A MODEL OF CHANGE

FOR INSTITUTIONAL

CAPACITY BUILDING:

LESSONS FROM iAGRI

WEBINAROctober 22, 2015

Anne-Claire HervyDirector, Knowledge Center for

Advancing Development through Higher

Education

Associate Vice-President International

Development and Programs

Samantha AlvisAssistant Director, International

Development and Programs

KNOWLEDGE CENTER

• Create, curate, analyze and share knowledge about

improving higher education institutions and systems;

• Engage with higher education leaders, donors, practitioners

and other stakeholder partners in policy dialogues to

increase and improve development assistance to higher

education.

KNOWLEDGE CENTER

Forthcoming:

A Review of USAID Higher

Education Investments: How

Much, On What, and Where?

Rates of Return to Higher

Education: A Review of Several

Decades of Analysis

Past reports

KNOWLEDGE CENTER

November 2-4: USAID Education Summit

November 15-17: APLU Annual Meeting

Stay tuned for our 2016 Events!

KNOWLEDGE CENTER

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attendees. It will also be available in the Knowledge Center

library at www.aplu.org/knowledgecenter

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WEBINAR HOUSEKEEPING

David Kraybill

Chief of Party, iAGRI

Professor, Ohio State

University

Laura Alexander

Program Manager for

Organizational Transformation,

iAGRI

OUR PRESENTERS

A MODEL OF CHANGE FOR INSTITUTIONALCAPACITY BUILDING: LESSONS FROM iAGRI

iAGRI PROJECT PROFILE

Tanzania stakeholders:

Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA)

Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives (MAFC)

OSUC Partners:

Ohio State University (lead)

Iowa State University

Michigan State University

Tuskegee University

University of Florida

Virginia Tech

Project funding: $25.5 million

Project length: 2011 - 2017

Agreement with USAID:

Feed the Future

Mission-funded

Cooperative agreement

Mission: Build a sustainable food system

through training, research, outreach and

institutional transformation that encompasses

private and public sectors.

TANZANIA

iAGRI OBJECTIVES

1. Training: scholarships for 135 Tanzanian post-graduate students (115 at M.S. level, 20 at Ph.D. level). 50% female, 50% male. Also short-term training on technical and leadership topics.

2. Research: collaborative agricultural and nutrition research involving SUA, MAFC and OSUC scientists

3. Organizational transformation: strengthen academic and administrative capacity of SUA to develop and implement agricultural and nutrition instruction, research, and outreach programs

4. External linkages: strengthen linkages between SUA, U.S. universities and Global South universities

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONTEXT OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN TANZANIA

Population

Urbanization

Food Security

Employment

Higher Education

13

POPULATION

30

35

40

45

50

55

2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Millio

ns

YearSource: Wolfram Alpha

Tanzania, 2003-2013Growth:

2.9%

per

year

------

Population

will

double

in

25

years

URBANIZATION

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

351960

1962

1964

1966

1968

1970

1972

1974

1976

1978

1980

1982

1984

1986

1988

1990

1992

1994

1996

1998

2000

2002

2004

2006

2008

2010

2012

2014

Urban population in Tanzania (% of total)

Source: World Bank

By 2030, more than 50% of Tanzanians will live in urban areas

Growing demand for housing (new types)

Growing demand for food (with more processing)

Growing demand for urban services (new types)

FOOD SECURITY (MALNUTRITION)

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Prevalence of stunting, height for age (% of children under 5)

Source: World Bank

Malnutrition is high, though declining (slowly)

Need for plant/animal genetic improvements

Need for improved production and marketing of nutritious foods

Need for improved livelihoods/incomes

FORMAL SECTOR EMPLOYMENT, TANZANIA, 2013

Employment: 1.5 million

Adult population: 19.7 million

Percent of adults age 20-59 employed in

formal sector: 7.8%

Need for alternative and supplemental employment

activities

Need for entrepreneurshipSource: Tanzania Bureau of Statistics and Wolfram Alpha

HIGHER EDUCATION ENROLLMENT

Source: Wolfram Alpha

Thousands of students, Tanzania

Enrollment increased

five fold in the

decade from

2003-2012

THE HIGHER EDUCATION CHALLENGE IN TANZANIACurricula relevant to --

• Skill needs of employers (public and private)

