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ACT CoP Membership Development, Retention And Reactivation
The African Conservation Tillage Network (ACT) is a voluntary membership pan-African not-for-profit organization. ACT brings together stakeholders and players who are dedicated to improving agricultural productivity through sustainable utilization of natural resources of land and water in Africa's farming systems and committed to the principal of mutual collaboration, partnership and sharing of information/knowledge on sustainable natural resources management and drawing on synergies and complementarities.
Under its first strategic focus area termed "Adoption and Scaling up of Conservation Agriculture", the 2013-2022 ACT strategic Plan approved by the Board in February 2013 states that:
"Institutional scaling up that involves influencing higher level institutions is considered the most effective approach for scaling up agricultural knowledge and technologies. It is based on the recognition that actions are required from many institutions for effective adoption of technologies by target beneficiaries. In this context, scaling up is where efforts are made to communicate and share knowledge, especially the underlying principles with higher up institutions and to bring in other stakeholders such as manufacturers, policy makers and investors from community or local level, to national and even global level. Uptake, acceptance and internalization of technology at higher levels increase the chance that these institutions will support and invest in scaling it out"
In the endeavor to implement the strategic plan, the ACT Implementation Strategy for 2013-2017, promulgates (in article 6.2 of the Strategic Plan) that:
"In order to re-invent and position itself strategically, the Network shall develop and operationalize a mechanism for establishing flexible alliances and innovation platforms that allow the Network to form temporary teams with other organizations including farmers’ organizations and groups, research institutions, universities and the private sector and non-governmental organizations to solve priority conservation agriculture problems in specified periods. The formation of such temporary teams would ensure the availability of a critical mass of professionals with the right disciplinary mix to provide multidisciplinary solutions for priority conservation agriculture problems. Particular input will be sought from purposefully formed and supported Conservation Agriculture Communities of Practice (CA-CoPs) of researchers and academia; CA equipment manufacturers and suppliers; CA farmers and their organizations; youths and women in agriculture"
This document represents the way forward in the ACT scaling out vision for the coming five years in support of the ACT Board decisions highlighted above and in response to the ACT Membership Development, Retention and Reactivation needs.
- Community of Practice (CoP)
A community of practice (CoP) is a group of people informally bound together by shared expertise and passion for a joint enterprise. The CoP Members share knowledge in free-flowing, creative ways that foster new approaches to problems. Communities of practice can drive strategy, generate new programmes, solve problems, promote the spread of best practices and develop people’s skills. CoPs can rely on a variety of methods and means to share information, build knowledge and communicate. They can be real and/or virtual.
- Membership to ACT CoPs [Friends of ACT]
a) Membership to ACT CoP shall be open to any person , company, body, or firm
- Dedicated to improving agricultural productivity through sustainable management of natural resources in Africa’s farming systems.
- Committed to the principals of mutual collaboration, partnerships and sharing of information and knowledge on sustainable natural resource management and drawing on synergies and complementarities (without necessarily becoming one and allowing each one pursue aspects for which they have comparative advantage).
b) Membership to ACT CoP shall be open to any person, company, body, or firm subject to being admitted by the ACT Secretariat.
- Board
Shall mean the Board of Directors appointed under paragraph 4 of the Memorandum and Articles of association
- Network, Organization
African Conservation Tillage Network (ACT)
Membership with ACT is open to individuals, institutions and corporate organizations committed and active in development and promotion of conservation agriculture in Africa. Individuals, organizations and institutions with a passion in conservation agriculture are invited to join the network. Membership to ACT CoPs (friends of ACT) does not entitle one to be a Member of ACT. All of the ACT CoPs shall be represented by their leadership/appointee, usually the Chairperson and Secretary, to the Annual or Extraordinary General Meeting of ACT. The growth of regional (Africa) CoP membership may necessitate creation of sub regional membership groups coordinated by ACT.
ACT membership categories and benefits:
- Individual Membership
- Institutional and Corporate Membership
ACT uses the Conservation Agriculture (CA) Communities of Practice (CoP) categories to interact with its members and stakeholders, and in this way, contribute to define the agenda of the network, modalities of and services to be provided to the membership; and roles/responsibilities of the membership.
The ACT communities of practice are currently classified as below:
- Academia and researchers (COPAR). Comprised of colleges, universities and research institutions.
- CA equipment manufacturers, suppliers and service providers (COPMSSP). Comprised of CA equipment manufacturers, repair workshops, importers, hire service providers, financial institutions.
- Farmers and farmer organizations (COPFFO). Comprised of individual smallholder and large scale CA farmers, CBO, farmer NGOs, and farmer cooperatives.
- Women and youths in agriculture (COPWYIA). Comprised of individual smallholder and commercial women farmers, women in agriculture organisations, youths engaged in agriculture, gender equality advocacy groups, and professional mentors.
- Developers and disseminators of CA (COPDD). Comprised of Government staff, development partners (observers), extension agents, and NGOs
Each applicant for ACT membership will choose to join a particular CoP while registering as a member of the organization. All members will be required to comply with the general terms and conditions of the CA-CoPs.
The purpose of CA-CoPs is to provide a forum that enhances dialogue and actions on issues related to the promotion of Conservation Agriculture in Africa.
The roles of the CA-CoPs are:
- Collect, synthesize and disseminate information on Conservation Agriculture
- Innovate mechanism to further develop conservation agriculture programmes/initiatives
- Lobbying and advocacy for promotion of enabling environment through policy change in support of CA technologies in Africa
- Provide advice to stakeholders on strategies for the promotion of CA in Africa
- Identify and share information on opportunities for resource mobilization that can be utilized to support investment plans in areas of CA in Africa
- Network among CoP members and interlink with other CoPs on relevant actions augmenting the development of CA in Africa
- Periodically report and receive feedback to and from ACT to further support promotion of CA in Africa
CoP Membership Guidelines
- CA-CoPs will meet occasionally to share experiences and sound practices emanating from the implementation of Conservation Agriculture policies and technologies. .
- Meetings for the CA-CoPs will be organized by the African Conservation Tillage Network secretariat and supported by stakeholders.
- Members should be committed to support the community of practice existing and emerging initiatives towards furtherance of conservation agriculture agenda in Africa.
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No. |
Category Description |
Benefits to members |
Obligation of members |
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1 |
Academia and researchers (COPAR) |
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2 |
CA equipment manufacturers, suppliers and service providers (COPMSSP). |
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3 |
Farmers and farmer organizations (COPFFO). |
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4 |
Women and youths in agriculture (COPWYIA) |
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5 |
Developers and disseminators of CA (COPDD) |
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Membership types, benefits and expected roles of members in:
- Category I: Individual Membership
- Category II: Institutional and Corporate Membership
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Category |
Benefits to members |
Expected roles of members |
Category I - Individual Members |
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Bronze Individual Members Ten Bronze Members assessed as being active "active" will graduate to silver each year |
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Silver Individual Members Ten Silver Members assessed as being active "active" will graduate to Gold each year |
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Gold Individual Members |
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Category II - Institutional and Corporate Membership |
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Bronze Institutional and corporate membership |
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Silver Institutional and corporate membership |
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Gold Institutional and corporate membership |
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* All members are free to make additional contribution towards supporting Network activities.