A systematic review on the impacts of capacity strengthening of agricultural research systems for development and the conditions of success

Abstract

This review on the impact of capacity strengthening of agricultural research systems for development was commissioned by DFID and was linked to a process of documenting outcomes from the project Strengthening Capacity for Agricultural Research for Development in Africa (SCARDA). SCARDA provided support to twelve research and education institutes in ten countries in sub-Saharan Africa to assist them to enhance their performance in carrying out demand-led and high-quality agricultural research. More than 33,500 references were screened for their relevance; 73 publications were eventually selected for the systematic review. This report contains the following sections. Chapter 1 provides background information and gives a brief overview of the capacity needs identified for sub-Saharan Africa. Chapter 2 explains the methodology of the systematic review. Chapter 3 discusses the synthesis of results from the systematic review, and is structured around the research questions. Chapter 4 discusses the conclusions and implications. The appendices contain detailed information on the results of the literature searches and summary tables of the publications included in the systematic review