What are the Core Functions of ASARECA?
1. Develop a shared vision and sub-regional goals

2. Empowerment of end-users to ensure their meaningful participation in setting priorities and work programs for research, extension, training and education to ensure their relevance;

3. Coordinate collective action at the sub-regional level on research, extension, agricultural training and   education;

4. Contribute to improving networking in the sub-region on research, extension, agricultural training and education

5. Contribute to the development of appropriate knowledge, methodologies, information and technologies

6. Facilitate the transfer of knowledge, information and technology

7. Mobilize and allocate resources for research, extension, agricultural training and education through working with African and International organizations

8. Strengthen capacity for agricultural research for development, extension, agricultural training and education

9. Facilitate that the national agricultural research system operate as a true system at the national level

10. Facilitate sharing of research outputs and benefits among national agricultural research systems

11. Enhance the sub-regional reputation in regional and international fora as a desirable place to invest

1. Whose duty is it to recall funds that are not used for the intended purpose? Is it ASARECA or World Bank (WB)?
It is entirely ASARECA responsibility to demand the sub-grant funds to be paid back to ASARECA. The sub-grantee is responsible for reporting to ASARECA because the sub-grantee has signed an agreement with ASARECA, not with the World Bank.

2. When it comes to supervision, who is to blame in case the deadlines are not met but the financial reporting is right?
From ASARECA stand point, it is the institution as a whole that entered into an agreement and received the funds to be blamed.

3. There is an issue of inflation which causes price changes and as a result the actual costs also increase against what was budgeted for, how do you handle this?
First of all, ASARECA assumes the budget submitted by the projects and approved by ASARECA to have catered for or built in foreseeable inflation. ASARECA allows budget re-allocation within the same project cost components so long as it remains within the approved individual project budget. If the approved budget is anticipated to overrun, it requires negotiation with ASARECA for budget revision before overspending the approved budget, otherwise the expenditure overspent will be not be allowed.

4. Does ASARECA allow for insurance expenditure on capital equipment provided to the project (such as computers, etc)?
Yes, ASARECA allows for insurance for capital equipment and considers insurance an essential cost to safe guard the assets.

5. Within the activity cost element, what is the maximum allowable for spending in percentage terms?
There is no restriction within an activity cost element. The only restriction is that one has to remain within the approved project activity budget. Overspending an activity budget is not allowed unless prior approval is provided by ASARECA.

6. Once the quarterly budget is prepared, can you borrow from one cost category within that budget?
Budget re-allocation within an activity cost category is permissible, but cross-cost category budget allocation is not allowed, therefore the projection of a quarterly budget should be done accurately to avoid such problems.

7. What are ASARECA rates for service costs such as consultancy, casual labour, etc?
It is not proper to use ASARECA rates, which is applicable at its Secretariat in Entebbe. It is advisable to apply your own internal institution rates, but they should not exceed the rates agreed in the budgets of the signed sub-grant agreements.

8. Project leaders frustrate the work; will there be a time for experience sharing with them so as to find solutions?
 ASARECA has been orienting project leaders in budgeting and financial accountabilities during project planning meetings but, in future, we shall find a way to have joint meetings between project leaders and financial personnel whenever resources are available.

9. Is there a need to provide support evidence of exchange rate from the bank for funds remitted from ASARECA?
Yes, its very important for all USD funds received from ASARECA, the credit note from the bank is very crucial to keep and to prove the proceeds in other currencies received by sub-grantees. It is also that exchange rate that will be applied for conversion of the local currency expenditure during reporting to ASARECA in USD. If you do not apply that conversion exchange rate during your financial reporting, you may be prone to exchange losses or gains, which are unacceptable to ASARECA.

10. How do you consider insurance of the asset?
Insurance costs for project assets must be fully budgeted for under operational costs.

11. Is there a different policy of depreciation in ASARECA?
 Depreciation policy depends on the circumstances and institutions’ operating environment. ASARECA has its own depreciation policy, but we do not impose others to apply them. We advise to follow the depreciation method of the institution. However, the depreciation policy has to be clearly stipulated in the financial management of the institution as part of good financial management practices and for auditing purposes. Usually, the full acquisition cost of an asset is charged as project expenditure. Therefore depreciation should not be reported to ASARECA as expenditure.

