Greenwell Matchaya, Coordinator for ReSAKSS Southern Africa (SA), International Water Management Institute (IWMI), South Africa

1. Overview of Agriculture Joint
Sector Review (JSR) Outcomes and
Lessons Learned
Greenwell Matchaya, Coordinator for ReSAKSS
Southern Africa (SA), International Water
Management Institute (IWMI), South Africa
g.matchaya@cigar.org

2. What is Mutual Accountability?
 Mutual accountability is a process by which two
or more parties hold one another accountable for
the commitments they have voluntarily made to
one another
 Mutual accountability (MA) is a core principle of
the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture
Development Program (CAADP)
 A mutual accountability framework (MAF) for
CAADP was developed by NCPA in 2011 to guide
mutual accountability processes at continental,
regional and country levels

3. Principles of Mutual Accountability
 A share vision or agenda among the
cooperating parties
 Common objectives and strategies aimed at
achieving the vision
 Jointly agreed performance indicators based on
mutually agreed performance criteria
 Genuine dialogue and debate process based on
consent, common values and trust

4. Elements of an Effective Mutual Accountability Process
 Evidence-based: need technical credibility
to minimize biases
 Ownership: all concerned stakeholders
need to be involved from the start
 Debate: open and transparent discussions
 Behavior change – towards better
performance outcomes based on evidence,
ownership and debate

5. What is a Joint Sector Review (JSR)?
 A joint sector review (JSR) is one way of
operationalizing the mutual accountability
framework at country level
 The JSR process creates a platform to:
» assess the performance and results of the
agriculture sector
» assist governments in setting sector policy
and priorities
» assess how well state and non state actors
have implemented pledges and commitments
(laid out in NAIPs, and other agreements)

6. Purpose and benefits of the Joint Sector Review
 The primary purpose of a JSR is to determine and evaluate
observed results of sector performance and their comparison
with the intended results or targets
 Therefore, the JSR:
» allows diverse stakeholders to get insights into and
influence overall policies and priorities of the sector
» serves as a management and policy support tool for
inclusive stakeholder planning, programming, budget
preparation and execution, monitoring and evaluation, and
overall development of the sector
 Existing country JSRs need strengthening in terms of design,
stakeholder inclusion, data analysis, dialogue and improved
quality of implementation.

7. Principles of a Joint Sector Review
 National ownership and leadership
 Relevance to NAIP or cooperation agreement
 Inclusive participation
 Commitment to results by all participants
 Impartiality and evidence-based
 Enhance national planning
 Sensitivity to gender
 Learning experience

8. What the JSR process does for a country
Describe and analyze the structure, conduct
and performance (SCP) of the sector against
mutually-agreed milestones and targets
Identify strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities and threats (SWOT) in the
sector
Based on the results and findings in the
above, make recommendations for
improving performance in the sector.

9. What is monitored in a Joint Sector Review
 Development results e.g. income growth, poverty and
hunger reduction, food and nutrition security, etc
 Overall agricultural sector growth target, with specific
subsector and commodity targets
 Required financial and non-financial resources to
effectively implement the plan
 Policies, programs, institutions, and implementation
processes
 Linkages (including pathways to achieve the development
results), enabling environment and assumptions

10. Roadmap for undertaking a Joint Sector Review
 Set up a JSR steering committee chaired
by Ministry of Agriculture
 Establish JSR secretariat
 Develop terms of reference for the JSR
 Mobilize resources
 Constitute review team
 Undertake the review and dialogue
 Draw implementation and follow-up plan
for the recommendations from the JSR

11. CAADP-relevant “cooperation agreements”

12. JSR Assessments Across Africa
 AUC-Led processes
• Process led by Policy and Planning Directorates-at
MoA
• IFPRI/ReSAKSS and AfricaLead provided technical
support through JSR focal persons in the
countries
• Country level experts engaged

13. Assessment Methods
• Analysed previous review and consultative
processes in these countries - the stakeholders
involved and their roles
• Reviews of earlier reports
• Supplemented with information collected from
stakeholders: key informant interviews; data
collection templates; and consultative and
validation workshops
• Identified gaps in the review processes, possible
improvements that could be made and developed
stakeholder-specific action plans

14. Completed JSRs Assessment in 2014

West Africa East and
Central Africa
Southern
Africa
Burkina Faso Ethiopia Malawi
Ghana Tanzania Mozambique
Senegal

15. Completed JSRs Assessments in 2015
West Africa East and
Central
Africa
Southern
Africa
Benin Uganda Swaziland
Côte d’Ivoire Kenya Zambia
Togo DRC
Burundi
ECOWAS Regional JSR

16. Outcomes
 Countries are using outcomes of the JSR
assessments as well as ATORs
» to support policy review and dialogue
processes.
 JSR assessment has stimulated demand for more
data and hence, strong M&E

17. Outcomes
• Tanzania – early preparations; technical studies
planned; and involvement of sector ministries and
non-state actors
• Uganda – early preparations; effective and early
involvement of non-state actors with a JASAR
statement paper (“private sector review”); smaller
sub-national meetings
• Kenya – has embraced strengthened JSR and is
planning to implement it through the Country
SAKSS
• DRC –expressed willingness to conduct a
strengthened JSR after the assessment but no
concrete action yet

18. Outcomes
 Results from the JSR assessment reports used in
compiling the New Alliance report for 2013-2014
in Mozambique
 In 2015, Malawi JSR followed the JSR assessment
recommendations by ReSAKSS
 Swaziland’s demand for more technical support in
M&E increased following JSR assessment that
revealed gaps
 Served as a basis for several sectoral meetings in
Zambia

19. Outcomes
 Senegal used the outcomes of its assessment to
design and implement a new JSR process, which
is currently implemented without major support
of ReSAKSS-WA.
 In 2015, Ghana JSR was planned and
implemented in a more participatory way with
more involvement of the NAIP (METASIP)
steering committee, following the assessment
recommendations

20. Outcomes
 In Burkina Faso, the permanent secretary has
introduced some amendments in the draft of
agriculture ministry’s decrees for organization of
the sector review in order to respect the mutual
accountability principle:
» Development partners; Civil society;
» Farmers organizations; Private sector.
 Countries demanding more work on linkages of
policies, indicators of investments to
development results

21. Lessons
 Political anchorage by African Union, NPCA is
critical
 Buy-in at country level is very important for
rallying the Agricultural sector
 Inclusivity from the beginning increases
acceptability of recommendations
» Inclusivity in terms of development constituencies-
Government, DPs, CSOs, Private Sector
 Acceptance of JSR------Effective
communication and consultative approach
informing stakeholders of the importance of
JSR has helped to array the challenges

22. Lessons
• Inclusiveness is an issue: Government and DPs engage but
NSAs are not fully engaged
• Strong ownership by governments and development partners;
not so by Non-State Actors (NSAs - private sector and civil
society organizations)
• More sensitization to NSA for their effective participation
especially is necessary
• Need to mobilize funds to support the next JSRs
• Countries running SAKSS nodes more likely to implement JSR
without major support from regional level