Higher Education for Development
Knowledge, Partnerships, Results
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Institutional Partnerships Program
Semi-Annual Progress Report
Due April 30, 2009
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INTRODUCTION
The information partnerships provide create the basis of HED’s partnership results disseminated to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the higher education community. USAID will use this information to report development results to the U.S. Congress. Your contribution of information is critical to Congress’ understanding of development and the future funding of such programs.
- Both the U.S. and host country partners should be involved in the writing of this report, whenever possible. It is the U.S. institution’s responsibility to submit this report by the due date to HED.
- Carefully review the attached Glossary of Terms for key definitions to assist you in completing the report accurately. Hyperlinks are available for some terms.
Partnership Title: AHEED: Albania-Hawaii Higher Education and Economic Development Partnership: Increasing Institutional Capacity in Agricultural Economics
Development Area/Sector of Focus: Agriculture/Agribusiness/Animal Science; Economic Growth & Trade
U.S. Partner Institution(s): University of Hawaii at Manoa
U.S. Partnership Director(s):
Name: Dr. Catherine Chan-Halbrendt
Telephone:01-808-956-2626
E-mail:
Host Country(ies):Albania
Host Country Partner Institution(s): Agricultural University of Tirana (AUT)
Host CountryPartnership Director(s):
Name:Dr. Engjell Skreli
Telephone:00355 6840 38941
E-mail:
Partnership Web Site (if any):
The U.S. institutional partner is required to enter information about all training activities for host country nationals that take place in the United States, the host country, or a third country into USAID’s TraiNet system. The results of these progress reports will be compared with data the partnership has entered into TraiNet. For more information regarding TraiNet, please contact the USAID TraiNet/VCS helpdesk (703) 527-4340 or .
Please mail or e-mail the completed report and any attachments to your primary contact at:
Higher Education for Development
1 Dupont Circle, NW, Room 1B30
Washington, DC20036-1193
N.B. This is a new address
OVERVIEW OF PARTNERSHIP REPORTING REQUIREMENTS
Report NamePeriod CoveredDate Due
Semi-Annual Progress Report10/1 – 3/31April 30
Semi-Annual Progress Report4/1 – 9/30October 31
Final reportEntire Award Period30 days after sub-agreement end date
I.QUALITATIVE PROGRAM INFORMATION FOR OCTOBER 1, 2008– MARCH 31, 2009
- Describe in bullet form the major activities for this partnership during the past 6 months (10/1/08-3/31/09).
- For each of the above activities, describe the results and/or outcomes for each activity; answer in bullet form if appropriate.
If helpful, instead of answering questions 1 and 2, you may use the following chart for reporting the activities and outcomes associated with specific partnership objectives. Please feel free to insert additional lines as needed.
PLEASE SEE TABLE BELOW
1
ACTIVITY / Process / Results / OUTCOME1. Forming of Administrative Council /
- PI met with members of AUT and MOA to discuss formation of administrative committee
- Members should include representative stakeholders from higher education, extension and farm organizations to represent them
- Tentative list of members and terms of reference (list of responsibilities for the administrative committee) was proposed
- Finalized the list of members and the terms of reference for the administrative committee
- Formed on December 12, 2008
- Members are: two AUT faculty (Bahri Musabelliu, Dean of FEA and Engjell Skreli, faculty of FEA), two MOA employees (Tatiana Dishnica, Director of the Department of Extension Service, Research and Ag Information in MOA and Irfan Tarrelli, MOA) and Dr. Chan-Halbrendt (PI for AHEED project)
- Dean Bahri Musabelliu was elected head of administrative committee
- Committee terms of reference was created
- Committee monitors progress of AHEED
- Convened twice to discuss project progress
- Project on-track
2. Assess curriculum, courses, facilities, research equipment, faculty, graduate program criteria to identify needs for curriculum reform /
- FEA Masters program courses gathered, reviewed, and compared to courses from renowned US universities such as Purdue, University of Nebraska- Lincoln, Kansas State University, PennStateUniversity and Texas A&M
- FEA currently developing a state-of-the-art MS II program that is a system of 3+2+1 which refers to 3 years in First Level Diploma + 2 years in Second Level Diploma + 1 year in a masters program
- Proposal submitted to Ministry of Education for a new FEA M.Sc.II program that includes 4 new tracks