12. Some organizations have a single account for all project funds how do we carry out bank reconciliation?
Bank reconciliation statement is done for a given bank account, but a separate fund reconciliation statement must be prepared if different donor funds are kept in one bank account. In other words sources and application or use of funds statement must be prepared monthly for each donor funds. It is because of this difficulty that ASARECA insists the ASARECA funds should be kept in a separate bank account as practically as possible.

13. Does ASARECA request for accountability of overhead charges?
It depends on how the overhead charges were agreed upon in the approved budget. If it were agreed on a percentage charge basis, the institution will charge applying that percentage rate on actual project expenditure incurred, but not on the budget figure. If it were agreed on itemized overhead cost elements, then the institution will have to provide evidence of actual expenditure for each itemized overhead cost elements.

14. Are assets that appear in the budget, budgeted for under capital expenditure?
Yes.

15. Should the institution have separate bank accounts for each project, and banks charge for each separate account?
If an institution is receiving funds from ASARECA for more than one project, there is no need to open a separate bank account for each project, but as said earlier it is a requirement to prepare a statement of sources and application or use of funds for each project funds received and corresponds to the overall bank reconciliation statement.

16. Clarify on advance of funds for a period of four months.
ASARECA provides initial advance for 4 months and requires accountability every three months (quarterly) so that the project will have a one month buffer fund to keep the project going and assumes the next advance request and release will be made within the one month agreement.

17. ASARECA is the agent for the donors, is it representing the donors’ agenda?
First of all, ASARECA is not an agent of donors. ASARECA projects are planned and drawn in collaboration with scientists of partner institutions to tackle common regional problems. What ASARECA does is soliciting funding from donors who will be willing to support those projects and facilitate funding to the implementing institutions in the region.

18. You mentioned that the financial manual is under preparation and yet projects are on going, is it possible to provide this manual before it is too late? Can the financial management be standardized?
A comprehensive Operational Manual (OM) is under preparation, but it does not mean that ASARECA does not have financial management at all. There is already sufficient guide for sub-grantees on how to handle the financial management and reporting. A document entitled “Guidelines on Financial Management by Sub-Grantees” as well as the associated Reporting Formats have been provided so as to discuss them for your understanding and application. Yes, financial management for sub-grant projects can be harmonized and that is what we are doing now. The harmonization of project financial management and reporting starts from the day a sub-grant agreement is agreed and signed, which is standard for all sub-grantees.

19. How do you harmonize the different travel costs i.e. by bus or using a company vehicle?
Harmonization can be done by putting in place standard guidelines in your institutional financial management guidelines. Even with written guidelines, it is at times difficult to make decision because of unforeseencircumstances. Therefore, the guidelines should always be revised to cater for new changes and always base on value for money and prudent expenditure.

20. Institutional rates are varying among institutions, for example, Makerere University is much lower, NARO is higher, how do we harmonize them?
Use the rates approved in the budget and agreed upon when the agreement was signed with ASARECA.

21. What is the financial year of ASARECA?
January - December, but the quarter reporting for the sub-grant starts three months after the sub-grant agreement is signed, with exception of end of year (December) where ASARECA requires report submission by 15th January.

22. At times, as you prepare the reports, you find there are some advance funds that have not been used? Is there a percentage of the advances to be used?
What is very important is that your cash requirement projection (advance request) must always be based on what you actually planned to undertake as activities and what you will actually spend on. If you adhered to this, then the unspent fund advance balance shall be minimal, unless the planned activities were not carried out. Whether, there is significant amount unspent, you will have to report quarterly and you may then not request for further advance.
It is also very important to adhere to the quarterly reporting so that ASARECA can consolidate the accountabilities and submit to the main donors so as to get subsequent advance funds from the main donors.

23. ASARECA which was established 15 years ago and only training scientific personnel; why were the financial and procurement staff not considered? Isn’t this a discrepancy for ASARECA?

