Quarterly Report Categories

The focus was on outreach to prospective fellows and fellow preparation. On January 24th and 27th, outreach events were held at UC San Diego and UC Santa Cruz, respectively. In-classroom outreach events were also held on the Davis campus immediately preceding core courses in Horticulture and Agronomy, Community and Regional Development, and International Agricultural Development. A total of 31 students applied for the program from five UC campuses, with 24 students selected for projects. The selection process involved reviewing student applications, interviewing candidates by organizations, and weighing student preferences against organizational preferences. Student campus diversity and equitable distribution of fellows among projects were also taken into account. The following projects were submitted for funding with USAID funds: Toward Sustainable Food Systems in Vietnam, Assessing soil health aspects in potato-forage intercropping systems in Kenya, Development and Assessment of Small Scale Irrigation Technologies for Smallholder Farmers in Uganda, Petén's Indigenous School for Integrated Rural Development in Guatemala, and Process evaluation of food and nutrition security intervention in West Africa in Senegal. Kate Wilkins, RIFA Communications and Partnerships Coordinator, traveled to Brazil in late January to solidify partnerships with research organizations and establish fellowship positions for UC students. The USAID mission in Brazil provided funds for 8-10 RI fellows to collaborate with Brazilian organizations on projects concerning biodiversity conservation in the Amazon or enhance the use of science in biodiversity conservation policy. The trip was successful in creating new fellowship positions and engaging new partners in lasting relationships. Planning for the upcoming short course and conference also marked the end of the second quarter. The UC Davis hosted the RI fellows annual conference with the sister program at Berkeley, and the RIFA short course in project planning and management for fellows was held from April 7th to April 11th. A partnership with CIAT was established to apply for an "International Research Experiences for Students (IRES)" grant from NSF. The partnership has been successful, with 13 fellows selected to work with CIAT programs in Colombia and Vietnam. The partnership aims to continue and expand its collaboration with CIAT. USAID engagement was minimal during this quarter, with no notable activities reported. Lessons learned from the quarter included the importance of effective communication with host mentors, as a massive flood of emails to professors at all campuses resulted in limited responses.