At the CGIAR Consortium headquarters in Montpellier, France in the two weeks starting yesterday, more than 160 people, including CGIAR Research Program (CRP) staff, donors and partners, will be meeting to help shape development outcomes resulting from CGIAR research outputs, and to track progress in delivering results.
The event is a landmark in the CGIAR reform process. It represents one of the first opportunities for viewing the CGIAR Research Program portfolio as a whole, with representatives from all the Programs outlining details of their work and plans for moving towards setting up targets and gauging impacts. And it marks the first time that donors and external stakeholders, who are playing an active role in the sessions, have been involved in drawing up those plans.
The meetings, which seek to refine targets, discuss measurable Intermediate Development Outcomes (IDOs), theories of change, impact pathways and indicators, will run until June 28, 2013. A second round is due to be held in 2014.
Taking a more integrated approach to research is a pillar of the CGIAR reform process, and the Strategy and Results Framework sets out the research organization’s goal of achieving greater impacts on poverty, food security, nutrition and health and environmental sustainability. The launch of the 16 cross-cutting CRPs has been central to that strategy. So to has the development of a results-based performance management system for the portfolio of CRPs.
The process of developing CRPs is moving towards greater harmonization, identifying many common targets and methodologies, in close cooperation with partners and donors.
A key focus of the meeting, which saw presentations from the Global Rice Science Partnership (GRiSP), MAIZE, WHEAT and Policies and Institutions and Markets (PIM), was to examine some common definitions of development outcomes that might be aggregated to the portfolio level. Mapping where CRPs are working, and how, will highlight potential areas for collaboration and harnessing of synergies.
Effective partnerships
The CGIAR Consortium is now committed not just to setting targets, but also to making CRPs accountable for creating effective partnerships, that will lead to goals being achieved.
All the Programs leverage partnerships to make the most of resources and knowledge and to avoid duplication and fragmentation.
Partners may include players from research, development, civil society, NGOs and the private sector. GRiSP, which has made partnerships a cornerstone of its strategy, has built valuable links with the private sector, including companies able to disseminate GRiSP’s alternate wetting and drying technology to farmers through their own advisory networks, helping to save valuable irrigation water.
The CGIAR Research Program on Wheat has a rich mix of research and development partners and there are plans in hand to increase joint initiatives, including a platform to address wheat production in Africa, a continent that is currently grappling with massive and growing levels of imports and an area where there is substantial scope for research.
For the CGIAR Research Program on Maize, partners are helping to keep the Program focused on pressing research needs. The Program makes use of innovative platforms – it currently has 75, with plans to expand to 100. These are co-learning initiatives which closely involve farmers in identifying needs and playing a participatory role in the transfer of technology. Over 40 per cent of funding received for the CGIAR Research Program on Maize is invested directly in its partners.
PIM, the CGIAR Research Program on Policy, Institutions and Markets is working with a wide range of partners, doing work that has direct impacts in the field. A case in point is an initiative to relieve bottlenecks in milk and value chains, producing higher incomes for farmers and more affordable nutritious food for consumers.
Measuring impacts
Issues of accountability, monitoring and measuring impact emerged as key themes during the first days of the Montpellier meeting, as a foundation for trust on the part of donors.
Across the CGIAR system, CRPs are being called on to provide robust evaluation processes to demonstrate the extent to which their research is producing outcomes. Failure to set up a credible accountability framework carries a risk for future funding, said CGIAR Consortium Chief Executive Officer Frank Rijsberman.
GRiSP, MAIZE, PIM and WHEAT all outlined progress in drawing up IDOs and indicators to measure them. Challenges to be addressed include tracking, for example of uptakes of research products and new crop varieties.
The benefits of taking a more integrated approach have already been reflected in results obtained by many CRPs. In the case of MAIZE, launched in 2012, it has helped to stem a massive new threat to crops in eastern Africa. The maize lethal necrotic virus emerged in Kenya in early 2012, before quickly spreading to Uganda and Tanzania, devastating swathes of crops in its wake. Alerted to the problem, the CRP was able to act swiftly to identify the combination of viruses responsible for the attack and, together with partners, worked to contain the disease.
In the words of GRiSP Director Bas Bouman:
“Results-based management takes time to develop. But GRiSP is committed to making it happen.” That comment is valid for each of the CRPs. All the Programs are relatively young. Some, such as the CGIAR Research Program on Dryland Systems, are just a few months old. Shaping their research focus and management is very much work in progress. But as the first two days of meetings showed this week, that process is already well on track.
Featured image: Golden Rice grain compared to white rice - from IRRI Images
More information:
For resources related to the CRP Engagement with Donors and External Stakeholders event. #LELP2013 #Ag4Dev (Listening Engaging Learning Progressing – LELP2013)