Response: ASARECA had assumed that there existed well trained and competent personnel handling the accounting and procurement activities in the partner institutions. However, after the study on the ASARECA fund utilization by partner institutions (see annex for the report), it was recommended that financial personnel of partner institutions should also be trained. Even then, ASARECA had no funds to spend on such training activities. But now funds are provided under the institutional capacity development project, which we can draw from. This training has been carried out by ASARECA personnel because of the urgent felt need to orient financial and procurement personnel for all projects re-launched as required by the WB MDTF. A fully-fledged plan will be drawn very soon and a continuous training will be carried out by external consultants as ASARECA staff may not have the time to do the regular training.

24. The quarterly reporting time frame suggested, does it take into account the legal framework of each country?
The reporting timeframe does not mean to change the country’s regulation. If a sub-grant agreement is signed and a reporting timeframe agreed, that is what will be binding.

25. For funding over USD 50,000, it is required to open a separate bank account, how are we going to deal with the bank charges? Will it be part of the expenditure report to ASARECA or will it be taken care of from 10% overhead charges of the head office?
It depends entirely on how best to charge and report the bank charges. In any case, the bank charges are part of the actual expenditure of the project, but whether it’s reflected under the coordination budget or the overhead budget, it will be your own institution decision.

26. Is it necessarily for Project leaders to budget capital expenditure necessary for the other financial support staff of the project?
 ASARECA assumes that the project budget as a whole is vetted institutionally rather than singly. It is assumed also that all the project required capital equipments are fully budgeted for before the budget is passed for approval by ASARECA.

27. Should it be the head of the project or the head of the institution to sign the agreement with ASARECA?

Response: ASARECA always expects the sub-grant agreement between ASARECA and an institution to be signed by the head of the institution as he is the legal representative of that institution. As stipulated in the sub-grant agreement, the head of the institution should also provide in an official letter the names and specimen signature of the designated project leader and financial officer for the project. Otherwise, ASARECA will not deal with officially undesignated personnel of an institution even if they are known to us. This is a legal requirement for any agreement.

1. Under ASARECA/WORLD BANK procurement guidelines, is there a body that protects/supervises the procurement processes?
WB recognizes the national procurement systems such as the Public Property and Disposal Authority (PPDA). However, the role of procurement management has been assigned to ASARECA because it has systems in place i.e. finance and audit functions that will manage the procurement systems. In addition, an arbitration system is in place and it is included in the contract. For instance, in Uganda arbitration is handled in the commercial court and in Kenya, it is handled in the industrial court. If national systems fail to resolve the issue, then the UN system is used as provided for in the World Bank procurement guidelines.

2. Are there guidelines to the sub-grantees on how to handle the issue of blood relations during the procurement process?
There are several steps one follows in the procurement process where you must declare that interest once it arises. After declaration, you cease to be part of the evaluation committee until the contract is awarded. If it is not declared and your relative wins the contract and it is found out, then it is regarded a mis-procurement. Therefore, advice is to stick to the best practice.

3. Does ASARECA open all the tenders to the 10 countries?
All countries of ASARECA are eligible for all tenders; however the tendering process includes international, national tendering and shopping. The best practice is that small values are national, big values are international.

4. When conducting technical and financial analysis, during Bid evaluation, which one takes priority?
Technical and financial analysis applies to consultancies. However, the best practice is technical and financial are requested for and each is sealed separately. Weights are given during the analysis for instance technical analysis scores 0.8 and financial analysis scores 0.2; then technical analysis will be priority when considering to award the consultancy.

5. Who does the Bid evaluation?
This is done by the technical evaluation committee. A minimum of three technical people who are experts in the issue should be members of the evaluation committee. Other experts may be members for providing advice in their areas like procurement, finance, and the law. Once evaluation is done, an evaluation report is prepared.

6. Who manages consultancies?
 In ASARECA, consultancies are managed by the user department headed by the Programme Manager or Unit Heads.

