A success story of the Agricultural and Rural Management Training Institute (ARMTI) in Nigeria demonstrating an effective “Take lead – take off” approach to Capacity for Sustainability and Impact. The Agricultural and Rural Management Training Institute (ARMTI) is a parastatal organization under the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of the Federal Government of Nigeria. ARMTI is situated in Ilorin Kwara State of North Central Nigeria. It is a center of excellence for agricultural and rural development (ARD) management training and ARD manpower development in Nigeria in general. The work of ARMTI serves very well to demonstrate emerging impact and sustainability of the foundation laid by the Reaching Agents of Change (RAC) project’s capacity development efforts.

Between 2011 and 2014 the International Potato Center (CIP) and Helen Keller International (HKI) implemented the RAC initiative that advocated for increased investment in orange-fleshed sweetpotato (OFSP), to combat vitamin A deficiency among young children and women of reproductive age and to develop institutional and community capabilities to produce and consume OFSP. To ensure sustainability, RAC strengthened the capacity of national institutions like ARMTI, Sokoine University of Agriculture (Tanzania) and Eduardo Mondlane University (Mozambique), and that of individual change agents. The aim was to enable them self-organize, drive their own agenda, mainstream the OFSP training program into their activities, and pass down the skills acquired to the end-users – the small-scale farmers.