CSOs and the CGIAR: from Dialogue to Action

Civil society organizations (CSOs) - by which we mean the non-profit sector, including NGOs, farmer organizations, advocacy groups, universities and advanced research institutions - are key partners in the CGIAR.

The 15 Centers and 4 Challenge Programs it supports together work with as many as a thousand CSOs. These partners, by helping ensure the relevance of our research for development and by boosting its effectiveness, contribute to accomplishing our shared goals of strengthening food security, reducing poverty and improving natural resource management in the developing world.

With the aim of further improving this collaboration, the CGIAR developed the Strategic Framework for Engagement between the CGIAR and CSOs in 2006, which offers a series of recommendations designed to give civil society a stronger voice in the CGIAR and foster mutual learning in our joint endeavors.

As a start toward implementing its CSO engagement strategy, the CGIAR organized various events in connection with the CGIAR Annual General Meeting 2006 (AGM06), held in Washington, D.C., during early December. These events - the Virtual Conversation, Innovation Marketplace and CSO-CGIAR Forum - gave rise to a constructive dialogue among CGIAR stakeholders, which we believe will facilitate steady improvement in CSO engagement.

In the course of this dialogue, we expect to receive many innovative ideas and solutions from CSO colleagues, which will help strengthen current partnerships and build new ones, resulting in greater development impact. To support that process, we will offer in this website a steady supply of information and resources on the CGIAR's evolving relationship with CSOs.

Select examples of CGIAR-CSO partnerships in English
Ejemplos de asociaciones entre el CGIAR y la Sociedad Civil en Español