7. There are DSAs that are taxed in some institutions, should they use the grant to pay these taxes.
 There should be a uniform way in the region of dealing with tax issues. 

8. Prospective bidders?
 Any prospective bidders for works have to be registered with the ministry of works in the respective country and government agencies concerned with standards and compliancy should be involved in supervision of works.

9. Contracting
 For any single sourcing or direct contracting, World Bank has to approve and this should be requested for in writing.

11. If a project needs a digital camera that costs USD 300, will it be categorized as a capital good?
There are two issues to consider, i.e. the number of years it is expected to serve and its value, hence making it a controllable item

12. Can a contract be awarded when only one proposal has been received?
When only one proposal is received, it implies that the advertisements were unclear, time taken to prepare proposals was too short or there were no suppliers in that field. Once this happens, it is advised to extend the time/re-advertise the consultancy.


13. When should one use the SSS (single source selection)?

It is used where there is no competition and it is therefore not accepted by ASARECA. For exceptional cases, such as when an activity is completed and you realize that you need to continue, it can be used but with approval from ASARECA/World Bank.

14. What is the time period for NCB?
 NCB- 6 weeks; ICB – can be given a long time but minimum is 6 weeks.

15. What is the purpose of Bid Security?
 A bid security is paid by the bank that commits to pay some money if their client doesn’t deliver the goods or if the procurement order is rejected. Bid security is insurance for ASARECA/Project Implementer against loss of time and money involved in the procurement process. 


16. How long is prior review?
It is assumed that the period is two weeks for planning purposes.

Clarification: Bids are only deposited when purchasing goods of a higher price.  For small quantities, shop directly; for other items, you will obtain three quotations. Here similar information is passed on to potential suppliers. Once these are received then a quotation sheet analysis is used for approval and forwarded to finance. This is done to encourage competitive pricing.

1. How do you conduct a performance audit to determine the funds utilized by a certain project?
All projects that have received funds from ASARECA are subject to an audit. There will be “Project Site Visits”. Audits will be determined if all provisions of the grant award or contract have been carried out. The performance audit will be based on a deliverable the project committed itself to achieve. ASARECA also has a Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) unit that conducts impact assessments including the ASARECA External Auditors.

2. Beside the internal audit reports, do you require external reports? How do you harmonize these with the international standards?
Application of international standards that consist of the five attributes are followed and the Internal Auditor will apply the internationally accepted auditing standards.

3. The Internal auditor for ASARECA will be the external auditor for projects, how will you interact with them?
The ASARECA Internal Auditor will cover activities funded by ASARECA and related risks. The project work will be reviewed as well as the support documents that are attached to the submitted reports from projects. There will be one-on-one interaction with the projects internal auditor to check on progress of project activities. Recommendations will be given to top management for further action following the visit.

4. What are the acceptable risks?
 These will be based on impact, probability of occurrence and assessment of the internal controls systems of NARIs performance to mitigate the identified inherent risk rating. Major ones are for immediate action, others can be handled as and when they come. The interventions follow risk rating.

5. What is the relationship between ASARECA internal audit and the respective institutional audits?
There will be close working relationships. Where the institutional internal audits are strong, then the ASARECA auditor’s visits are less and reference will be made to reports received.

6. The last auditors report was not shared, how can we access it?
 An electronic copy will be shared with all the sub-grantees.

a) Reporting frequency:
The variation is because ASARECA reporting period ends in December and the auditing commences in the third week of January. Therefore, this means all expenditure should be captured by then or else there will be a wide gap between funding and actual expenditure that is unexplainable. Submission of reports by 15th January for the year end by sub-grantees can not be compromised because ASARECA has in turn report to the donors or else the problem of fund under utilization comes up.

b) Exchange loss
 If a loss due to exchange rate fluctuations occurs, report to ASARECA for budget negotiation and revision of the agreement. Otherwise, ASARECA does not accept exchange loss. To avoid loss from exchange fluctuations, ASARECA advises to keep grant funds in dollar accounts if practicable in that country, like Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, etc. It has also to be noted that ASARECA will have difficulty to incrementally revise project budget since the available funds from donors are limited and may unlikely get additional funding.

