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Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) specialists from the five implementing organizations of the ex-Pillar 4 African Agricultural Development Program (CAADP-XP4) met in Dakar to review a number of project monitoring indicators to be considered for future activity reports.

In addition to CORAF, CAADP-XP4 is implemented by the African Forum for Agricultural Advisory Services (AFAAS), the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA), the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), and the Coordination Centre for Agricultural Research and Development for Southern Africa (CCARDESA).

The meeting follows on from the project's mid-term review (MTR), whose conclusions prompted these readjustments, and also, to a lesser extent, from a recent meeting of CAADP-XP4 M&E experts held in Nairobi.

The PDDAA-XP4 RMP took place in May 2022 in Johannesburg, South Africa.

It revealed that implementing organizations should better integrate the gender dimension, pay more attention to qualitative indicators and review achievements as well as targets. 

"During this meeting, which follows on from the project's mid-term review and the Nairobi meeting, M&E experts from the five CAADP-XP4 implementing organizations carried out a holistic review of the project's M&E framework," said CORAF's Director of Research and Innovation, Dr Emmanuel NJUKWE. 

"This involves a number of actions, including a review of achievements and targets, specifically regarding results that exceed targets, discussions around the reporting challenges for each of the project's fifty indicators, further analysis and integration of gender indicators, a process of harmonizing the data to be provided for results and impact indicators, and many others," he added. 

At the meeting of CAADP-XP4 M&E experts in Nairobi, a number of issues were discussed, including the consideration of an outcome indicator that measures the consortium's ability to mobilize resources, and the consideration of a minimum number of women (40%) and young people (30%) in all interventions wherever possible.

A report on the holistic post-RMP review of the CAADP-XP4 monitoring and evaluation framework is expected to be submitted in the next few days to the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), which manages the project's financing.

CAADP-XP4 is funded by the European Union (EU) under the Development of Intelligent Innovation through Research in Agriculture (DeSIRA) initiative, to the tune of 30 million euros.