IICA renews its technical cooperation model

San Jose, May 26, 2014.- The Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) has revamped its method of work, adopting a model capable of addressing the major challenges of the agricultural sector in the 21st century. The model is designed to increase the impact of IICA’s actions and meet the agricultural technical assistance needs of its member countries with measurable and verifiable contributions.

The framework for the implementation of this new form of technical assistance is set forth in the Institute’s 2014-2018 Medium-term Plan (MTP), approved by IICA’s Executive Committee at its annual meeting, held in Costa Rica from May 21-22.

IICA will provide technical cooperation to the agricultural sector of its 34 member countries via four flagship projects, externally funded projects, rapid response actions and the pre-investment projects of the Technical Cooperation Fund (FonTC).

The aim of these instruments is to make 11 types of contributions to the efforts to bring about major transformations in agriculture in the hemisphere. The overarching changes in question range from increased governability of agricultural and agrifood systems to the adoption of a culture of risk prevention, enhanced intersectoral coordination of the ministries working in rural territories and a reduction in the economic vulnerability of rural dwellers.

“We aim to increase the impact of the Institute’s activities in areas that better reflect the hemisphere’s aspiration for productive, competitive and sustainable agriculture, while bearing in mind that the objectives of the 2010-2020 Strategic Plan remain unchanged,” the Director General of IICA, Víctor M. Villalobos, observed.

The challenges are to improve the productivity and competitiveness of the agricultural sector, strengthen agriculture’s contribution to rural area-based development and rural well-being, boost agriculture’s capacity for climate change mitigation and adaptation, make better use of natural resources and enhance agriculture’s contribution to food security.

Furthermore, at both their two last meetings (2011 and 2013), the ministers of agriculture of the Americas instructed IICA to strengthen innovation in the sector and promote integrated water resources management. The Institute will also work to achieve greater integration of family farming into value chains.

Four instruments, 11 contributions

According to the 2014-2018 MTP, the flagship projects integrate all of IICA’s vertical levels of activity (from the hemispheric down to the national level) and all of its units and offices horizontally. They will be given priority with respect to the allocation of resources from the Institute’s Regular Fund and will be geared toward the attainment of the results expected of IICA’s strategies in its member countries.

There will be four flagship projects: competitiveness and sustainability of agricultural chains for food security; inclusion in agriculture and rural territories; resilience and comprehensive risk management in agriculture; and the productivity and sustainability of family agriculture for food security and the rural economy.

Furthermore, IICA will continue to manage externally funded technical cooperation projects for governments, bilateral or multilateral agencies, and non-governmental and private sector entities. These initiatives must contribute to the major agricultural transformations proposed for the countries of the hemisphere.

The Institute will carry out rapid response actions in response to requests for specific support, emergencies or emerging issues and opportunities created by political and economic changes in the countries. Such actions may be financed with Regular Fund or external resources.

The fourth tool will be the Fund for Technical Cooperation (FonTC), a competitive mechanism that already exists and that will be strengthened to finance, in whole or in part, pre-investment initiatives that generate project proposals designed to mobilize external resources, framed within the strategic objectives and contributions established in the MTP.

The 11 contributions on which IICA will focus its efforts in its member countries include strengthening the capabilities for establishing cutting-edge public policies for agriculture; implementing innovation processes; ensuring agricultural health and food safety; enhancing the business and associative capabilities of stakeholders in agricultural chains; and strengthening of rural stakeholders so they can improve their food security and well-being.

The other contributions are expanding the capabilities for integrated water management and the sustainable use of the soil, and promoting climate change adaptation and mitigation measures. The goal will also be to improve the countries’ food and nutritional security programs, increase the use of native species, reduce the amounts of food and raw materials lost, and strengthen the participation of the countries in forums that are important for inter-American agriculture.

A new approach

At the meeting of the Executive Committee, Víctor M. Villalobos, Director General of IICA, pointed out that a results-based management approach would be adopted to achieve the aforementioned contributions. In the Institute’s 2014-2018 MTP, results are defined as a measurable change effected by a planned intervention, in this case within the agricultural sector.

The work required to achieve the proposed results will be carried out via networks. “IICA will give priority to collaborative, interdisciplinary and multi-institutional work, through the formation and coordination of cooperation networks, both within and outside the Institute,” the MTP explains.

“These adjustments are designed to lead to the evolution of the cooperation model, to consolidate what has been achieved and deliver to the countries an IICA that is very solid in technical and sustainable terms and from the financial standpoint,” the Director General of the Institute affirmed.