c) It is mandatory not to incur any expenditure after the closure of project.
 A maximum of one month grace period will be provided to allow disbursements for commitments made before the project closure date.

d) Expenditure details
 There is no need for sending the details expenditure other than the level of details as indicated in the financial reporting format. The details will be reviewed by our internal auditor when carrying out desk reviews on sight.

e) Salary top up
The MDTF restricts topping up on salary of regular staff in partner institutions of ASARECA. This has been a discussion issue at ASARECA to justify the need for incentives so as to have commitment from staff. However, an agreed position is that the actual staff time is paid on the basis of actual time spent but not simply topping up on salary.

f) Facilitation in terms of equipment:
ASARECA welcomes this request and it will be considered as part of its capacity building activity under the Partnership and Capacity development unit. Therefore, institutions in critical shortage will be facilitated with capital items such as computer desk tops, software, photocopier machines, scanners, etc as long as an official request by institution directors is made to the Executive Director with detail justifications on the value additions from such provisions.

g) Fundable training
It is possible to obtain funding for short courses and on job training but not academic or professional courses such as MSc, CPA or ACCA. There are standard requirements by the donors that the sub-grantees must meet such as having or hiring a qualified financial staff.

h) Involvement of financial staff
 Lack of commitment by the lead scientists and/or institutions to involve financial staff was emphasized in the report of “the study on the Utilization of ASARECA funds” by Prof. Mukiibi and his team. This is an institutional matter but ASARECA has advising that at least one of their financial staff should be part of the initial planning of the project.

i) Project procurement plans
ASARECA now requires that sub-grant recipient institutions should submit a project procurement plan alongside the project work plans and budgets.

j) Information flow
 The issue of information flow is also highlighted in the study report as problem which needs to be sorted out amongst the principle investigators (PIs) and support staff involved in the project as well as with the ASARECA Secretariat.

k) Delays in fund release
 Delays in fund release will definitely be there if the submitted accountability reports are not right or incomplete.

l) Banking details
 It has been emphasized that institutions’ banking details should be provided by the head of the institution, who signed the sub-grant agreement or officially designated person such that the banking details can be considered right by ASARECA for fund remittance.

m) Temporary recruitment
Shortage of staff is an institutional matter however, as a suggestion it is possible to recruit on temporary basis for the project out of the project budget as allowed by World Bank.

n) Staff transfer

ASARECA has no control over the transfer of trained staff. This is an institutional issue that has to be handled at an institutional level.

o) Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)
Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) is an area ASARECA is pursuing. However, the technologies or best practices that will be generated from the ASARECA funding of projects will be regional public goods and makes IPR shared. Scientists or institutions will have to acknowledge the source of funding of that research project, which is ASARECA and the main donor.

p) Exceptional cases for opening Bank accounts
In exceptional cases for opening Bank accounts, a justification has to be written to ASARECA, for endorsement on the use of a method that will be traceable such as proper and separate ledger accounts and cash books for ASARECA project funds.

q) Vehicle purchases
Vehicles purchased for ASARECA project can be used for other projects on hire charge basis most appropriately on mileage charge basis. For mileage charges, one has to keep vehicle movement log books showing the beginning and ending mileage reading and the appropriate mileage charge rate. ASARECA uses mileage charge method applying 1/3 of the fuel cost x total Km mileage covered. The income from the project vehicle hire can be used to finance project activities

r) Disposal of project assets
 ASARECA must agree on the disposal of project assets before the assets are disposed off by the institution. The institution has to come up with a proposal on how to dispose off or deploy these assets for ASARECA endorsement.

s) Signatories
 ASARECA requires a minimum of two signatures and names of persons before releasing funds, therefore changing the number of persons signing to three is not ASARECA’s decision

t) Depreciation
 Each individual institution may have its own depreciation policy, so ASARECA can not impose its policy on institutions. What concerns ASARECA is that no depreciation expense should be charged to the ASARECA funded project, as the full cost of the asset will have been charged to the project.

u) Illustration on how to apply exchange rates for financial reporting in USD to ASARECA

Using the Rwanda Francs as an example. If ISAR receives USD advance from ASARECA and keeps the advance in Rwanda Francs (RFr) bank account, the ruling rate that must be applied for financial reporting shall be the rate that the Bank applied in conversing the USD to Rwanda Francs.

