Institutional Issues in the development of a coordinated
information system on food security policy in Senegal
Peter Ballantyne and Elli de Rijk
(Summary of ECDPM Working Paper Number 95-5, August 1995)
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This paper should be cited as:
Ballantyne, P.G. and E. de Rijk. 1995. Institutional Issues in the development of a coordinated
information system on food security policy in Senegal.
(ECDPM Working Paper Number 95-5). Maastricht: ECDPM.
Using an internal review of a joint ECDPM/Senegal exercise in the
early 1990's as an example, this paper traces the evolution of an
activity to promote a coordinated approach to the provision of
policy oriented information on food security. The paper shows
that while the project mobilised enthusiastic individuals and had
substantial top-level political commitment at certain times,
progress so far has led to neither a coordinated system to collect and store technical information on food security issues, nor
an effective system to deliver food security advice and information to policy-makers.
Tracing the evolution of the project, the paper tries to discover
some of the reasons that may account for this seeming failure.
Concentrating on institutional factors in the design, orientation
and implementation of the project, three main lessons are
presented:
First, that information systems coordination happens at different
levels, and that successful approaches at one level may not apply
at other levels. This is especially at "higher" policy levels
where the issues are more political. The concerns are perhaps
more sensitive, and the types of organisations are different. At
higher levels, approaches that seem to work well for more technical issues seem to be less effective. Thus, technical collaboration mechanisms such as working groups may be less able to
deal with institutional issues that are more political in nature.
Second, topical working groups can be an effective way to foster
inter-sectoral collaboration. Particularly on technical issues,
they allow a broad range of government and non-government
institutions from a variety of sectors, and representing
research, policy, and practice to focus on some practical activities. To be really effective however, they need overall coordination and guidance, and support -- both financial and
political.
Third, national and external agencies need to be careful about
their role in a joint activity, be clear on their own aims and
objectives, and especially, be selective in their choice of
partners. In retrospect, this case seems to show a rather mis-matched partnership comprising an external agency willing to
support a coordinated policy oriented information system on food
security, and a local partner that, in the end, was more suited
to delivering more technically-oriented information and data
systems.
Updated on August 25,
1995