- 4 tracks are: Enterprise Management, Agricultural Economics and Policy, Financial Management and Rural Development
- New tracks require 4 Cores I courses, 2 Core II courses, 2 Elective courses and thesis research
- 4 Core I courses: Applied Economics for Business Management, Research Methodology, Application of Quantitative Analysis and Seminar in Economics and Agriculture
- Core II courses: 2 required courses and they are different for each track
- 2 elective courses: chosen from a list of courses specific for each track
- Thesis research required for all 4 tracks
- New M.Sc.II curriculum and courses proposal submitted
- New core courses to be taught in Project Year 2 & 3 by US instructors with a paired FEA Faculty
- Plan for teaching of Core I and Core II courses in Fall 2009 and Spring 2010
3. Coordinate a discussion with FEA faculty, private sector and relevant business leaders and MOA to discuss areas where FEA’s graduate program needs strengthening;
Prepared and conducted baseline surveys; collect data on partnership’s impact on program delivery /
- A meeting was held and surveys conducted to determine input on what FEA needs strengthening
- FEA faculty and students, MOA, and potential employers interviewed and/or surveyed
- Pointed towards a restructured curriculum; focusing more on management and agricultural economics with added direction in rural develoment and financial management.
- Learning outcomes: Rated higher for knowledge and comprehension gain with 3.81 and 3.89 out of possible 5, respectively; average on analysis (3.14), synthesis (3.31) and evaluation (3.37); and lower for the application of learned material (2.41)
- Human resource training: Rating for work ethics (4.22), management skills (4.22) and human relations(4.07) rate high, followed by communication (3.84) and global perspectives (3.57)
- Ratings for skills in terms of real world experiences specifically recognizing career opportunities and performing technical and managerial duties is about average (3.42) along with computer (3.29) and leadership (3.22) skills
- Analytical skills, specifically determining a solution to a problem and using scientific methods for investigations, were rated at average (3.49)
- Ranked communication skills, work ethics, management, problem solving/analytical skills and leadership skills high on their list of important skills (4.00 and higher)
- Students need to improve on communication (2.80), analytical (2.20), and quantitative (2.20) skills
- Recommended experience based learning as needed for better job preparedness (3.43 out of a possible 4)
- Plan to submit survey results to AdministrativeCommittee in the Summer 2009 for discussion, strategic planning and implementation
4. Prepare workshops on grant writing /
- Conducted a grant writing workshop in December 2008
- Workshop was advertised widely in locations such as extension offices, the university, USAID and to the general public
- The grant writing workshop covered preparation, writing, and submission tips for grant writing and also on logic model/framework.
- Completed a grant writing workshop
- 47 people participated
- 53% of the participants were females and the workshop included people from MOA, FEA, business community and the public
- 76% considered the workshop a valuable learning experience for them
- About 60% believed that they would be able to use what they have learned
- 66% wrote that the workshop stimulated their learning
5. Identifying research topics (Priority Setting) /
- In December 2008, conducted priority setting workshops
- Advertised to FEA faculty & students, MOA, business sector and to the general public
- 2nd workshop conducted at the request of MOA
- Presented a systematic approach to identifying/prioritizing research topics based on a specified goal and criteria.
- Demonstrated the approach in an two-step activity: identify a goal and list of criteria for evaluating selected commodities
- Approach used the Analytical Hierarchy Program (AHP) to prioritize the important commodities for research
- Conducted workshop on priority setting
- 34 on the first day and 28 on the second day for a total of 62 attendees
- Prioritization setting had an average of 32% female participation for both workshops
- Prioritizing survey was conducted at the end of the workshop to find out from the participants what the important commodities were to research on.Combined survey Results
- Ranked the criteria starting with the most important as being marketability, increase profit, efficiency, export and then maintaining natural resources
- Commodities prioritized for research with olives as the most important followed by tomatoes, sheep, potatoes, maize and then wheat.
