- To build and strengthen national capacity to sustain the program
- To institutionalize national capacity beyond the lifetime of the program
- To develop capacity at various levels:
- General training on rural policy analysis
- Specialized methodology training
- Researcher/analyst training at PhD level
All of the research activities planned for 2006, along with continuing research on price risk management and commercialization, will include a training series to accompany and reinforce policy analysis capacity.
- Understanding and Analyzing Agricultural Market Performance - Training Course
- Part II: Building Institutions for Markets - continued – January
- Part III: Price Policy Analysis – Tools & Empirics – March
- Part IV: Food Price Stabilization Policies: Concepts and Analytical Tools – July
- Commodity Exchange Study Tour, Mumbai, India - May 15-20, 2006
- Poverty Reduction Study Tour, Gansu Province, China - May 25-28, 2006
- Discussion with the Poverty Alleviation and Development Office and the Foreign Capital Project Management Center in Gansu Province
- A study on the improvement of Basic Farm conditions (Terrace, Grain for Green, Integrated Rehabilitation of Watershed) in Anding district, Dingxi city
- A household visit to study poverty reduction projects with methods like reclamation of rain, bio-gas facilities and stock feeding in Guanxin village, Jingjiaquan township
- And finally a field study on the implementation of a participatory approach to village-based development projects in Renwu village, Liu Ping township
The objective of the study tour was to: increase understanding and awareness of commodity exchange design and key success factors through first-hand observation, explore possible strategic alliances between Ethiopia and India, and to determine to what extent the Indian experience and institutional framework can be used as a model for Ethiopia.
The program included visits to the Multi-Commodity Exchange, the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange, Forward Market Commission, the regulatory agency, as well as to nearby rural warehouses, wholesale market centers, and grading centers, as well as technology partners and financial institutions engaged with the Indian commodity exchanges.
Following the joint IFPRI/IPRCC conference on “Poverty Reduction Strategy in the New Millennium: Emerging Issues, Experiences and Lessons” in Beijing, a study tour to Gansu Province was organized to observe sites that demonstrated great progress in poverty reduction. The delegation traveled to various sites to visit projects and government offices which focus on poverty alleviation. The program of visits included:
- Study tour to Guizhou, China to study rural industrialization – March
- Spatial Analysis for Rural Economic Policy
- Introduction to Spatial Dimensions of Agricultural and Rural Development Policy - March
- Understanding and Using Spatial Information and Spatial Databases - June
- Techniques and Applications of Spatial Analysis - August
- Harnessing Markets for Agricultural Growth – May 2005
- High Value Supply Chains - May, June, September, October, November (10 days over 5 sessions)
- Building Institutions for Markets - September
- Market Integration and Price Analysis - October
- STATA statistical software use - July
- Rural Non-farm Economy and Growth Linkages - October
- Understanding and Analyzing Agricultural Market Performance
- Part I: Building Institutions for Markets – October 2005
- Part II: Building Institutions for Markets - continued – January 2006
- Part III: Price Policy Analysis – Tools & Empirics – March 2006
ESSP training programs are developed jointly with the ISNAR division of IFPRI, led by Dr. Zenete Franca. More information on capacity strengthening initiatives at IFPRI is available on the IFPRI Learning and Capacity Strengthening website.