Proposals should be submitted to the GReCEST Secretariat (grecest@nsd.pku.edu.cn) by the end of March 2017

                                                                                                                                          

Name of Working Group	Rural transformation
Thematic Leader	IFPRI
Group Members	EDRI, ENID, ESRF, GRADE, GRIPS, IDS, IGIPR, LUND, ODI, REPOA, UCA, CIRES
Theme	Economic transformation and agri-food value chain development
Targeted Country/Region	Developing countries in Africa and Asia
Outputs	Launching GFPR; organizing a panel; keynote paper; papers; policy briefing
Related Projects/Entities	N/A

 

 

1.  SUMMARY OF PROPOSED ACTIVITIES

 

Explain briefly what the working group plans to do to advance the shared objective of theGReCEST, that is, bridging the gap between research and practice to promote economic structural transformation (including scope and objective), any background information, and how the proposed activities will be implemented.

 

The purpose ofeconomic transformation and agri-food value chain development is howagri-food value chaincan be designed and managed to help developing countries in Africa and Asia to cope with economic structural transformation and improve farmers’ income. To bridge the gap between research and practice this group will work with Governments to support the development of agri-food value chain development policy and policy implementation.

 

Possible topics to be addressed under the activities include: 1) to examine the changes taking place in the functioning and organization of selected agri-food food systems in Africa and Asia and to identify challenges for the inclusion of smallholders; 2) to identify mechanism and good practices for linking smallholders with markets in selected Africa and Asia; 3) to identify how the government and international organizations can facilitate the development of more inclusive agri-food value chains in Africa and Asia, with due attention paid to smallholders; and 4) to identify lessons from experience to date in Africa and Asia for national policy makers, development agencies and private sector. 

 

2.  COMPONENTS AND OUTPUTS

 

Describe brieflythe components of the proposed activities, the expected outputs of each component, and the indicators that are likely to be used to measure these outputs.

 

The great strength of approaching the issues surrounding agri-food value chain development through GReCEST platform is the ability to produce cross-country comparisons and disseminate knowledge to provide context to policy makers who may be in the early stages of economic transformation and agri-food value chain development. Key activities, outputs, and indicators are described below.

 

Proposed Activities	Outputs	Indicators	Timeline
Conducting policy dialogue on global trends of urbanization and food systems	Disseminating Global Food Policy report (GFPR) by IFPRI	Launching event co-hosted by GReCEST Secretariat and IFPRI Beijing Office with expected participants of 100	By July 5
Summarizing key agricultural and structural transformation in Africa by IFPRI	A paper outlining key transformation affecting agri-food sectors in Africa	Delivering a keynote speech in the second GReCEST conference	By December 15
Analytical papers of selected agri-food value chains in Africa and Asia by GReCEST members	Papers outlining key agri-food value chain development in Africa and Asia	Organizing a panel of 5 papers in the second CReCEST conference	By December 15
Preparing a policy briefing on agri-food value chain development	A policy briefing on agri-food value chain development	Submitting policy briefing to relevant agencies	By December 31

 

3.  Timeline

 

State briefly the timeline of the proposed activities.

 

Pls see the above table.

 

4. Related Projects

 

Explain brieflyany possible linkage between the proposed activities and other projects.

 

The proposed activities are linked with ongoing “other” projects implemented by the consortium members.  For the activities that involves IFPRI relate to various past and ongoing projects supported by PIM, USAID, ADB, DFID, and FAO.

 

5. COLLABORATION WITH OTHER ENTITY

 

State briefly which institutions or experts (outside the GReCEST) are likely to be involved in the proposedactivities.