TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY……………………………………………………………3
ICRAF STRATEGY
PLANS………………………………………………………….4
PARTNERSHIP
STRATEGY PLAN………………………………………………….6
CORPORATE
STRATEGY PLAN……………..……………………………………...12
GENDER STRATEGY
AND ACTION PLAN…………………………………………16
CONCLUDING
THOUGHTS………………………………………………………….19
REFERENCES…………………………………………………………………………..20
Executive Summary
The International Council for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF) was
established in 1978 to aid in promoting agroforestry research in developing
countries (ICRAF, 2018). In 2002, it acquired the brand name ‘World
Agroforestry Centre’ as it had become a globally recognized leader in
agroforestry research and development. However, it is still important to note
that ‘The International Council for Research in Agroforestry” still remains the
legal name.
The
vision of the World Agroforestry Centre
is too transform the agroforestry in the developing world even though in recent
years it has also included the developed world
to some extent. The vision is expected to result in use of working trees
on working landscapes to help ensure
food security, nutrition, income , health, shelter and regenerated environment.
The mission having borrowed from the vision aims at advancing science and
practice of agroforestry to help in realizing agroforestry transformation
throughout the world especially the developing world.
All
in all ICRAF has identified seven key global challenges in which it can
contribute thanks to years of experience and in relation to the Millennium
Development Goals. The first one is to help eradicate hunger in developing
countries basic support systems based on agroforestry methods which aid in soil
fertility replenishment and land regeneration in disadvantaged areas. The
second is to reduce poverty in rural areas through market driven locally led tree cultivation systems that in
the long run will build assets and generate income. Advancing the health and
nutrition of the rural dwellers through
agroforestry systems is another of the goals. To add to that, ICRAF helps helps
in conserving biodiversity through
intergrated conservation and development solutions based on agroforestry
technologies, innovative instituitions and better policy making. In addition
there is the protection of watershed services through agroforestry-based
solutions that reward the poor for their provision. The centre also helps in
helping the poor adapt to climate change and benefit from emerging carbon
market through tree cultivation. Last
but not least is to build human and instituitional capacity in agroforestry
research and development.
At
the end of the day all instituitions have an end goal and ICRAF is not an
exception with its key four goals. The first of the four is to enhance
smallholder access to high quality tree germplasm and expanded markets
opportunities for small tree products. The second goal is to advance the
understanding of the role of trees and more productive land and farm
management which foster integrated
farming systems based on appropriate tree portfolios for key agro-ecological
domains. The third is the use of agroforestry strategies to increase the access
to land, recognition and reward for smallholders for local, national and
international environment services. The last of the four goals is improve the capacity for research,
development and education in agroforestry through the use of a wide range of
individuals and instituitions in the developing world
ICRAF STRATEGY
PLANS
Strategic planning in general refers
to the process that is used by an organization in defining the direction it
will take and the decisions it will take
as well as allocating resources so as to follow the directions. The strategy
plans are aimed at helping the organization step back and examine where they
currently are, where they are aiming/ want to go amd how they will get there (Mcarthy, 2017). In the absence of a plan,
work will still get done however it will lack a sense of purpose and priority.
The end aim of a strategy plan is therefore to a long term purpose, direction
and tactical operating plan.
For any strategic plan, there must
be a few key elements. The first of the key elements is the vision statements
which is an aspirational on where the organization wants to be in the future.
The second is the mission which describes what the organization is currently
doing today i.e. describing what the organization is currently doing, for who
and how it is doing it. In short, the mission helps in achieving the vision.
Then there is the core values which describes the beliefs and behaviors in the
organization and for the organization. There is also an element of SWOT
analysis which looks at the strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats
that the organization has or is facing. The SWOT analysis looks at where the
organization is and what it needs to focus on. Another element is the goals
which are normally three to five that
almost mirrors the vision and describes
how one aims to achieve the visions. The other element is the objecctives which should be Specific, Measurable,
Achievable, Realistic and Time-based (S.M.A.R.T).