• Skills needs of new and emerging markets (internal and external) and products/services

• Entrepreneurship

• The whole person/community (including humanities and arts)

Technological and management innovations

• Across entire food value chain from producer to consumer

• That alter human behavior in desired ways

• That protect the natural environment

• That provide adequate shelter, transportation, health care

THE HIGHER EDUCATION CHALLENGE IN TANZANIAHigher education competition and quality

• Rapid expansion in number and size of universities (37 fully-fledged universities)

• Limited human capacity (in teaching, research, outreach, administration)

• Limited institutional capacity (organizational and infrastructure)

SUA FACTSFormation:

•1965 as Morogoro Agricultural College

• Became Faculty of Agriculture of University of Dar es Salaam in 1969

• Became Sokoine University of Agriculture in 1984

Students: 540 certificate/diploma, 7500 undergraduate, 790 graduate, 8830 total

Staff: 530 academic, 810 non-academic, 1340 total

Degree programs: 28 Bachelors, 46 Masters, 24 PhD

USAID investments:

• Founding of Morogoro Agricultural College, 1962-69 (West Virginia University)

• SUA-Tuskegee University Linkage Project, 1990-1995

• Others including CRSPs, Innovation Labs, and other largely research projects

• Innovative Agricultural Research Innovative (iAGRI), 2011- present

• Direct grant to SUA for ICT upgrading, 2014 - present

UNDERGRADUATE ENROLLMENT AT SUA

0

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

7,000

8,000

Stu

dents Enrollment

has

tripled

over

past

decade

22

GOVERNMENT SUBVENTION PER UNDERGRADUATE

2,000,000

2,500,000

3,000,000

3,500,000

4,000,000

4,500,000

5,000,000

5,500,000

6,000,000

Tanzania

n S

hillings

Year

Decrease

from

2003/04

to 2013/14:

41%

Calculated from SUA Facts and Figures 2013/14

Sokoine University of Agriculture, 2003/04 – 2013/14

Real Values

23

0.0

5.0

10.0

15.0

20.0

25.0

30.0

35.0

40.0

45.0

50.0

COUNCIL APPROVAL GOVERNMENT APPROVAL

SUA APPROVED BUDGET - DEVELOPMENT

Development Budget Approved by the University Council Compared to

Government Approved Budget for SUA from 2000/01 – 2013/2014

Tanzania

n S

hillings

(Billion

s)

Calculated from SUA Facts and Figures 2013/14

RESTRUCTURING AT SUAGoal: to adopt a “coordinated decentralized system”

Background: organizational structure has not changed significantly since 1984

Attempt to restructure:

• 2007 – Restructuring task force wrote draft report

• 2008 – Report went through multiple rounds of reviews without completion

• 2010 – Second task force was created with mandate to complete report

• 2010 – 2013: Report went through multiple rounds of reviews without completion

• 2013 – SUA administration asked iAGRI to assist in “changing mindsets”. Organizational transformation initiative launched.

• 2014 – Restructuring plan approved by University Council

• 2015 – Restructuring implementation begun

TIMELINE OF ORGANIZATIONAL TRANSFORMATION AT SUA

2011: iAGRI began activities

in Tanzania

2013: SUA requested

assistance to change mindsets for restructuring

2013: iAGRI introduced a conversation-based change

approach

2015: 12-step model adopted

to measure organizational transformation

INSTITUTIONS AND ORGANIZATIONS

Institutions: systems of established social rules that structure social interactions (Hodgson, 2006)

• Constrain and enable behavior through rules, conventions, and norms

• Objective structures and subjective notions of human agency

• Examples: language, money, law, weights/measures, table manners, firms, other organizations

Organizations: special institutions that involve (according to Hodgson, 2006) –

• Criteria to establish their boundaries and to distinguish members from nonmembers

• Principles of sovereignty about who is in charge

• Chains of command delineating responsibilities within the organization

Institutional capacity development (ICD): much donor-sponsored ICD is either focused on –

• Formal “rules of the game” (e.g., policies) without must focus on agency, or

• Is actually human-capacity development (HCD)

