Thu, 05/30/2013

Capacity Needs Assessment (CNA) studies are being completed in the five of the six countries which were initially planned to complete CNA studies by April 2013. These countries include Mozambique, Togo, Ghana, Senegal, Rwanda, Zambia and Malawi. Meanwhile Benin, Ethiopia and Tanzania have completed their CNA studies before the August 2013 deadline set and first drafts of the report have been revised and comments sent to the national consultants. Besides, validation workshops were held by Ghana and Togo in April this year. These two countries plus Benin have gone on to the next step of developing capacity strengthening strategies based on the findings of the CNAs. For Uganda which has ToR in place for consultants, the CNA is still underway. CNA studies which have not yet been launched in DRC and Burkina Faso due to unforeseen circumstances are expected to start soon as the persons to coordinate the work and the tools are in place.

Launching of SAKSS platforms by June is on track for Togo and Ghana, which as indicated above have their CNA reports validated in stakeholder workshop and their respective capacity strengthening strategies also completed. In the other four countries whose launching of SAKSS platform was planned for June 2013, the drafting and adoption of capacity building strategies which is taking more time is expected to create delay in the establishment of SAKSS platform. As nearly all countries have completed the CNAs, it is expected that ReSAKSS would finalize setting up of country SAKSS in 12 countries by December this year. On the other hand, for countries where CNA has not yet started such as Cameroon as a result of delay in response from the country, alternative planning is in place to undertake the CNA study in March 2014.

The update is prepared by Samson Jemaneh, Research Officer at IFPRI Eastern and Southern Africa Office (ESARO).