- This prioritized list of commodities will be presented to the advisory committee and extension to determine the particular issues of these commodities that has to be researched
6. Develop improved standards and departmental guidelines for relevant graduate research so graduates successfully enter reputable Ph.D. programs and national workforce /
- Faculty of FEA and administrative committee are developing guidelines for research
- Expected output of this process will be research projects in progress, research papers and experiences gained by the students and faculty.
7. Begin planning for annual agricultural economics symposium to highlight research accomplishments /
- In December 2008, discussed organizing of an April conference to showcase research work by faculty and students
- Planned an April conference organized by AUT and cosponsored by AHEED was set in motion
- Workshop was advertised and submission of abstracts accepted
- Conference to be held on April 15th, 2009
- Title: “Farm efficiency and vertical integration of supply channels and their roles to increasing competitiveness”
- Attendance is expected to be 150participants.
- Expected outcome would be to improve FEA reputation in research relevancy and quality
- Inaugural conference will pave the way to future sustainable annual conferences to showcase relevant research of FEA
8. Encourage faculty to submit research outputs to international conferences /
- Members of the faculty & students of FEA and MOA had conducted research work
- With encouragement and assistance from Dr. Chan-Halbrendt, 2 paper presentations, 2 poster presentations, 1 symposium session and 1 selected paper for an FAO sponsored workshop had been submitted to the IAMA conference to be held at Budapest, Hungary in June 2009
- IAMA is the global premier academic conference for agribusiness, agricultural policies and other food chain related topics. All presentations are competitively selected. Acceptance rate is about 75%.
- 2 paper presentations, “Assessing quality and safety of food & beverage products: An analysis of agribusiness enterprises in Tirana District/Albania” and “Competitiveness of Albanian agriculture: Value chain study for fruits and vegetable sector in Fier region”
- 2 poster presentations:“Assessing the comparative advantage of olive oil production in Albania” and “identifying some key indicators benchmarks (competitive benchmark) helping meat processors in Albania improving their management decisions”
- Symposium discussion entitled “Market oriented strategies to revitalize Albania’s agricultural industry”
- Symposium discussion will cover the value chain study fo vegetable and fruits, assessment of the comparative advantages of olive oil, role of extesion and the role of cooperatives
- Selected paper “Value chain structure and governance changes medicinal and aromatic plants in Albania-Implications for poverty reduction and rural development” will be present at the FAO-IAMA workshop
- 4 faculty and 4 students, 1 extension director and 1 industry person submitted papers and were accepted at the IAMA conference
9. Assess Agricultural Technology Transfer Centers (ATTC) for relevancy, constraints and needs to become full functioning Centers to support the Agricultural Information Centers and to assist clients and community /
- Dr. Halina Zaleski, an Extension Specialist at the University of Hawaii, assessed needs of extension and farmers in Albania on September 2008
- Trainfarmers to operate successful farms through better business management skills
- Focus training on subsistence farms
- Increase KASH involvement in consulting on beneficial services such as research & extension for farmers
- Extension needs more localized information and lower reliance on foreign pamphlets
- MOA needs to have better utilization of data collected from representative farms
- MOA/AUT needs to develop a mechanism to fund research at the university
- Create a system for feedback from users to researchers to provide input regarding results
- Recommendations to be presented to the advisory committee, AUT and MOA
10. Develop skills on how to create good plan of work using logic framework evaluation and impact analysis /
- Framework was presented to FEA faculty and Students via workshop
- Logical framework for planning presented
- Expected outcome would be a good plan of work
11. Communication & dissemination of the project /
- Design logo, powerpoint template and acquire website address
- Logo created
- Website address acquired
- Internet access at AUT received
- Power point template developed for all presentations and communications
- Increasing awareness of AHEED led to AAC requesting possible assistance in their research needs
- received additional funding from USAID to build an internet infrastructure for AUT
- Having an internet access greatly enhanced AUT Faculty’s resources for research
1
- How are the above activities and outcomes reported in questions 1 and 2 benefiting and/or helping to strengthen the capacity of the host country higher education institution(s)?
