, and the returns on OFSP investment.
Recommendation: When designing projects like RAC that advocate for increased
investment in the value chain, the development of investment guides should be
planned for from the onset. Such guides allow governments, donors and the
private sector to make evidence‐based decisions on where and how to spend their
money.
Lesson learned: An investment guide is a critical tool in advocating for increased
investment in OFSP. Clear guidance on how to transform ideas into programmes
and projects leads to better and more effective programming. Consequently, such
investment decision‐support tools help to spur investment in biofortified crops to
combat vitamin A deficiency.
Capacity building lesson 1 – equipping high level advocates
Background: The RAC project design did not provide details on scaling up of OFSP.
The advocacy team employed several strategies at national and regional levels and
worked with advocates and champions from civil society organizations and the
private and public sectors at varying levels of seniority. RAC advocates and
champions needed to be sensitized on the importance of promoting and investing
in OFSP. They also needed skills to advocate for policy change and investment at
the macro level.
Experience/challenge: RAC’s experience was that although NGOs carried out
advocacy work, most of them tended to focus on capacity building at the
operational level. Often, their project designs focused on implementation at the
farmers’ level and ignored the broader political economy that is so crucial for
upscaling. Understandably, these advocates faced challenges when engaging in
high level policy processes. Similarly, in instances where relatively junior national
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