E.g.
1) ASARECA Advance......US$ 10,000             ISAR Received.........RFr  5,000,000

                                       @Rate of RFr 500 to a Dollar
2) Expenditure..................US$  8,000             ISAR Reported......................RFr  4,000,000

B/ce Advance unspent..............US$  2,000........................................RFr  1,000,000

3) 2nd ASARECA advance........US$  8,000          ISAR Received.........RFr  4,160,000

@Rate of RFr 520 to a Dollar

Current total Advance ............US$ 10,000............................................RFr  5,160,000

New reporting rate  RFr 516 to a Dollar

It goes on as above for subsequent reporting and advances.

The principle, therefore, is to use the exchange rate applied by the receiving Bank for converting the ASARECA USD transfer to the local currency account and for subsequent remittances to apply the average exchange rate establishing the relation between the dollar balance at hand against the balance of the local currency at hand. In this way, one can avoid any exchange loss or gain, which is unacceptable to ASARECA.

What does MDTF for ASARECA mean?
Many ASARECA development partners are now working together as a group within a coordinated framework for Multi-Donor support to implement ASARECA's strategic plan. These donors have put their funding into one 'basket' of funding called the Multi Donor Trust Fund (MDTF) grant. Within this structure, ASARECA launched various grants from several international bilateral and multilateral organizations. The grants that were launched within the MDTF include the Department for International Development of UK (DFID) and the European Commission (EC).

What is ASARECA-CGS?
A funding mechanism to promote strategic agricultural research of relevance for the Eastern and Central African region, with direct participation of the NARS of the countries of the region in priority setting and implementation of research projects.

What are ASARECA-CGS's purposes?
To enhance productivity, value addition and competitiveness of the regional agricultural research system by sponsoring creative, innovative and high quality regionally coordinated research projects which promise results and outcomes that are demonstrably communicable to end-users and enhance communication between researchers and end-users in the region.

What are ASARECA-CGS's financial resources?
Basically, the contributions of a multi-donor consortium into a basket fund. An endowment fund is being set up; whose income will finance the regional research projects on a non-reimbursable basis.

Who are ASARECA-CGS's stakeholders?
The Grant Authorising and Advisory Board (GAAB), on behalf of Directors General of the NARIs of the 10 member countries who constitute the Committee of Directors (CD), have responsibility for oversight and establishing policies and procedures for the approval of research proposals. A Technical Support Group (TSG) is charged with the review of proposals while the Monitoring, Evaluation, Analysis and Planning Unit (MEAPU) in conjunction with the Finance Unit of the ASARECA Secretariat provide the technical, financial, and administrative support. The ASARECA Networks and Programmes, their NARS partners and international collaborators constitute the research community. All individuals and institutions eligible to participate in the ASARECA-CGS are maintained in a Contacts Database.To be included or to update your details, please fill and submit the form below.

How are research themes identified?
By analyzing the priorities of the Networks, Programmes and Projects (NPPs) developed in consultations with stakeholders, in the context of their economic as well as environmental impact, and potential distribution of benefits. The intermediate results agreed upon by the ASARECA stakeholders have been defined in the Consolidated Conceptual Framework (CCF) and priority thematic areas are defined to contribute towards achieving these results.

Who proposes and implements research projects?
Research projects are developed and implemented by researchers of member institutions of the National Agricultural Research Systems (research institutes, universities, NGOs, and private organizations) and international and regional research centers working in association with the national research entities of the region.

How are the projects selected?
The projects are selected through a process of transparent competition, in accordance with the objectives and priority research areas of ASARECA; a fixed schedule with applications conforming to agreed formats, criteria and priorities; and evaluated by economic, technical, institutional, and environmental criteria established in the Procedures Manual.