The document discusses capacity development efforts of the LIVES project to support public sector staff through graduate training and research oriented around agricultural value chains. The LIVES project supports 100 tuition and thesis support for public extension staff and 70 thesis only support for public research staff. It uses a participatory process to identify research priorities and selects candidates while aiming for 50% female participation. The approach includes joint supervision of graduate fellows to develop their research and address local development challenges. So far the project has supported over 200 graduate students, though female participation rates remain lower than the target.

1. Capacity Development of Public Sector Staff:
LIVES Approach in Graduate Training and
Research
• Gender responsive long-term training of public sector staff is key to develop institutional capacity for
implementation and scaling out of value chain development approaches and interventions.
• LIVES supports agricultural value chain oriented graduate training and research of public sector staff to develop
research and development capacity of partners and increase uptake and application of project results and lessons.
• LIVES engages in a participatory, consultative process with partners to identify researchable problems and make
graduate research useful to address local development challenges in support of specific value chains.
• 100 tuition and thesis support for public extension
staff: 97 enrolled, 49% female participation
• 70 thesis only support for public research staff: 31
graduate research contracts, 10% female
participation
• 30 competitive research support: 25 graduate
research contracts, 16% female participation
• So far 26 (7 female) graduate fellows completed,
27% female completion
• Assess situation and define vision for development
of specific value chains
• Stakeholder consultations to identify long-term
capacity development needs of public sector staff
• Identify fields of study and research priorities for
graduate students
• Project steering committee develops criteria and
procedure for selection and approval of candidates
• Call for partners at all levels to nominate
candidates, maintaining commodity and gender
balance
• A co-supervisory approach to supervise and mentor
graduate students in a structured way
• Graduate seminars to allow project partners to
provide feedback on graduate research proposals
and thesis results
Mamusha Lemma and Berhanu Gebremedhin
m.l.woldegiorgis@cgiar.org P.o.box 5689 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia www.ilri.org
This document is licensed for use under a Creative Commons Attribution – Non commercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported Licence January 2016
Introduction
• Graduate research is an integral component of LIVES project implementation and has been instrumental in many
ways. It has helped document the effect of project interventions and refined intervention strategies accordingly.
• Although project partners commit to achieve 50 percent gender balance in the selection of graduate students,
achieving the target has been challenging, particularly in the public research system.
• Strong partnership engagement, publicizing the fellowship opportunity, and coaching and mentoring of female
candidates has helped increase female participation in the public extension system.
• The joint supervision and mentorship approach provided graduate fellows with rich experience and intellectual
stimulation from different perspectives.
• Graduate seminars provided opportunities for project partners to provide feedback on graduate research and
ensure that graduate research is relevant to address local development challenges.
ResultsApproaches
Summary