SMART Stakeholder engagements - action-oriented discussions to enhance mutual accountability and partnerships - are essential but unique components of any initiative, that give room to set reasonable targets, select target beneficiaries, look for cost effective ways to achieve objectives within the life of the project, create shared ownership, and create impact in the participating communities. This is the path the Accelerated Institutional and Food Systems Development (AIFSD) program - a follow up program of the Accelerated Value Chain Development (AVCD) program - went through from conception, design to implementation. 

With the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)//Feed the Future’s approval of the concept note, the Program Management Secretariat, under the stewardship of Dr Romano Kiome, AIFSD’s Chief of Party embarked on co-creation and consultative planning meetings with partners and collaborators that resulted in AIFSD design and the development the final proposal. Upon approval of the proposal by USAID/Feed the Future, the Chief of Party reconvened the consultative meetings with partners and collaborators, this time round, to validate the priorities and target beneficiaries  they had identified during the program co-creation meetings, jointly develop annual work plans, and allow county government leadership to commit their contribution to the mutually agreed activities. 

In addition, each of the county governments submitted a commitment letter signed by county secretaries, approving the co-created workplans and expressing counties’ commitment to support AIFSD implementation (captured as both in cash and in-kind contribution).

These meetings involved all the 10 target county governments (Bungoma, Garissa, Isiolo, Kitui, Makueni, Marsabit, Samburu, Taita Taveta, Turkana, and Wajir, led by County Executive Committee Members (CECMs), Department of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries, and Cooperatives); national government (State Department of Livestock, directorates of veterinary services, and crops); the Council of Governors; the implementing CGAIR Centers (ILRI, ICRISAT, and CIP) for the three value chain components – livestock, potato, and drought tolerant crops; and private sector players.  

It was a unique approach cascaded to the planning and implementation of activities of the three value chains. In addition to the engagement of county and national governments in the co-creation and planning meetings, the AIFDS Livestock component also held co-creation sessions with Kenya Veterinary Association, Support Kenya Veterinary Association Self Employed Veterinarians, and Veterinary Inputs Suppliers Association of Kenya  - collaborators who will be fundamental in enhancing private sector participation in animal health services in the target counties.

Through the SMART Stakeholder engagements, partners appreciated the unique initiative of engaging them right from the design of the program, and they expressed commitment to support its implementation. 

Through the smart engagements, the county governments committed human and financial resources to participate in the various value chain development activities. For instance, each of the participating 10 counties committed a cash contribution of at least 20% of the total cost of the agreed activities, in addition to seconding and hosting a field coordinator for each value chain component. Participating counties also committed to increase their activity contributions in the second and third years of project implementation. 

These engagements and commitments resonate well with the new USAID’s policy direction of the journey to self-reliance (J2SR). In 2019, the USAID released a new policy framework, ‘Ending the Need for Foreign Assistance’ which gives guidance in supporting countries in JS2R. The new policy framework seeks to reorient USAID strategies, partnership models, and program practices to achieve greater development outcomes and work toward a time when foreign assistance is no longer necessary. 

The new policy requires project designs take a fundamental different approach, emphasizing in-country resourcing, with enterprise-driven growth as a key driver and placing local systems and organizations at the heart of achieving sustainable, resilient results. USAID projects are required to: Strengthen commitment and capacity at all levels of society; seek ways to strengthen government capacity and utilize partner country systems, where possible, to empower governments to own and manage their own development; engage local actors as co-designers, co-implementers, and co-owners of their country’s development outcomes, while strengthening their capacity and holding them and ourselves accountable for achieving and sustaining results; empower countries to resource their own development in an efficient, accountable, and transparent way where projects help increase the capacity of countries to generate greater public revenue and harness domestic and international private investment that can fund development needs across all sectors; and catalyse enterprise-driven development by engaging strategically with the private sector.