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Extending
this learning, seed aid donors and NGOs such as Catholic Relief Services
partnered with ICRISAT in the Horn of Africa region, and with ICARDA
in Afghanistan, to devise smarter ways of restoring seed systems.
The research confirmed that indiscriminate seed giveaways undermine
local seed enterprises. The partners devised a better way: providing
aid in the form of vouchers that poor farmers could use to buy seed
from local suppliers of their choice. Supporting local institutions
and social networks builds local resilience and food security.
In order to make its aid investment smarter, USAID's Office for Foreign
Disaster Assistance asked ILRI to help it break away from a `handout'
approach to a new mode that would build selfreliance and resilience
in the conflict-ridden and drought-plagued Horn of Africa region.
Jointly with ASARECA's A-AARNET network, ILRI assessed traditional
systems of coping with drought and elucidated a new set of approaches
that built on traditional knowledge and skills. The new approach shifts
the focus from relief to development: re-directing aid investments
towards preventative, coping and recovery capabilities such
as drought early-warning, herd size management, improved animal health
services, dryseason fodder supplies, and training.
When embarking on major rebuilding efforts, the Centers' diagnostic
and analytical capabilities contribute significantly to steer
aid in the right direction. The Future Harvest Consortium in Afghanistan,
for example, conducted an in-depth needs assessment that reached every
province of the country, talking to thousands of farmers. The information
fed into priority-setting deliberations by a wide range of assistance
entities, including Afghanistan's own Ministry of Agriculture and
Livestock, USAID, US universities, NGOs, FAO and private sector organizations.
IFPRI led a similar study to help Mozambique identify priorities for
rebuilding after its long independence struggle and civil war.
The advanced tools and skills of CGIAR Centers have been important
elements of `smart aid'. Geographic information systems (GIS) and
models have been particularly useful. CIAT's 'Mitch Atlas' GIS dataset
became the guiding light for aid agencies in targeting their assistance
in the wake of that `hurricane of the century'. ICARDA and Michigan
State University are using GIS to assist Afghanistan with rangeland
recovery, directing herders to optimum pastures to reduce overgrazing.
Other advanced techniques include CIAT's use of molecular markers
to detect changes in bean biodiversity following the Rwandan crisis,
and IITA's use of virus diagnostics and tissue culture multiplication
techniques to combat the African Cassava Mosaic Virus. |
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