Presented at “Knowledge for Sustainable Development: the Research-Policy Nexus” Global Sustainable Development Network Conference in Bonn, Germany, 23-25 October 2019.

1. Challenges and Opportunities of Trilateral
Partnership to Promote Greater Local
Ownership and Sustainability: the Experience
of the USA, Brazil and Mozambique Food
Security Project, 2011–2015
Marianne Schmink, Jenny Smart,
Isabel Sitoe, Walter Bowen, Henoque Ribeiro Silva,
Carvalho Carlos Ecole, and Lenita Haber
Presented at:
“Knowledge for Sustainable Development: the Research-Policy Nexus”
Global Sustainable Development Network Conference
Bonn, Germany, 23-25 October 2019
Photo: Walter Bowen

2. Trilateral Development Cooperation
• Lessons learned from a pioneering trilateral development cooperation
(TC) program involving a traditional donor country (US), a “pivotal” or
“emerging” donor country (Brazil) and a “host” or “recipient” country
(Mozambique).
• Emerging new form of
horizontal development
cooperation outside the
traditional model
dominated by the OECD-
DAC countries.
• BRICS (Brazil, Russia,
India, China, and South
Africa) are leading
actors.

3. TC: a New Modality of Aid
Potential:
• More effective and efficient development assistance, based
on the comparative advantages of the partners (evolving
Northern influence).
• Builds on South-South as well as North-South relationships;
promotes more horizontal relationships and mutual learning.
Practical Challenges:
• High transaction costs of organizing collaboration among
multiple organizations – up to a dozen – involved in projects
involving people from three countries.
• Few studies report on empirical evidence about the actual
experience of practicing TC.

4. TC in Practice
• 2011–2015 Project of Technical Support to the Programs of
Nutrition and Food Security (PSAL) in Mozambique.
• Funded by USAID and ABC (Brazilian donor).
• Interdisciplinary teams working in three interwoven dimensions:
production, post-harvest and socioeconomics, with each of these
component teams comprised of representative actors across the
three contributing countries.
• Focused on the human and
institutional capacity of the
Institute of Agricultural Research of
Mozambique (IIAM) to conduct
research and provide advice on
horticultural value chains:
o inputs,
o production,
o marketing & processing,
o even consumption.
Photos: Walter Bowen

5. Lessons Learned: Best Practices for TC
Ownership and Synergies
Strategies to promote project ownership by
participating individuals and organizations,
especially those in the host country, and
alignment with national priorities as well as
other relevant ongoing programs.
Collaboration and Coordination
Adaptive Governance
Flexible project management to adjust
to changing conditions.
Conceptual
Framework
Photos: Walter Bowen
Strategies to promote
leadership, communication
among relevant partners, and
harmonization of approaches.

6. Methodology
• Reflections at the end of the project were collected through:
– facilitated group discussion among key technical participants;
– several one on one interviews with Mozambican government officials;
– an anonymous online survey of 90 out of 179 people involved directly or
indirectly in the project.
• E.g. Sponsoring organizations and ministry directors, researchers, interns and
research assistants, and a few extension workers and partner farmers.
• We used the evidence collected to explore key questions
relevant to ownership and sustainability derived from our
conceptual framework on best practices for TC (Schmink et al.,
2011):
– Collaboration and Coordination
– Ownership and Synergies

7. Lessons Learned: Best Practices for TC
Ownership and Synergies
• What is the potential impact on transformation of Mozambique’s
agricultural system?
• To what extent did Mozambican partners take ownership of project
activities?
• To what extent did planning for human and operational resources by
Mozambican partners guarantee the sustainability of project results
and the dissemination knowledge and techniques acquired?
Collaboration and Coordination
• What is the potential impact of collaboration in project activities
on increased capacity and knowledge of technicians, researchers
and trainees in executing organizations in the three countries?
• What is the potential impact of collaboration in project activities
on institutional leaders and practices of the organizations
involved?
Key Questions
Photo: Walter Bowen

8. Findings: Collaboration and Coordination
Collaboration and Coordination
• What is the potential impact of collaboration in project activities
on increased capacity and knowledge of technicians, researchers
and trainees in executing organizations in the three countries?
• What is the potential impact of collaboration in project activities
on institutional leaders and practices of the organizations
involved?
• Nearly all those who
responded (98%)
believed that the
training they
received was useful,
and three-quarters
said that it improved
their technical
capacity in specific
ways.
0 5 10 15 20 25
Other
Greater visibility of particip'g organizations
Better academic relat'ns btw organizations
Guidance for agricultural research
Appropriation of project activities by IIAM
Recognition of trained local researchers
Synergies with other org.s and projects
Increased visibility of Moz research inst'te
Networking cross-instit'ns, discipl'ns, cntries
Most Positive Impacts of the Project Reported
Photos: Walter Bowen