Over the years, ICRAF has developed
and implemented several strategic plans to help it achieve its overall
objective as an organization. Although the Strategic plans have different
agendas and titles, their end product is all the same. In this way they
complement each other and are aimed at achieving the overall goals of the
organization.
1.Partnership Strategy Plan 2013-2018
The
Partnership strategy plan was aimed at acquiring both strategic partnership
and implementing partnership. The
strategic partners are to aid in gripping the resources gap such as funding and
shape a positive environment for agroforestry while the implementing partners
were to help in the actual carrying out of the projects in the field. It is
also important to note that the strategic partners can also be implementing
partners for example in areas where additional expertise is needed.
The
partners were also grouped according to their duration based on working
terms. The long term partners were
formalized through a memorandum of understanding and comprised of firms and
organizations who had common interests in overall goals such as poverty
alleviation, food security and environmental sustainability and use of
agroforestry to bolster this. Project based partnerships is defined by a joint
project where roles of each partner is explicitly described and the partnership
expires after the completion of the project. The project based partnership is
formalized through a letter of agreement
and the intellectual property rights issues are clearly spelled out. A
third partnership type is the Scientist-to-scientist partnership where experts
in the agroforestry work with their peers.
Elements of Strategic Planning in Partnership Strategy
Plan 2013-2018
The
overall mission of the Partnership Strategy Plan was to facilitate an effective
and ezpanding network stakeholder organizations working collaboratively to
advance agroforestry science and practice. Among completion the strategy is
expected to enabled ICRAF attain a meaningful complementarity among the
different players in the research- development continuum.The plan is also not
only expected to leverage more stakeholder resources especially the private
sector but is also expected to contribute to the overall policy and
instituitional transformation in the agroforestry sector. To add to that, the
plan is expected to aid in the incorporation of indegenious knowledge in
agroforestry advancement. Enabling the completion of the chain of analysis and
improving the relevance of research and development activities was another
expectation of the plan.
The
main objective of the plan was to deepen inter-and multi-sectoral approaches to
agroforestry research and development. The other objectives include providing a
platform for practitioners ans
scientists to better understand and design agroforestry strategies. Building synergy tap in
opportunities, ensuring long term sustainability of efforts, promoting policy
and instituitional changes and synthesis and exchange of knowledge were the
other objectives.
The
core value of ICRAF in the partnership plan was professionalism, creativity , inclusiveness
and mutual respect among the workers when dealing with partners. This is in
irrespective of the gender, size of organization, nationality, age, race ,
religion, seniority e.t.c
Merits of partnership Strategy Plans 2013-2018
More
resources: By acquiring new partners in the Partnership Plan ICRAF gets
additional resources which it did not have previously. The resouces are in
terms of man power, know how, equipments, financial resources among many
others. The different partners bring to the table all this which in the long
run help in reaching ICRAF overall goals and objectives.
More
people: Through partnership more people get involved in the agroforestry
business. The more people involved the better it is in terms of creating awareness,
gathering resources and implementing policies. Also by involving people such as
the local rural farmers ICRAF is able to meet its long term goal and the
millennium goal of eradicating rural poverty and improving the standard of
living.
Diversity
in Knowledge: As the different partners are brought on board they come with
different expertise. For example the local farmers come with indigenous
knowledge of the local area and activities which help in knowing the problems
they deal with in matters to do with agroforestry. The other expert partners
especially in project partnership are also experts in areas where ICRAF might
not be knowledfeable. To add to that, through peer to peer partnership
individuals get to be more knowledgeable and learn from each other and transfer
this knowledge back to their fields.
Platform
for implementation: The different partnerships provide a platform where
different experiments and knowledge can be implemented. The best example is in
small farms in rural area where different crop and tree variaties can be
planted and observed. The feed back from the people is also important in
accessing the implementation of any given project.
Long
term sustainability: For any project to be sustainable in the long run, there
must be good will from the people involved in their willingness to implement
the said project. Partnership makes the partners involved to not only look but
also feel equally important. This encourages them to continue doing the project
for longer. The best example is local dwelllers whose land is being used for
the implementations. If they see that the projects are not only good for the
environment but also good economically for them, they will be encouraged to
implement it and also follow up on the them.
