News from the Science Council Chair

Now that we have agreement on the System research priorities for CGIAR for the next 10 years, we need to move to implementation. The consensus on an implementation process at the Annual General Meeting 2005 was an important step. The various stakeholder groups not only have a role to play in this process, their active participation is vital to the success of the effort. Without an appropriate strategy and follow-on action, the work to develop the system priorities will be wasted.

The Science Council is ready to do its part. On the basis of the medium-term plans that will be prepared by the Centers and Challenge Programs, we will collaborate with the Centers and the Alliance to assess how closely the current and proposed research activities and plans align with what is visualized in the System priorities. We will identify gaps as well as plans and activities that fall outside the System priorities and assess where on the research-development continuum each priority should be. We will recommend adjustments in the research portfolio to be undertaken during the 3-year adjustment period. Finally, we will combine all of this into a strategic perspective for future direction for the CGIAR research program. We will work with the ad hoc committee of the Executive Council that is being formed to facilitate the implementation of the strategy through appropriate organizational and funding arrangements.

To help assure that the most appropriate vehicles for research implementation are identified, we will review the objectives and content of existing System-wide and inter-Center programs — and the lessons learned — as well as current and proposed Challenge Programs. We will explore new modes of operation. A truly cohesive research program designed to achieve the goals of a particular system priority will require close collaboration across Centers and, most likely, also with institutions and individuals outside the CGIAR. Such collaboration is needed throughout the research, from initial planning to disseminating results. We must make the whole bigger than the sum of its part. This means that Center-specific research projects addressing a particular topic or priority are more likely to be effective in reducing poverty if guided by a common framework and goal than if done in isolation. The challenge is to get cohesion across Centers for each system priority at reasonable transaction costs, which is compatible with Center sovereignty and funding structure. Experiences with existing Challenge Programs and System-wide programs, as well as experiences from institutions outside the CGIAR, provide a starting point for the deliberations.

Per Pinstrup-Andersen
Science Council Chair