Platform for African – European Partnership in Agricultural Research for Development

Friday, August 10, 2018

Evaluation of the Dutch Food & Business Knowledge Platform 2013-2018

19 July 2018. The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs reviewed the first phase of the Food and Business Knowledge Platform (F and BKP), 2013 – 2018.

The Platform has effectively managed a very complicated agenda, with many different stakeholders, and very many different subsectors, and (sub) objectives. Compared to the period before the Platform started, the chaotic and unconnected food security agencies and projects have become more aligned.

The effectiveness of the Platform so far has been a result of a consortium, where each partner brought (and brings) specific strengths: Wageningen Centre for Development Innovation (WCDI) its knowledge, prestige and convening power in the food sector, AgriProFocus its local networks, and The Broker its expertise as a knowledge broker, and facilitator of online and offline multi-stakeholder dialogues. Evaluators mention that it is amazing how much has been done by a relatively small group of people in the Office of the F&BKP, and with relatively limited funding for KMF and Office activities. In that sense the “efficiency” (value for money) is clearly high.

The effectiveness can (and should) further be enhanced in five directions: (1) more alignment with the Dutch food security initiatives/projects; (2) more involvement of the major business players in the food and agriculture sector in the Netherlands; (3) better and more effective connections with the two relevant top sectors and their sector associations; (4) better connections with major European and global and Dutch players; and (5) alignment with the relevant think tanks in the South.

You can download the full Evaluation of the Food and Business Knowledge Platform 2013-2018 “Co-creating (Dutch) diamonds, gold (standards) and silver (bullets) in the food security and agricultural business maze”.

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