Filling
gaps: As much as ICRAF is a global organization, for one reason or another it
can not implement and do everything on its own. There are areas and policiesin
which it lacks the resources, man power and knowledge to do. This is where the
partners come in. Where ICRAF knows that something is vital and complementary
to its agroforestry agenda, it will seek a suitable partner to help
Providing
links: The partners provide a link between ICRAF as an organization and the
field in which the projects are implemented. The link start from as early as
the research data, to what is needed to start the project upto the feedback
stage. Partnership also helps in linking people at village level, national
level, regional level and even at the global level.
Sharing
risks: Through partnerships the risk is shared among the different partners.
This means that no one party is at risk of suffering all the losses incase
unforeseen event occurs. This helps in bolstering confidence among the
different partners.
Developing
local capacities: At local level, the knowledge is limited to the local know
how. Through ICRAF and its development partners, additional knowledge that is
not locally available is brought. This helps the local communities in better
farming methods, equipments, crop/tree variaties among other benefits. The
market for the local produce is also widen.
Demerits of partnership Strategy Plans 2013-2018
Profit
objective of private sector: The main objective of any business is to make
profit. On the other hand profit making is not the main objective of ICRAF.
Some partners especially in the project partnership will come on board with an
aim of maximizing their profits. This means that they will try to reduce the
cost associated with the projects as much as possible and try to charge the maximum
amount that they can get. In the end, the project might be of low quality or be
financial not sustainable in the long run.
Direct
competitors: Through knowledge synthesis and other knowledge based partnership
benefits ICRAF creates direct competitors. Once this partners get all the know
how they will be able to do the same things as ICRAF and will see no need to
partner. This in the long run will make ICRAF look for new partners again and
the end product might the same. Also the parties involved will be seeing an
alternative to it.
Bureaucracy:
Bureaucracy arises from the tedious and long project of choosing partners.
Before any partner is chooses, a thorough research has to be done on them after
which the proposal has to go through the chain of command. The seniors will
then have to scrutinize the proposed partners before making the decision which
can take a while depending on the project. Another place in which bureaucracy
arises is in the releasing of funds. Paying partners for a project also has to
go up through the chain of command before finally being released.
Conflicts:
One of the main disadvantages of any partnership is that conflicts might arise
which is quite common. The conflicts might lead to ending the partnerships if a
solution is not reached or bad blood between the different partners. Other
times it might lead to losses for one or both partners in places where a
project is implemented half way.
One
of the demerits of the partnership Strategy plan down side is that some of the
potential partners had developed their own resources and capacities thus so no
need to partner with ICRAF in order to implement their activities. As much as
this is a demerit for the plan it is also a win for agroforestry in the long
run.
Recommendations to the Partnership Strategy Plan
2013-2018
Conflict Resolution Plans: ICRAF
should come up with conflict resolution plans in advance so as to know what to
do incase an issue arises. The most common conflict resolution method is the
use of the courts of law which in some cases take quite a while to be resolved.
Alternative methods such as mediation should be put on the table.
Entrepreneurship training: Most of
the time, ICRAF educate people on the benefits of agroforestry and just touches
partly on the entrepreneurship part. Most of the rural areas will thus get in
agroforestry, get money but due to lack of proper training end up misusing the
funds. Thus they need to properly trained not only on agroforestry but also on
the business aspect.
Better communication: There should
be better and constant communication among the partners not only online but
face to face to. This will help foster long term relationship among the
partners and also access the progress of the projects.
2.Corporate Strategy 2017-2026
The ICRAF corporate strategy
2017-2026 is more of a summary of all the strategic plan that ICRAF has in the
long run. It is a mirror of ICRAF’s goals, mission, vision and objective. This
was made in regards to ICRAF commitment to tackle climate change and to change
the development path ways in the vision 2030 agenda (World Agroforestry Centre, 2017). All in all it aims at dealing
with challenges of poverty,low soil carbon, conflict. Tree and soil degradation
and food security.
