Message from the Chair and Director


Dear Colleagues:

This is the first issue of CGIAR News that I have the pleasure of introducing with Francisco. I am enthusiastic about assuming my responsibilities as your new chair and about the opportunity this provides me, as vice president of the World Bank's Sustainable Development Network, of fostering close ties between the CGIAR and the diverse global programs encompassed by the network.

Building on the significant results of the reform program launched by our colleague and former chair, Ian Johnson, we must now face a number of new and complex changes and explore further opportunities for heightening the quality of our collaboration and the effectiveness of our work. We look forward to reviewing these issues and to planning next steps at the meeting of the CGIAR's Executive Council in October and at our Annual General Meeting (AGM06) in December.

A central component of AGM is the stakeholder meeting, which this year will be a forum focused on CGIAR partnerships with civil society organizations, or CSOs. Following the successful Science Forum held at AGM05, the CSO-CGIAR Forum will contribute to a broader, long-term effort, which builds on the many fruitful partnerships that already exist. Plans for all aspects of the CSO-CGIAR Forum are well advanced; for more information, click here.

The power of partnership was clearly evident from the workshop entitled Transforming Tropical Agriculture: An Assessment of Major Technological, Institutional and Policy Innovations, which was organized jointly by the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa), the CGIAR and the World Bank (for more information, click here).

We trust that the accompanying stories convey an equally strong message about the collaborative research supported by the CGIAR's 64 Members.

Cordially,

Katherine Sierra CGIAR Chair

Francisco Reifschneider CGIAR Director