Capacity Development Unit

The global Capacity Development Unit helps ICRAF's scientists and their partners develop and strengthen capacity in areas related to our six global research priorities. Specifically, we facilitate individual and group learning through fellowship and group training opportunities and provide access to critical learning resources for innovation system actors. We assist ICRAF research projects to promote learning online. We also collate repositories of critical extensional manuals and technical handbooks on agroforestry generated through various research projects. In addition, we maintain and manage an online Student Management Information System (to be launched soon), and develop and deploy Capacity Development Strategies, policies and procedures for ICRAF science domains and regions.

Gender Unit

ICRAF's Gender Unit collaborates with scientists to integrate gender dimensions in research and development. The Unit's primary purpose is to provide conceptual and methodological leadership in research on gender and agroforestry across ICRAF's six science domains, and plays a key role in the dissemination of evidence-based knowledge from research on gender relations in agroforestry.The Unit also leads capacity development efforts to improve scientists’ and partners’ abilities to integrate gender into their research projects and programs, and is actively involved in the collection of information on gender research methods, gender indicators, and research outputs for ease of access by all ICRAF partners. The Unit coordinates the crosscutting gender theme of ICRAF's main CRP, Forests, Trees and Agroforestry (FTA), and the implementation of the CRP gender strategy through a Gender Integration Team (GIT) made up of focal points from participating centres. For more information on the FTA GIT, please click here.The Unit is also developing ICRAF's institutional gender policy and action plan.

Rural Advisory Services Unit

Farmers in developing countries need access to rural advisory services (RAS) — activities that empower them with knowledge, strengthen their capacity, and encourage them to innovate. This need is particularly acute with regard to agroforestry, which is knowledge-intensive and often requires specialized skills. It is therefore critical that farmers get to access to relevant information and services, and, more generally, that they are able to participate in programs aimed at improving rural livelihoods.The Rural Advisory Services (RAS) Unit assesses the effectiveness of various approaches to advising farmers. A main objective is to determine which practices work best in different socioeconomic and ecological contexts, for different enterprises and practices, and for different target groups. Improving women’s access to rural advisory services is a critical element of our goal. Another main objective is to improve the effectiveness of approaches. Specifically, we conduct research on  farmer-to-farmer extension, the importance of civil society groups, and the impact of rural institutions, community nurseries, and agroforestry farmer field schools.

Monitoring, Evaluation & Impact Assessment Unit

The Monitoring, Evaluation and Impact Assessment (MEIA) Unit works to strenghten monitoring, evaluation, and impact assessment (MEIA) across all of ICRAF’s programmes and projects. It further tracks, reviews, and informs decision-making to enhance the organization’s overall progress in bringing about large-scale and inclusive development and landscape transformation through its core research efforts. The unit specifically focuses on the following:

  • Spearheading ICRAF’s corporate-level MEIA strategy;
  • Providing MEIA design and implementation support, with a special focus on ICRAF’s large-scale development projects and CGIAR research programmes (CRPs);   
  • Working directly with ICRAF’s scientists and programme/project teams to conduct impact assessments to generate evidence on what agroforestry and related innovations work, where, for whom, how, and at what cost; and
  • Strengthening MEIA capacity across all levels of the organization and among ICRAF’s key partners, including the development of relevant guidelines and tools.

Agroforestry Development Impacts Seminars (ADIS)

The Agroforestry Development Impacts Seminar (ADIS) series, jointly sponsored by the Partnerships & Impact Directorate and the Program Development Unit, provides a forum for learning from and engaging with our partners in development and other fields around the practice of delivering and up-scaling agroforestry innovations. The seminars, which are held periodically at ICRAF's headquarters in Nairobi, are open to ICRAF staff as well as the broader public. The sessions provide an opportunity for ICRAF's partners to share their development project experiences, strategies, successes, and important policy influences with regard to agroforestry/NRM to transform lives and landscapes.

The Drylands Development Programme

The Drylands Development Programme (DryDev) is a five-year initiative (August 2013 to July 2018) funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands via the General Directorate of International Cooperation (DGIS), with a substantial contribution from World Vision Australia (WVA). The World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) is the overall implementing agency.With a budget of more than $50 million, DryDev is designed to provide relevant, contextually appropriate support to over 227,000 smallholder farmers in selected dryland areas of Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Ethiopia, and Kenya. It is seeking to meaningfully contribute to the realization of a vision where households residing in such areas have transitioned from subsistence farming and emergency aid to sustainable rural development. This is to be achieved by increasing food and water security, enhancing market access, and strengthening the local economy for different categories of farmers.Farmers in the drylands areas of these countries generally depend on rainfed agriculture, which makes them vulnerable to variations in rainfall and climate and increases their reliance on food aid. They also suffer from chronically low agricultural productivity, low commoditization and commercialization of farming, inadequate water management, soil degradation and poor soil fertility. Thus, food insecurity and poverty rates are inherently high in these areas. ICRAF's primary partners in this project include  Reseau Marp in Burkina Faso, World Vision in Ethiopia and Kenya,Care International  in Niger, and Sahel Eco in Mali. Further details will be available on a dedicated DryDev website, which is now in development. For more information, contact Albert Mwangi (a.mwangi@cgiar.org) or download the report of DryDev's inception phase.

Protocol Unit

The Protocol Office handles issues including immigration formalities, importation of personal effects and registration of motor vehicles for ICRAF employees. The office also aims to answer some of the questions that newly recruited international staff members might have concerning protocol requirements associated with their arrival and tenure at the World Agroforestry Centre.