Capacity Assessment in Multi-Stakeholder Agricultural Innovation Platforms: A Review of Literature and Experiences

This review is an information resource for development practitioners, development
agencies and funders of development activities who have an interest in assessing capacity
for agricultural innovation in developing countries, including the developing regions of
sub-Saharan Africa. In the context that further investment in the agricultural capacity of
developing countries is recognised as a development priority, the review explores what is
known about the “tools” (i.e. concepts and methods) which are available to guide
assessment of innovation capacity in these countries. Given the perceived limitation of
past investments focused mainly on developing agricultural research capacity, the review
specifically explores tools for assessing the capacity of multi-stakeholder initiatives which
include a wider range of “innovation actors”, including agricultural researchers.
The methodology for the review was a two-stage literature search using the Google search
engine to identify the available published information. This was complemented by
interviews and/or email exchange with practitioners working in or managing multi stakeholder
agricultural projects in sub-Saharan Africa focused on promoting innovation
and with a capacity development component. The author’s direct experience of undertaking
capacity assessment and capacity development work in SCARDA was a further
information source.