Elements of Strategic Panning in Corporate Strategy
2017-2026
The
vision is to have a world where all the people have a viable livelihoods which
is supported by healthy and productive landscapes. The goal is to support
sustainable development goals , SGIAR strategic result framework and National Development plans.
The
missions which are also termed as the main theme include; greening tree crop
landscapes, land health decisions, resilent livelihood systems, tree
productivity and diversity, evidence and analysis, social and technical
solutions, design, decision and delivery options and finally capacities and
partnerships.
Merits of Corporate Strategy 2017-2026
Research
and development support Platforms: There are support programmes platforms to
help the scientists and partners in the field. An example is the science
quality platform which aids in information support and data analysis. Another
example is the Geospitial Unit which helps in time series analysis, napping of
phenology, soil mapping, vegetable analysis among others.
Focuses
on Long Term: As it can be seen the plan is a ten year plan. The length of the
plan is not only limited to the length of time but also in its mission, vision,
objectives and the goals it intends to achieve.
Regional
objectives: As much as the strategy is global, the objectives of the different
regions has been stated. For example for the East and Southern Africa region,
it has been aligned to the Africa Union’s Malabo Declaration of june 2014 on
“Accelerated agricultural growth and transformation for shared prosperity and
improved livelihoods”. The Southeast Asia region are aligned with the vision
and Strategic Plan for ASEAN Cooperaion Food, Agriculture and Forestry towards
2025.
Land
and health strategies: Apart from just focusing on agroforestry the objectives
of the plan also focuses on issues of land and health. When it comes to health,
nutrition and the general well being of the people is also consider. Focus on
land on the other hand focuses on making it more productive, replenishing it
and preventing soil erosion.
Prevention:
There is also focus on prevention as opposed to dealing with the after math.
This is the plan that focuses more on this.
Global
policy emphasis: The corporate strategy plan is a global plan. With this in
mind it focuses mostly on world wide solutions especially in the area of policy
making.
Key
Elements of the theme break down: Apart from just stating the theme in general,
the plan has attempted to break down what each element entails. This aids in
understanding the theme which will help when it comes to implementing the same.
Demerits of Corporate Strategy 2017-2026
Too
general: As said earlier, the Corporate Strategy 2017-2026 is a global plan.
With this in mind it gives solutions that are quite general whereas each
country/region needs specific goals. The points are also not properly defined.
Poverty
challenge:For any project to be implemented funds are needed in the first
place. Other than that, the people involved will need to generate income. With
the levels of poverty in developing countries people will focus more on jobs
that will generate short term income as opposed to farming which might take a
while.
Climate
change: Global warming has become a current phenomena with changing climatic
conditions all over the world. This has led to unusual weather conditions thus
harder to predict. This a challenge as the plan is long term and needs to
predict certain things such as the weather.
Policy
and Legislation: The plan being global faces different legislative challenges
in different regions. Each country has its own goals which might not be the
same as that of ICRAF. The biggest challenge is industrialization which might
take part of farming land.
Shifting
demographics: Nowadays the world is a global village. The trend in developing
world has been that of the energetic youths moving to urban areas living the
old to do the farming. Human capital is important in agroforestry and requires
the best man power.
Risk
factor: The strategy itself does not take into account the risk factor. With
the change in life style, weather and industrialization, newer risks have been
emerging. The risks include extreme weather events such as tsunamis, food
crisis, profound social instability,
failure of climate change mitigation and adaptation among others.
Recommendations Corporate Strategy 2017-2026
Adoption
of Information ecology and Technology: As much as technology is being used,
there is still room for improvement. This is especially the case in rural area
where access is limited. ICRAF also needs to tap more in social media where the
youths are the main users.
Take
into account the Risk factors: There are a lot of risks factors which are not
considered in depth when coming up with the plans. This include the demographic
changes, climate change, political uncertainity among others.
Supplemantary
plans: Corporate strategy can not work on its own due to the general nature of
the plan. For it to be effective it needs complementary plans that will help in
achieving the goals.
3.Gender Strategy and Action Plan
The report was published in recognition that gender equality
is in itself a core development objective. Thus the improvement of gender
equality in production systems can transform agricultural livelihoods, improve
development outcomes and make instituitional cultures more enabling (Kroma, et
al., 2016).
