The Tropical Agriculture Platform (TAP)
TAP facilitates more effective and streamlined capacity development interventions in innovation systems in tropical agriculture. TAP was created to focus specifically on capacity development in the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), more than 90% of which are located at least partly within the Tropics.
TAP provides a mechanism for all actors to communicate, exchange ideas, knowledge, experiences, and practices, and work in a more coordinated way, learning from each other about capacity development policies and practices that work. Interventions will acknowledge national leadership and ownership and will be aligned with national plans and demands. TAP fosters partnerships and shared visions to steer agricultural innovation along a more coherent path and to arrive at development solutions at scale with lower transaction costs. TAP also works to establish close linkages with relevant existing multi-partner initiatives that promote coherent institutional approaches, such as those being implemented by regional fora and international agencies.
- Policy-dialogue space – Allowing for greater dialogue and interaction among stakeholders to enhance clarity and coherence of national policies for capacity development in agricultural innovation. “Toolkits” for fostering dialogue at various levels among stakeholders will be commissioned through TAP.
- Marketplace – Promoting and brokering existing demands and offers in capacity development for agricultural innovation. Based on demand, web-based and face-to-face training efforts will be scaled up.
- TAPipedia – Offering a global information system for innovation outputs, success stories, socioeconomic impacts, lessons learned, and analyses of impacts. TAPipedia will use virtual collaboration tools and media, and could result in the identification of demands for new areas of agricultural research.
TAP is facilitated by FAO in its role as global convener and knowledge broker. The TAP Secretariat will be located and managed by FAO and will be responsible for developing and maintaining and hosting the Platform website. The Secretariat will also be responsible for organizing and administering the Policy Dialogues, Marketplace and TAPipedia, and where necessary working through ad-hoc groups co-opted at the regional level.
