Parliamentarians and CGIAR: Strengthening our Partnership with a Vital Constituency

The Latin maxim, Vox populi Vox Dei, notes that the voice of the people is the voice of God. As people's representatives, Parliamentarians are at the front lines in the battle against hunger, poverty, and environmental degradation. They play critical roles in developing, supporting, and financing public policies to achieve sustainable development.

In an effort to increase awareness and visibility among this vital constituency, two CGIAR briefings were held recently.

In Ottawa, a CGIAR briefing for Canadian Parliamentarians was hosted by Honorable Susan Whelan, Canadian Minister for International Cooperation in the House of Commons. In addition to the Minister, key public officials who attended the event included: Claude Duplain, Parliamentary Secretary, Agriculture and Agri-Food; Rose-Marie Ur, Vice Chair of Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food; Walt Lastewka, Chair of Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology, and Peter Stoffer of National Democratic Party, among others.
Over lunch, the discussion focused on the role of public goods research, the challenges posed by intellectual property rights, and special efforts needed to jumpstart agricultural growth in Africa.

Members of the diplomatic corps who attended included H.E. Green Josiah, High Commissioner of Kenya, H.E. Samuel Odoi-Sykes, High Commissioner of Ghana, H.E. Amadou Diallo, Ambassador of Senegal, and others. From CGIAR, Carlos SerT, Director General, ILRI; Hubert Zandstra, Director General, CIP; Ian Johnson, CGIAR Chairman and Francisco Reifschneider, CGIAR Director, attended the briefing together with officials from Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), and International Development Research Centre (IDRC). In a fortunate coincidence, Drs. Henri Carsalade and Louise Fresco of FAO who were visiting Ottawa also attended the briefing.

A booklet on the Canada-CGIAR Partnership was prepared for the meeting and is available at www.cgiar.org

In New Delhi, a CGIAR delegation led by William Dar, Director General, ICRISAT met with 12 Members of Parliament (from the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha, the Upper and Lower Houses of Parliament) for a policy dialogue on key issues facing Indian agriculture. The meeting was co-hosted by IFPRI, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Indian Farmers and Industry Alliance (IFIA).

"India is a leading supporter of the CGIAR," said William Dar in opening remarks. "We have begun a process of dialogue, one that will help spread knowledge and raise awareness about the urgent need to mobilize food and environmental science in promoting sustainable agriculture, both in India and globally."

The meeting was structured as an interactive session. Parliamentarians asked questions, sought clarifications, and offered suggestions for future research topics to be undertaken by CGIAR in India. In his presentation, Suresh Babu of IFPRI highlighted the policy challenges facing India's agricultural sector. Mr. Chengal Reddy of IFIA proposed a potential model for institutionalizing the process of policy dialogue between Indian Parliamentarians and CGIAR.

In addition to the Parliamentarians, senior scientists from India's national research programs, policy makers, journalists and CIMMYT and IWMI scientists attended the meeting.

Overall, the briefings were successful in initiating dialogue with key decision-makers committed to agriculture and rural development, and additional briefings are planned for 2004.