Elements of Strategic Planning In the
Gender Strategy and Action plan
The
objectives of the plan included raising awareness and understanding of the
importance of gender intergration in agroforestry research and development
through relevant gender sensitization. The other objective was to enhance
gender research capacity through
provision of expertise and robust tools. Mobilizing adequate resources to
support the goals of this strategy and drive ICRAF vision of rural
transformation was also an objective set. The last objective was to intergrate
gender dimensions in agroforestry research and development.
Merits Gender Strategy and Action Plan
Gender
equality agenda: As opposed to just focusing on agroforestry agenda as is the
norm, This plan also focus on the need for gender equality. This shows that
ICRAF also has an eye for social problems and the need for equality.
Better
soil conservation: As per the strategy, study shows that men land cultivation
practices is mostly motivated by financial gains. Women on the other hand are
more likely to not only focus on financial gains but also the focus on soil
conservation for long term gains.
Inclusion
of ICRAF objectives: As much as this is a gender action plan, the mission,
vision, goals and objectives of ICRAF as
the mother organization is not forgotten. Issues such as soil conservation,
eradication of poverty, tree planting, general agroforestry development are
also included.
Research:
The gender strategy and action plan is backed up with a lot of studies done in
different areas. With the data in play, one can see what warranted the
objectives and the plan in general.
Demerits of Gender Strategy and Action Plan
Cultural differences and
beliefs: As much as the report is detailed and comprehensive, it does not take
into account the cultural differences. The different people in the developing
countries come from different background with different gender roles. This
means that its not a must that all the genders be engaged in agroforestry or
one economical activity so as to be considered equal or productive.
Focuses more on women: Gender
equality refers to the unequal enjoyment
by women, girls, boys and men of rights, resources, opportunities and
rewards. The definition is not limited to one gender. Even though women are the
most marginalized of the two genders in general, that is not always the case.
There are men and boys who are also marginalized. This report focuses only on
empowering the female gender and no mention of the male counterparts in terms
of empowering them.
Risk factor: To add to that, the
report does not take into account the risks that might arise in relation to
gender equality and agroforestry in general. For example, legistlation might
change that might affect gender issues such as inheritance and property issues.
In the area of agroforestry issues to do with climate change and demographic
changes are also not considered.
Recommendations Gender Strategy and Action Plan
Risk factor: One
recommendation that is needed is the taking into account the risks that might
or might not arise in the future. This includes issue to do with extreme
weather conditions, disasters, legislative changes among many others.
Take into account both genders: As
seen from the definition, gender is not limited just to females rather it
applies to both genders. For an effective system to work, the idea has to
consider both genders and not just one.
Involve local leaders: In most
developing contries, the issue of gender is sensitive as it has been
intergrated into the beliefs and culture of the people. To solve any
disparities, the leaders need to be consulted as they represent the people.
Concluding Thoughts
As it can be seen, ICRAF has
always been a world leader in coming up with strategic plan and implementing
them. This has become more vital than ever in times like this where global
warming has become a challenge. The most important thing however that needs to
be considered when coming up with any strategic plan that ius usually forgotten
in most cases is the risk factor. Each strategic plan should have the
organization’s S.W.O.T analysis so as to now what they have, what they need,
how far they have gone and what to expect in the future.
To add to that, all strategic plan
are made with good intentions. All they need is proper research in the first
place, willingness to implement them and the ability to learn from them. ICRAF
plans are well planned ,complement each other and are all aimed at the general
goals, objectives, mission, vision and the core values of the organization.
References
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Agroforestry Centre website: www.worldagroforestry.org/about/history
Kroma, M., Valencia, P. A., Kristjanson, P. M., Kiptot, E., catacutan, d.
c., Jost, C. C., & Naz, F. (2016). World Agroforestry Centre.
Retrieved from World Agroforestry Centre website:
www.worldagroforestry/publications/gender-strategy-and-action-plan
Mcarthy, D. (2017, august 13). The Balance. Retrieved from The
balance website: www.thebalance.com/strategic-plan-elements-2276139
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