Africa Leadership Training and Capacity Building Program: Africa Lead QR8 Quarterly Report

The Program initially was to run from September 20, 2010 to September 30, 2012, with a budget ceiling of $21,332,381. As of a September 30, 2012 contract modification, the Program was extended for one year (through September 2013) and the ceiling was raised by $4,850,000 to $26,182,381. Africa Lead is being implemented by lead RAISE Plus IQC holder, DAI, supported by Management Systems International (MSI), Winrock International, Training Resources Group (TRG), ECIAfrica Consulting (Pty) Ltd., and Michigan State University (MSU). From the beginning of the Program until July 31, 2012, Africa Lead was implemented through three regional offices–Accra, Ghana; Nairobi, Kenya; and Pretoria, South Africa–each run by a Regional Deputy Chief of Party (DCOP). With the end of July closure of the Pretoria office, Program implementation for Southern Africa will be handled primarily by the Nairobi office. Program implementation and operations in the Nairobi and Accra offices are supported by a Bethesda-based office headed by the program Chief of Party (COP). The purpose of the program is to support the capacity building program of the US Government's Feed the Future (FTF) Initiative, which aligns U.S. Government development assistance with Africa-owned agriculture development plans that are, in turn, aligned with the African Union's Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP). CAADP seeks to contribute to the MDG goals by ensuring that governments throughout the continent apply 10% of their public budgets to agriculture in an effort to achieve the 6% annual growth in agricultural productivity that is needed to achieve sustainable food security throughout the continent. Africa Lead's activities are focused on developing a cadre of African leaders who will design and implement food security strategies and investment plans. The program is divided into four tasks: Provision of Leadership Training to African Food Security Leaders, Support for Short Courses, Workshops, Conferences, and Partnerships on Innovative Learning Experiences, Conduct of Institutional Capacity Needs Assessments to Guide Further Training and Capacity Building, and Designing, Building, Populating, Validating, and Institutionalizing a Database of Training Offerings from African Institutions. At the continental level, Africa Lead has been implementing various activities, including the provision of leadership training to African food security leaders, support for short courses, workshops, conferences, and partnerships on innovative learning experiences, and conducting institutional capacity needs assessments. In the East Africa program, Africa Lead has been providing leadership training to African food security leaders, supporting short courses, workshops, conferences, and partnerships on innovative learning experiences, and conducting institutional capacity needs assessments. In the West Africa program, Africa Lead has been providing leadership training to African food security leaders and supporting short courses, workshops, conferences, and partnerships on innovative learning experiences. In the Southern Africa program, Africa Lead has been providing leadership training to African food security leaders and conducting institutional capacity needs assessments. Africa Lead's performance monitoring framework includes the development of data collection forms/instruments and the tracking of indicators. The program's results framework and indicator tracking sheet are outlined in Appendix 1 and Appendix 2, respectively.