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In 1998 IFPRI and its collaborators in Africa established two regional research networks, one for East Africa and one for West Africa. Unlike most research-based entities, these networks include not only researchers, but policymakers and leaders from civil society. Through research, publications, training, and dialog between but decisionmakers and researchers, the networks aim to generate information that policymakers can use to encourage sustainable growth and poverty-alleviation goals and to build the capacity of African countries to formulate appropriate policies and strategies. Through research, publications, training, and dialog between ministries, research or academic institutions, and civil society organizations. The overall goal of the 2020 Vision networks is to reduce poverty, improve food security and child nutrition, improve gender equity, increase agricultural productivity, and promote sustainable use of natural resources. The networks aim to fulfill these objectives specifically by integrating themselves in national and regional-level policymaking processes, working closely together with local researchers, policymakers, and civil society organizations. The East African network comprises Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Uganda. The network has formed country teams headed by leading researchers and policymakers from each country. The teams are drawn from government ministries, research or academic institutions, and civil society organizations. ; Non-PR ; IFPRI1; 2020

The article draws on the multi-level perspective (MLP) and global value chain (GVC) frameworks to analyse the drivers and trajectories of foreign private investment in biofuel production in Ghana. It is based on a narrative of the evolution of a niche for jatropha production in Ghana in the period 1995 - 2016 including company case studies. The factors analysed relating to MLP are alignment of expectations, network formation, and learning and knowledge sharing, and those relating to GVC are chain structure, governance, ownership, and access to land and capital. High entry barriers for creating a new agriculture-based value chain for global biofuel markets, i.e. high volume requirements, high capital needs, and market risks contributed to the collapse of the jatropha sector in Ghana. A low level of learning and knowledge sharing between jatropha actors in Ghana, alongside weak public R&D support, reduced access to technical and managerial information. Confirming previous GVC research on biofuels, policy and NGOs had a stronger influence on the jatropha value chain than in typical agricultural chains. Moreover, global drivers and the strategies and capabilities of foreign investors can strongly influence the development of a new biofuel value chain in a developing country. The latter points complement previous research on jatropha, which highlights politicoeconomic factors such as land tenure, regional and local power relations, and the interests of donors and NGOs. The study exemplifies a nonevolutionary niche development that goes beyond the European experiences of industrial niche development on which the MLP framework was first established. The importance of investors and policy at different levels of the value chain illustrate the synergies in combining the MLP and GVC frameworks in research on energy transitions in developing countries.

This study analyses ex-ante socio-economic impacts of biogas systems using a remote rural community in Ghana as a case study. An analysis was performed for a 300 m3 bio-digester that relies on crop residue and animal manure as feedstock to produce methane gas for cooking using selected bioenergy economic and social indicators. With a 10% discount rate, a 30 year bio-digester lifetime and methane tariff starting at US$ 0.7/m3, the project will have a Net Present Value of approximately US$ 22,000, 16 year payback and an Internal Rate of Return of 11%. The project will create 4 full time unskilled labour positions during the investment year and 3 positions during operation years. Using methane from the bio-digester for cooking will displace approximately 170 tonnes of firewood per year and save the women in the community a total of 3400 hours per year not fetching firewood. However, only 5% of households are willing to pay the base tariff of US$ 30/m3 with up to 60% willing to pay less than half the monthly tariff. To make tariffs affordable to rural households, there is the need for subsidy schemes from government or relevant agencies. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions Vol.16, 22-37 ; This paper revisits the theoretical concepts of lock-in mechanisms to analyse transition processes in energy production and road transportation in the Nordic countries, focussing on three technology platforms: advanced biofuels, e-mobility and hydrogen and fuel cell electrical vehicles. The paper is based on a comparative analysis of case studies. The main lock-in mechanisms analysed are learning effects, economies of scale, economies of scope, network externalities, informational increasing returns, technological interrelatedness, collective action, institutional learning effects and the differentiation of power. We show that very different path dependencies have been reinforced by the lock-in mechanisms. Hence, the characteristics of existing regimes set the preconditions for the development of new transition pathways. The incumbent socio-technical regime is not just fossil-based, but may also include mature niches specialised in the exploitation of renew-able sources. This implies a need to distinguish between lock-in mechanisms favouring the old fossil-based regime, well-established (mature) renewable energy niches, or new pathways.

This paper revisits the theoretical concepts of lock-in mechanisms to analyse transition processes in energy production and road transportation in the Nordic countries, focussing on three technology platforms: advanced biofuels, e-mobility and hydrogen and fuel cell electrical vehicles. The paper is based on a comparative analysis of case studies. The main lock-in mechanisms analysed are learning effects, economies of scale, economies of scope, network externalities, informational increasing returns, technological interrelatedness, collective action, institutional learning effects and the differentiation of power. We show that very different path dependencies have been reinforced by the lock-in mechanisms. Hence, the characteristics of existing regimes set the preconditions for the development of new transition pathways. The incumbent socio-technical regime is not just fossil-based, but may also include mature niches specialised in the exploitation of renewable sources. This implies a need to distinguish between lock-in mechanisms favouring the old fossil-based regime, well-established (mature) renewable energy niches, or new pathways.

This chapter explores the transition towards a sustainable bioeconomy in the dairy sector. Different valorisation strategies employed by two dairy companies are scrutinised through a comparative study of the dairy sector in Denmark and Norway. Theoretical underpinnings such as lock-in mechanisms, value chain governance and directionality through industrial practices are used to understand how differences in company strategies and capabilities affect the utilisation of side streams from cheese and yoghurt production. We examine factors at the level of the firm, the industry and the market, which influence whey valorisation in the two countries. We find that the organisation of the dairy companies, such as the separation of main products and by-product processing into different legal units, affects capabilities and the utilisation of whey, as well as their abilities to exploit economies of scale and scope in raw material sourcing, production and marketing. These factors, together with the national economic and political context, place the two dairies in very different positions in the global value chain for whey-based products.