InnovATE Landscape Analysis

An initial product of InnovATE scoping teams will be an overview of the policy and institutional landscape in which ATE operates. Through systematic gathering of selected information, this Landscape Analysis enables the innovATE team and its clients to quickly understand ATE system components and their interaction. The methodology structures this landscape perspective by arranging ATE system components and characteristics within three thematic keystones: the Policy Framework, Funding Mechanisms and an ATE System Map and Gazetteer.

Each of the three keystones is defined below and arranged according its components and core characteristics. Data collection is conducted through informal interviews organized around a set of leading questions and review of existing documentation. It is unlikely that all landscape assessments will produce the same quality of information for each of the three keystones in a short scoping visit. Nevertheless, these guidelines focus InnovATE scoping teams on the critical information describing ATE landscapes and allowing them to better contextualize subsequent institutional analyses and labor market studies. It also allows them to quickly identify data sources for follow-up assessment and design studies.

Expected Results from the Landscape Analysis The innovATE Landscape Analysis provides an overview of ATE system organization and functioning leading to insights concerning the pathways for improving services to the agricultural sector. This contextualizing of the ATE system helps to better target subsequent scoping and assessment tools. In particular, it will help the InnovATE labor market survey by identifying key actors to be sampled. The ATE System Map and Gazetteer will identify the key actors across the ATE system and ensure an inclusive and balanced sampling of ATE system. Additional questions will be added to labor market survey based on the initial findings of the Landscape Analysis. The questions will be adapted by the researcher based on findings from the field.

Policy Framework: Definition: This keystone will describe the governance system for ATE institutions. This includes employment policies, oversight and accountability mechanisms, facilitation and

InnovATE/Virginia Tech 1 May 2013 constraints of institutional and system change, and the accreditation system. The policy framework will paint the institutional landscape in which the ATE organizations function.

Potential questions and topics to be covered:  Who can grant permission for the establishment of an ATE institution?  Who has the right to run an ATE institution?  What are the relationships between ATE institutions and the private sector?  Are there regional, trade policy or other issues that shape ATE functioning?  What types of governance structures are allowed for ATE institutions?  What is the school accreditation process?  What does it take to make curriculum change?  Who has the authority to recruit and dismiss faculty?  How is gender equity accounted for at the system and institution levels?  How is student education and training financed? Who pays? How?  How do employment rules and regulations (tenure process, gov worker scales, etc.) affect administration?

Funding Mechanisms: Definition: This keystone will capture how ATE programming is financed. This will include sources of financing, resource flows, and major expenditures. It is expected that key informants can provide information on ATE funding mechanisms without providing a complete budget for ATE institutions. For the landscape analysis it is important to understand the funding pathways, how the funding is divided amongst the relative demands for funding and the key decisions makers in the funding and allocation decision process.

Potential questions and topics to be covered are:  What are the justifications used by organizations or individuals that motivate funding for ATE?  Which institutions or individuals are most critical to the funding process?  What are the major sources of funding (national budgetary allocations, ATE institution tuition, fees and other income generating activities, and other grants, loans and donor funds)?  What are the relative proportions of funding allocated to different purposes (line items such as facilities and maintenance, faculty salaries, supporting staff salaries, laboratories and other equipment, supplies, etc.)  Does an ATE institution have budgetary authority to decide how its budget is allocated?

InnovATE/Virginia Tech 2 May 2013 ATE System Map and Gazetteer: Definition: The ATE System Map will document the ATE organizations at the different levels (primary, secondary, technical/vocational, tertiary and professional), regulatory institutions, ministry oversight mechanisms and support organizations. While the Gazetteer will document the relationships between ATE actors represented in the System Map, the flows of information, resources, and students between them, and characteristics of the individual ATE institutions.

Potential questions and topics to be covered: Two forms of documentation are the expected output of this keystone: an ATE system map; and a gazetteer describing the characteristics of each ATE actor identified on the map. The system map will identify major institutional actors and present the interconnections between them as in a network map or organizational flow chart. The role of each actor/organization will be described in narrative fashion, listing its functions (regulatory/oversight/employment of graduates/priority training domains/etc.), and purview (regional or sector specific). For the ATE institutions identified, each will be documented in tabular form utilizing the following indicators:

 Number of students by gender and level  Number and gender of instructors  Types of training programs offered  Other services provided by the institution

InnovATE/Virginia Tech 3 May 2013