Learning from AgResults

AgResults learning takes two forms:

  1. Learning generated from the experience of AgResults in designing and implementing projects;
  2. Learning generated from the External Evaluator in its independent ongoing review of AgResults projects.

Since 2013, AgResults has developed a variety of knowledge products, which can be found in the Learning Library below. The library is searchable by keyword and by a specific AgResults project, using the "All Tags" drop-down box.

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Learning Library

pdf Design Brief #5: Verification and Project Management Popular

In Learning Library Tagged in Brucellosis (Global), FMD Vaccine, Indonesia Aquaculture, Kenya Storage, Nigeria Aflasafe, Tanzania Dairy, Uganda Legumes, Vietnam Emissions, Zambia PVA Maize 876 downloads

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AgResults Design Brief 5_Verification and Project Management.pdf

Design Brief #5: Verification and Project Management

This brief, the fifth and final in the series, provides an overview of the fifth phase of AgResults’ approach to Pay-for-Results prize competition design. It explains how program designers can develop a thorough verification plan to evaluate competitors’ results and determine prize payments. It also summarizes the activities involved in project management of a prize competition.

pdf Design Brief #4: Right-Sizing Prizes Popular

In Learning Library Tagged in Brucellosis (Global), FMD Vaccine, Indonesia Aquaculture, Kenya Storage, Nigeria Aflasafe, Tanzania Dairy, Uganda Legumes, Vietnam Emissions, Zambia PVA Maize 882 downloads

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AgResults Design Brief 4_Right-Sizing Prizes.pdf

Design Brief #4: Right-Sizing Prizes

This brief, the fourth in a series of five, provides an overview of the fourth phase of AgResults’ approach to Pay-for-Results prize competition design. It explains how program designers can determine the size of the prize purse to effectively drive participation and innovation without overpaying for results.

pdf Design Brief #3: Structuring Prizes Popular

In Learning Library Tagged in Brucellosis (Global), FMD Vaccine, Indonesia Aquaculture, Kenya Storage, Nigeria Aflasafe, Tanzania Dairy, Uganda Legumes, Vietnam Emissions, Zambia PVA Maize 944 downloads

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AgResults Design Brief 3_Structuring Prizes.pdf

Design Brief #3: Structuring Prizes

This brief, the third in a series of five, provides an overview of the third phase of AgResults’ approach to Pay-for-Results prize competition design. It explains how program designers can create the set of parameters and rules that determines who competes, how to win the prize(s), and the implementation timeline.

pdf Design Brief #2: Analyzing Feasibility Popular

In Learning Library Tagged in Brucellosis (Global), FMD Vaccine, Indonesia Aquaculture, Kenya Storage, Nigeria Aflasafe, Tanzania Dairy, Uganda Legumes, Vietnam Emissions, Zambia PVA Maize 987 downloads

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AgResults Design Brief 2_Analyzing Feasibility.pdf

Design Brief #2: Analyzing Feasibility

This brief, the second in a series of five, provides an overview of the second phase of AgResults’ approach to Pay-for-Results prize competition design. It explains how program designers conduct deeper research on relevant market systems to articulate a Theory of Change for the competition and to reasonably estimate the project’s impacts.

pdf Design Brief #1: Concept Sourcing Popular

In Learning Library Tagged in Brucellosis (Global), FMD Vaccine, Indonesia Aquaculture, Kenya Storage, Nigeria Aflasafe, Tanzania Dairy, Uganda Legumes, Vietnam Emissions, Zambia PVA Maize 924 downloads

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AgResults Design Brief 1_Concept Sourcing.pdf

Design Brief #1: Concept Sourcing

The first in a series of five, this brief provides an overview of concept sourcing, the first phase of AgResults’ Pay-for-Results prize competition design process. It shows how program designers begin the process by brainstorming and assessing potential development challenges to see if a prize competition is best suited to address the identified problem.

pdf Summary of Evaluator Findings and Lessons from AgResults Prize Competitions: 2013-2020 Popular

In Learning Library Tagged in Evaluator, Kenya Storage, Nigeria Aflasafe, Uganda Legumes, Zambia PVA Maize 721 downloads

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Summary of Evaluator Findings and Lessons from AgResults Prize Competitions 2013-2020.pdf

Summary of Evaluator Findings and Lessons from AgResults Prize Competitions: 2013-2020

This report by External Evaluator Abt Associates summarizes independent evaluation findings from competitions in Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, and Zambia and offers guidance for future prize sponsors. It provides evidence that Pay-for-Results (PfR) competitions can spur development of markets for technologies benefitting smallholder farmers. It also offers guidance on how to determine whether PfR is an appropriate design option and how to maximize farmer benefits.

pdf Impactful Design: AgResults' Pay-for-Results Prize Competition Toolkit Popular

In Learning Library Tagged in Brucellosis (Global), FMD Vaccine, Indonesia Aquaculture, Kenya Storage, Nigeria Aflasafe, Tanzania Dairy, Uganda Legumes, Vietnam Emissions, Zambia PVA Maize 2485 downloads