Organizational transformation: where the greatest need lies in Tanzania

• Strategy• Structure• Systems

ASSUMPTIONS OF THE iAGRI CHANGE MODEL

Works best for projects or activities where –

• Goal is institutional capacity development (ICD) focused on organizational transformation

• Host organization is committed to transforming its strategy, structure, processes, and organizational culture

• Sponsor is committed to bringing about long-term, sustainable change

• Change agent can spend long periods of time on the ground interacting with host organization

Less applicable for projects or activities where –

• Goal is human capacity development (HCD)

• Host organization is not committed to adapting/adopting standard best practices (in region or world)

• Sponsor does not place a high value on sustainability of interventions

• Change agent cannot engage in repeated and frequent interaction on the ground with host

organization

CURRENT EXPERIMENTSSUA Strategic Plan Objective Experiment

Governance, including management

systems and human resources

Induction training for new deans, directors, and heads

Quality Management in Procurement

Quality Management in Asset Management

Quality Management in Accounting

Quality Management in Human Resource Management

Quality Management in Auditing

Quality Management in Project Management

Monthly Leadership Forum

Gender Mentoring program

Library services and information and

communication technology

Revamping SUA website

Library access to electronic documents

Electronic document management system

CURRENT EXPERIMENTSSUA Strategic Plan Objective Experiment

Income generation and financing

Resource mobilization at SUA

Convocation revitalization

Commercial soil laboratory

Department of Animal Science training and outreach

Training, research, and outreach

Classroom services unit and projectors

Teaching assistant pilot program

University Teaching and Learning Improvement Program

English language program

Strengthening entrepreneurship training

SUA-Horticultural Demonstration Facility (SUA-HDF)

International conferences at SUA

Statistical collaboration laboratory

THEORY OF CHANGE

STAGE 1: CONVERSATIONS THAT MATTER

Problem specification

Commitment to action

Clear results

What exactly is going to be done?

Who is going to do it?

When will it be done?

SUA leaders discuss a possible organizational

experiment to produce and market banana tissue

culture

STAGE 2: WAYS THAT WORK

Informal system engaged

Iterative experimentation

Solution identification

Commitment to formalization

The Sokoine National Agricultural Library (SNAL)

experimented with various strategies for marketing

and promoting their digital library services.

STAGE 3: CHANGES THAT SUSTAIN

Transformation achieved

Focus on sustainability

New or altered formal system components

Performance monitoring

SUA’s Vice Chancellor signs a Memorandum of

Understanding with Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture

and Technology, Kenya

iAGRI’S 12 STEP INDICATOR

Monitoring and evaluation tool

Management tool

Each stage is broken intomeasurable steps:

Conversations that Matter – 3 steps

Ways that Work – 4 steps

Changes that Sustain – 5 steps

STAGE 1: CONVERSATIONS THAT MATTER

Step Description

1 Did the conversation end with identifying a problem to be solved and

specifying next steps in terms of what will be done, who will do it, and when it

will be done?

2 Did the conversation result in agreement to conduct a rigorous search, such as

an organizational experiment or study tour, to find a solution to the problem?

3 Has a participatory exercise been conducted to identify objectives of the

rigorous search and to identify challenges to solving the problem?

STAGE 2: WAYS THAT WORK

Step Description

1 Have procedures for the experiment or rigorous search been documented and

initiated?

2 Has a solution based on the rigorous search been identified and documented?

3 Has an analysis of the benefits, costs, and challenges of implementing the

solution been conducted?

4 Have persons involved in the experiment or rigorous search agreed to next

steps, including how to introduce results into the formal system?

STAGE 3: CHANGES THAT SUSTAIN

Step Description

1 Has the documented solution been translated into changes in policies and/or

procedures in the formal system?

2 Has the formal system adopted the solution by specifying reporting

relationships, assignment of responsibilities, and budgets (if funding is

required)?

3 Have performance standards been adopted for the implemented solution?

4 Does the formal system monitor and document compliance with its performance

standards for the implemented solution according to a specified frequency?

5 Is the solution adequately resourced with staff and funds so that long-term

sustainability can be achieved?