9. Findings: Ownership and Synergies
Ownership and Synergies
• What is the potential impact on transformation of
Mozambique’s agricultural system?
• To what extent did Mozambican partners take
ownership of project activities?
• To what extent did planning for human and
operational resources by Mozambican partners
guarantee the sustainability of project results and
the dissemination knowledge and techniques
acquired?
• Of the 31 respondents asked, over 80% felt that the project had improved the
long-term potential to serve local communities and to strengthen family-
based horticultural production.
• The four greatest challenges to trilateral cooperation cited were all related to
the long-term capacity of local researchers to absorb and execute project
activities.
• Despite obstacles, local researchers found ways to continue their work to
improve horticultural crop production several years after the project’s end.
26%
19%
18%
17%
14%
7%
Most important impacts of the project
identified by project participants
Institutional strengthening and
visibility
Improved professional growth and
learning by project actors
New varieties tested, identification
and selection of new varieties
Communications/ Publications
Optimization of production
techniques
Other
N=167

10. Lessons Learned
• The high level and truly inclusive evidence-
based information from our study sheds light
on how best to structure development
partnerships, address development
challenges, and prioritize innovative and
sound policy recommendations for
sustainable future cross-disciplinary and
cooperative endeavours.
• The responses by participants illustrate the
many pathways by which investments in
building collaborative capacity can potentially
lead to longer-term impacts, as well as some
of the impediments that could limit that
impact.
Photos: Walter Bowen

11. Lessons Learned
• Synergies: The PSAL project produced positive synergies
from collaboration among multiple groups and tri-national
organizations, through learning and new technological
innovations.
• TC projects seeking to have a sustainable impact on
development must more effectively integrate all actors
across the value chain (researchers, extensionists,
producers, the private sector and consumers) from the
beginning of the project.
• Outcomes: TC promises to deliver improved development
results through greater ownership by host countries and
alignment with diverse national and international
programs.
• TC projects need to realistically address the limitations of
host country organizations to absorb large international
projects, and what incentives are available to support their
sustained involvement and long-term appropriation of
activities for the future.
Photos: Walter Bowen
Photos: Walter Bowen

12. Photos: Walter Bowen
Thank you!
schmink@ufl.edu
For more details, please see:
M. Schmink1, J.C. Smart2, I. Sitoe3, W. Bowen4, H.R. Silva5,
C.C. Ecole6 and L. Haber5. 2019. Challenges and
opportunities of Trilateral Cooperation: U.S., Brazil and
Mozambique collaboration on horticultural research 2011-
2015. Development Policy Review, Article in Press.
1 University of Florida (UF).
2 International Food Policy Research Institute (formerly, MSU).
3 Food and Agricultural Organization (formerly, IIAM).
4 University of Hawaii (formerly, UF).
5 Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária (EMBRAPA).
6 Instituto de Investigacão Agrária de Moçambique (IIAM).

13. Extras

14. Policy Recommendations
To promote greater local ownership and sustainability, and
handle the global and shared challenges of sustainable
development in the context of future trilateral cooperation
projects:
(1) Invest in communications and collaboration
based in interdisciplinary trilateral teams;
(2) From the first stages of planning, implementation
and evaluation:
– Involve all partners, especially those in the host
country,
– Integrate actors across the value chain;
(3) Address limitations, priorities and incentives in
local institutions.

15. Findings: Adaptive Governance
Adaptive Governance
• What were the positive and negative aspects of the
governance of trilateral cooperation in PSAL?
• What lessons learned from the PSAL project
experience could strengthen positive elements in other
trilateral projects?
• What recommendations can be suggested for future
trilateral cooperation projects?
• Over 91% of the respondents from our online survey said that
communications were open and consistent among the partner
organizations.
• 75% indicated that there was a clear division of technical and
financial roles and responsibilities among partner organizations.
• Effective communication, coordination, and adaptive governance
were implemented through trilateral technical teams divided by
project component, with uneven outcomes at different times.
Photo: Walter Bowen

16. Lessons Learned: Governance
• TC involves complex relationships among multiple tri-national
groups and entities, which increases transaction costs.
• Multiple unanticipated differences in bureaucratic and
budgetary procedures create major obstacles and costs for
the implementation of TC. Successful adaptive governance
strategies in the PSAL project were based on collaborative
learning and planning.
• Policy recommendation:
Effective TC requires flexibility, creativity, openness and innovation in
order to adapt to expected and unexpected obstacles, capitalize on
synergies and opportunities, and support and disseminate learning
across disciplinary, cultural, and national boundaries for common
goals. (#5)
Photo: Walter Bowen