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Capacity strengthening is a key dimension across the full range of our research, advisory and teaching activities. We work with partner institutions to generate new knowledge and develop solutions to address priority challenges and opportunities. But we also recognize the crucial importance of institutional development and capacity strengthening to enable organizations to contribute effectively to the development process. Through participation in initiatives such as the SCARDA project we support the efforts of our southern partners to strengthen the capacity of organizations in their own countries.

We provide advisory and mentoring services in traditional areas of our core expertise such as crop protection, post-harvest and participatory processes as well as in emerging challenges such as climate change. We also work with organizations to help them embrace new research and management approaches and contribute more effectively to emerging national agricultural innovation systems. Our skills in performance and impact assessment are used to assist partners to increase the impact orientation of their activities.

We run postgraduate programmes in Natural Resources and in Food Safety and Quality Management (Postharvest Technology). These lead to the award of a diploma or a Masters degree and are flexible in enabling students to take specific Routes of their choice. An option is available to pursue the Masters programmes by research, with students carrying out an extended research project and a limited number of short courses. Some of the courses on the programmes can be taken as stand-alone short courses and delivered in the UK or overseas and we are able to offer a wide selection of such courses.

NRI’s work in Capacity Strengthening is undertaken through the following programmes:

Strengthening Capacity for Agricultural Research and Development in Africa (SCARDA)

MSc Natural Resources

MSc Food Safety and Quality Management

Short courses

Knowledge Transfer Management (KTM)

Communication for Development