A Flood of Collective Action

The joint meeting of the Executive Alliance and Executive Board in Cali, Colombia, takes its cue from April showers

As the worst flood in 35 years hit Cali, Colombia, leaders from the 15 Future Harvest Centers of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) met on 26-27 April at the Cali headquarters of the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT by its Spanish acronym). While there, they voiced their unanimous approval of the Alliance Principles and Procedures , which sets clear guidelines and parameters for collective action by Centers and so provides an enabling environment for achieving concerted impact.

Developed through wide consultation, the Alliance Principles and Procedures evolved from a set of guiding principles for collaboration developed by Center directors general in July 2004 as the basis for creating the CGIAR Alliance. In Cali, the group endorsed this solid set of governance and management principles and procedures, recognizing its strategic importance for helping Centers further build their collective strength. Jim Jones of the Alliance Board and Emile Frison of the Alliance Executive deserve special thanks for tirelessly and tenaciously shepherding the document through 22 drafts.

Special guests at the meeting included Per Pinstrup-Andersen and Ruben Echeverria, the chair and executive director of the CGIAR Science Council. They were invited to join the group for in-depth discussions of

• the research-for-development continuum (see The Middle Way in this edition of cgiarNews),
• global public goods,
• high-value goods for the poor,
• funding for CGIAR research priorities,
• climate change and
• how to enhance performance assessment in the CGIAR System.

Douglas Pachico, deputy chair of the Alliance Executive, provided insight and assistance for complementary discussions dealing with inter-Center collaboration to implement CGIAR research priorities. The group also received progress reports on the Sub-Saharan Africa medium-term plans (MTPs) then being prepared for submission to the Science Council in June. The Alliance requested business plans for the two MTPs and endorsed two think pieces on structural realignment in sub-Saharan Africa. One piece was prepared by the Africa Rice Center and International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, and the other by the International Livestock Research Institute and World Agroforestry Centre, following requests made at the 2005 Annual General Meeting.

Special sessions took place to address a number of outstanding concerns, including the next steps toward

• promoting collective action in Latin America and the Caribbean,
• developing a System-wide program for climate change, and
• the Alliance leadership’s endorsement of a research platform for agriculture and health that capitalizes on the various programs in Centers’ mandated research that focus on human and animal health.

Ian Johnson and Francisco Reifschneider, CGIAR Chair and Director, updated the group on CGIAR events by videoconference on the opening day. To prepare for the 10th Executive Council (ExCo10), a Skype conference enabled members of the Stripe Review Panel on Corporate Governance to receive feedback from Center leaders regarding their recently completed report.

Anne-Marie Izac joined the Alliance leadership for her first official meeting as chief Alliance officer. She will head up the new Alliance Office, hosted in Rome by the International Fund for Agricultural Development, which is scheduled to become operative by early September.

Joachim Voss, Alliance executive chair for 2006 and director general of CIAT, stressed the importance of continuing CGIAR System reforms already in motion. Key to this will be delivering on the promise of harnessing synergies in Centers’ research programs to foster collective action toward common goals and increasingly make the CGIAR a one-stop shop for partners. Dr. Voss emphasized that, while not all Center activities are collective in nature, entering into cooperative agreements where appropriate and necessary allows Centers to greatly increase their contributions and impact — and hence their attractiveness to large new investors in tropical agriculture such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

In a statement to the Center directors and Board chairs following the meetings, Jim Godfrey, Alliance Board chair, reminded the group: “We now turn our attention to the real task of making the Alliance work, providing a cost-effective means of delivering collective action.”