SUA LABORATORY FOR INTERDISCIPLINARY STATISTICAL

ANALYSIS (SUALISA)

Organizational Transformation

in Action

STAGE 1: SUALISA

Step Description

1 Prof. Eric Vance, director of LISA at Virginia Tech, visited SUA to present their

model for a statistical collaboration laboratory

2 SUA administrators from the Faculty of Science and central administration

agreed with iAGRI that a stat lab based on the LISA model should be

established at SUA

3 Through consultation between the Faculty of Science and iAGRI, potential

challenges to the success of a stat lab at SUA were identified, including

financing, location, and the availability of trained staff.

STAGE 2: SUALISA

Step Description

1 SUA’s Faculty of Science, in consultation with iAGRI, wrote a project proposal

for establishing a LISA at SUA. The proposal for SUALISA included sending

several SUA staff to learn about LISA and adapt the model to the SUA

environment.

2 SUA staff trained at the Virginia Tech LISA returned to Tanzania and created a

work plan for establishing SUALISA.

3 The SUALISA work plan included an analysis of costs and incorporated solutions

to the challenges of staffing, marketing and promotion, administration, and

physical location.

4 SUA and iAGRI agreed to implement the work plan to establish a permanent

stat lab at SUA’s main campus.

STAGE 3: SUALISA

Step Description

1 SUALISA has been officially adopted by the university as a service to be

provided through the Faculty of Science.

2 The Faculty appointed a Coordinator and a Deputy Coordinator for SUALISA.

They also appointed an administrative support person to manage the lab and

authorized statistics experts from all over campus to participate in advising

services offered by the lab.

3 SUALISA is currently in the process of establishing performance indicators.

4 Once established, data to support the performance indicators will be collected

by the administrative support person and reported to Senate through the

Faculty of Science.

5 The Faculty of Science is putting forward a proposal for student services at

SUALISA to be funded through student fees.

iAGRI’S M&E REPORTING ON ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE

1. Number of experiments conducted

2. Stage I (CTM) Completion Rate

3. Stage II (WTW) Completion Rate

4. Stage III (CTS) Completion Rates – calculated for each step

The dynamic learning process of iAGRI organizational change model is consistent with:

• USAID’s Collaborating, Learning and Adapting (CLA) approach

• Development community’s emerging thought about Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, and Learning (MERL)

FUTURE APPLICATIONS OF THE MODEL

• Training

• Research

• Innovation/commercialization

INNOVATION PORTFOLIOBroad goal: to identify technology needs (hard and soft) and training needs of external clients and match them with research scientists at SUA

Objectives:

• Increase SUA’s impact on Tanzanian economy and society

• Generate revenue from products and services

• Increase SUA’s visibility as a source of innovation, nationally and internationally

Role of iAGRI: play brokerage role between SUA researchers and investors/sponsors to commercialize technologies and provide specialized training

Approach: work with intermediary organizations that support farm and food-system production and services, especially among smallholder farmers and SMEs

How it works: promote and sponsor technologies that, in a business ecosystem framework, can significantly increase food-system productivity through products, services, processes, and infrastructure

MAJOR LESSONS LEARNED

Organizational transformation is a labor intensive and long-term process

Mindset change and organizational change occur simultaneously and interactively

Importance of strategy-setting capacity of host university

Broad-based participation by host university is essential in planning and implementation

Organizational change requires transformation of both formal and informal systems

Organizational transformation is a non-linear dynamic learning process

Begin with the end (sustainability) in mind

ADDITIONAL LESSONS LEARNED

The change model should be narrated, documented, and co-evolved to capture learning generated during implementation

Exposure to regional and global “best practices” contribute to changing mindsets

Change agents need skills including collaboration, negotiation, communication, adaptability

Preparatory organizational analysis is essential

Leadership style and quality

Stakeholder analysis

Strategy

Structure

Systems

Resource availability

Adaptability to local institutional culture and context is important

Website: www.iagri.org

Acknowledgements:

• Collaborators at Sokoine University of Agriculture and Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security, and Cooperatives

• Colleagues in iAGRI Project Management Unit in Tanzania

• Colleagues in iAGRI Management Entity in International Programs in Agriculture at Ohio State University

• Faculty and administrators at Ohio State University Consortium Universities

• Steve Bosserman, Management Consultant, who helped develop iAGRI theory of change

• Staff of APLU and its Knowledge Center

• USAID for financial and programmatic support