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Impactful Design - AgResults Pay-for-Results Prize Competition Toolkit.pdf

Impactful Design: AgResults' Pay-for-Results Prize Competition Toolkit

This toolkit is a practical guide for agricultural development practitioners who are interested in using Pay-for-Results prize competitions to stimulate new markets for agricultural technologies and engage the private sector for scale-up. It draws upon the experience of AgResults, which has designed and implemented prize competitions around the world since 2013.

pdf Takeaways from Seven Years of Using Prize Competitions to Transform Markets Popular

In Learning Library Tagged in Brucellosis (Global), FMD Vaccine, Kenya Storage, Nigeria Aflasafe, Tanzania Dairy, Uganda Legumes, Vietnam Emissions, Zambia PVA Maize 1172 downloads

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AgResults Takeaways from Seven Years of Using Prize Competitions to Transform Markets.pdf

Since 2013, AgResults has been designing and implementing agricultural prize competitions to encourage the private sector to "solve" a market failure and work toward a defined goal to receive a monetary award. In this cross-cutting learning document, AgResults presents 12 key takeaways based on its experience with prize concept design and sourcing; launch and marketing; and running a prize competition.

pdf Can Pull Mechanisms Achieve Agriculture Development Objectives? Evidence from AgResults External Evaluation Popular

In Learning Library Tagged in Evaluator, Kenya Storage, Nigeria Aflasafe, Uganda Legumes, Zambia PVA Maize 715 downloads

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AgResults External Evaluation Presentation_February 2020.pdf

This DFID Chief Economist Seminar Series presentation from February 2020 summarizes External Evaluator Abt Associates' findings about the use of “pull mechanisms” or “prize competitions” to develop markets that provide innovative agricultural technologies to smallholder farmers. Findings suggest that pull mechanisms can create markets as long as the binding constraints inhibiting market development are within the manageable interest of the companies competing for the prize.

pdf Final Report: Uganda Legume Seed Challenge Project Popular

In Learning Library Tagged in Uganda Legumes 1136 downloads

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AgResults_Uganda Legume Seed Challenge Project_final report.pdf

Despite the nutritional and environmental benefits of legumes, Ugandan seed companies have not prioritized legume seed production due to fluctuations in demand, low profitability, and limited access to working capital. The AgResults Uganda Legume Seed Challenge Project, which ran from 2017-2018, used a Pay-for-Results prize competition to encourage Ugandan seed companies to increase the production and adoption of improved higher-quality legume varieties. Despite the project’s early closure due to ongoing seed counterfeiting, low participation in the competition, and challenges of seed quality verification, it still revealed valuable learning around what works and what does not work when designing and implementing a prize competition focused on increasing sales of quality seed.

document AgResults Toolkit Prize Concept Review Framework Popular

In Learning Library Tagged in Brucellosis (Global), Kenya Storage, Nigeria Aflasafe, Uganda Legumes, Vietnam Emissions, Zambia PVA Maize 750 downloads

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AgResults Toolkit_PrizeConceptReviewFramework.pptx

AgResults Toolkit Prize Concept Review Framework

The AgResults Prize Concept Review Framework assesses concepts for validity as a prize competition. The framework comprises four key questions on the (a) market failure, (b) missions impact, (c) prize design, and (d) enabling environment. 

pdf Evaluation Baseline Report: Uganda Legume Seed Challenge Project Popular

In Learning Library Tagged in Evaluator, Uganda Legumes 1030 downloads

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Baseline Report AgResults Uganda 2018 08.pdf

Evaluation Baseline Report: Uganda Legume Seed Challenge Project

This report presents baseline evaluation results for the Uganda Legume Seed Challenge Project, which was terminated early. It includes findings from a survey of 1,800 smallholders, in-depth interviews with a subset of farmers, and seed quality assessment results using seed from 300 farmers who reported using quality seed.

pdf The Case for Iterative Design: Lessons from the Uganda Improved Legume Seed Challenge Project Popular

In Learning Library Tagged in Uganda Legumes 821 downloads

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AgResults LL2_Uganda Redesign_Sept2017.pdf

The Case for Iterative Design: Lessons from the Uganda Improved Legume Seed Challenge Project

Shifting policies and political objectives prompted AgResults to adjust the original design of the Uganda Improved Legume Seed Challenge Project. This Lessons Learned article explores the reasoning behind these design changes and the insights that emerged.

pdf Evaluation Design: Uganda Legume Seed Challenge Project Popular

In Learning Library Tagged in Evaluator, Uganda Legumes 751 downloads

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Evaluation Design AgResults Uganda 2017 02 07.pdf

Evaluation Design: Uganda Legume Seed Challenge Project

The Uganda Legume Seed Challenge Project’s evaluation design envisions a performance evaluation using a pre-post design to assess project success in creating a smallholder-inclusive market for quality legume seed. It uses a structure-conduct-performance framework to assess market impact and a baseline-endline comparison of smallholder farmer survey data to understand smallholder benefits.