3.1 Formed administrative and advisory committees.
- Enhance transparency and stakeholders’ inclusiveness in decision making.
- Build capacity in monitoring and evaluation of project implementation and priority setting
3.2 Assessed M.Sc.II degree evaluation.
- Bring AUT/FEA program to world standards
- Graduates will be competitive on the local and world market
- Graduates will be more prepared to deal with real world problems
3.3 Discussion meeting with stakeholders for strengthening FEA’s graduate program.
- Graduates will be trained in skills appropriately to address societal problems
- Faculty will gain knowledge from feedback to revise their curriculum and syllabi
3.4 Conducted grant writing workshop.
- Enhance writing skills and grant writing acumen so faculty and students get more external
monetary resources to conduct their work.
3.5 Conducted baseline surveys.
- Increase capacity to conduct surveys and receive information to develop better and relevant
curriculum, programs, courses and student advising.
3.6 Conducted grant writing and prioritization setting workshops.
- Increase capacity through introducing tools that would assist in acquiring research funding for
relevant programs or prioritized areas to research. The latter will satisfy taxpayers and
government for supporting higher education.
3.7 Developed improved standards and departmental guidelines for relevant graduate research
- Enhancing a higher educational system that have consistent, quality research which will raise
the opportunity for faculty to advance and graduates to enter into prestigious PhD
programs or workforce.
3.8 Planned annual conference to showcase research work.
- Raise the awareness of the public as to the contributions of AUT/FEA in producing quality
graduates and conducting useful research for policy decisions.
- Enhance communication skills of faculty and students
- Enhance networking opportunities to collaborate
3.9 Planned research presentation in international conferences.
- Increase awareness and knowledge of AUT/FEA faculty and students on the standards of the
world and receive first class feedback on their research endeavors.
- Enhance english skills for IAMA conference participants
- Enhance capacity through opportunities of working with other scientists with similar interests.
- Networking with the rest of the world for collaboration and scholarly exchanges
3.10 Assessed Agricultural Technology Transfer Centers (ATTC).
- Enhance faculty ability to conduct relevant research based on the needs of the ATTC
- Improve quality of students with better ATTCs to do internships
3.11 Conducted workshop on plan of workusing logic framework evaluation and impact analysis.
- Enhance faculty, staff and students in developing better plan of work and at the same time
assessing the progress and implementation of projects and programs
3.12 Disseminating information on AHEED project.
- Faculty and students not directly involve with the project have the opportunity to participate in
the activities of the project to enhance their capacity to deliver their job responsibilities
such as teaching, research and outreach.
- Raise awareness of USAID’s activities for world development
4.How are the above activities and outcomes from this partnership benefiting and/or helping to strengthen the capacity of the host country community?
4.1 Formed administrative and advisory committees.
- These committees include community members such that their participation will enhance their
capacity to contribute effectively and have a stake in the decisions being made.
- Those community members involved are getting experience in running committees and work
effectively on committees
4.2 Assessed M.Sc.II degree evaluation.
- Community will have a stronger workforce that are highly trained with appropriate skills
4.3 Conducted meeting with stakeholders for strengthening FEA’s graduate program.
- Raise awareness of community as to their role in shaping a quality program that addresses
research problems for solving societal/community issues.
4.4 Conducted grant writing workshop.
- Community members participated will be able to write better grants and be successful to get
needed resources for community development and/or with the funds to contract faculty to
work on issues of high priority of the community.
4.5 Conducted baseline surveys.
- Community members learn how to develop and conduct surveys to gauge the preferences of
particular policies that affects them.
4.6 Conducted grant writing and prioritization setting workshops.
- Community would benefit from the results of the researched work that faculty and students are