Healing Wounds" the CGIAR Marketing Group (MG) publication released in February 2005 documented the experiences of Centers rebuilding agriculture following natural disasters and conflicts. The MG conducted a rapid followup survey to capture lessons learned in mobilizing resources for these projects. The objective was to use these insights in planning a cross-CGIAR effort to rehabilitate livelihoods following the December 26, 2004 earthquake and tsunami in South and Southeast Asia, and in other disaster/conflict-related efforts likely to arise in the future. The main lessons learned from the survey are attached.

STOP PRESS : Peru Parliamentarians Update - CIP has requested that this event be postponed to Fall 2005 due to parliamentary elections in July.
Event Description: A briefing for Parliamentarians, "Impactos y desafíos de los Centros del CGIAR en la reducción de la pobreza y el mejoramiento ambiental en el Perú" is planned to be held in Lima. Led by CIP and IFPRI, the briefing was to be opened by Dr. Florez-Araoz, President of the Congress and Dr. Pamela Anderson, CIP Director General. Participating Centers were to brief the Parliamentarians about their work, and an exhibit was to be unveiled at the Raúl Porras Barrenechea" conference hall in the Congress. A field visit to CIP Headquarters in La Molina was planned as well.

Parliamentary Network on the World Bank (PNoWB) Parliamentarians : Briefings In The Field
Parliamentarian outreach is a major Marketing Group priority for 2005. Parliamentarian field visits are being explored with the PNoWB team.

G8/ NEPAD May 4 - 6, 2005, Accra, Ghana - Final preparation is underway for an exhibit, panel discussion, and CGIAR presentation about what agriculture research can do and how the system is positioning itself to respond to the New Partnership for Africa's Development Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (NEPAD-CAADP). The theme for the exhibit is ' Agricultural Research for Africa - Impact Through Partnership'. The aim is to inform the wide array of gathered leaders including Heads of State, Ministers of African coungtries, G8 donors and over 35 industry leaders.

European Forum on Agricultural Research & Developmen ( EFARD) Update
The CGIAR Workshop is now titled: Research Partnerships in the CGIAR Challenge Programs. Speakers include Wayne Powell for Generation CP, Jean-Claude Legoupil for the FARA / CGIAR Challenge Program: Securing the Future For Africa's Children, Penny Nestel, HarvestPlus, and V.V. Sugunan, Water & Food. Paul Harding will moderate the session. The CGIAR will host a reception at 18:30 April 27, please ensure all your colleagues who are attending the forum are aware of the reception.

China and the CGIAR

April 4, 2005 : Seminar - Exploring opportunities for stronger relations with China - is a MG priority as a result of an original request from the CDDC. In early April, CGIAR worked with The Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) to establish and promote a "China-CGIAR China" seminar in Beijing entitled "Agricultural Research for Development in the 21st Century: Opportunities for Strengthening the China-CGIAR Partnership." Senior representatives from CAAS, the Chinese Academy of Forestry Science, the Chinese Academy of Fishery Science and the Ministry of Agriculture addressed the meeting. Francisco Reifschneider, and Masa Iwanaga, made presentations on opportunities for further partnerships and also conducted media interviews. CIMMYT, ICRISAT, ICRAF, IFPRI, ILRI, IPGRI, CIP and WorldFish also made presentations.
For more information on this seminar, click here

Media - One of the priorities for future collaboration include significant increase in public awareness. Work is underway to place stories about collaborative projects (CGIAR-China) in Chinese media and shortly a media tour for Chinese journalists is being planned. A media training workshop for Chinese journalists, will be conducted in 2006.

Marketing Mentoring Program Initiated - A mentoring program was initiated in March with the support of the Gender and Diversity Program, IWMI and WorldFish. Natalia Abeynayake, Manager Donor Relations, IWMI, worked with WorldFish's Business Development Team for 3 weeks. Although the work program was intense
there was also opportunity to gain an appreciation of the unique Malaysian culture on the island of Penang - WorldFish HQ. In the words of Natalia "My (mentoring) time spent at WorldFish could easily be summarized as one of the biggest learning curves' in my career". With over 70 communications and marketing specialists working in the CGIAR with a wide range of backgrounds and experience, there is much scope for mentoring experiences supporting professional development.

Systems supporting Resource Mobilization
The Marketing Group, through a working group led by IMWI, worked with CIAT to enhance the CG-Project Manager. The new version, recently releases, includes the development of a donor intelligence module and a budget execution module supporting grant management. Underpinning the significant progress was the ICT-KM Program. These new enhancements build on the existing functionality of the CG-PM which include pre-grant and grant management and milestone monitoring. Seven Centers have either implemented or are in the process of implementing the software package, which represents considerable cost savings compared to other options. And in the spirit of true system support, CIAT contributed the time of their staff to assist the other Centers with implementation.

Content Management System for the CGIAR NewsBank page on web site - The CGIAR Secretariat is evaluating a proposal to offer a content management system on its NewsRoom page. Centers and other units of the CGIAR would be able to upload - without difficulty - their news stories to the CGIAR web page at www.cgiar.org. This will offer wider coverage of everyone's news stories. Stay tuned for further developments.

Friendraising - the Global Crop Diversity Trust - On 1 March, the Trust co-sponsored an extraordinary event at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. The Programme began with a presentation by a panel of experts on the role played by diversity in gastronomy, good health and global food security. Speakers included Cristián Samper, Director of the Museum, John Kress, Chair of its Department of Botany, Peter Raven, the Director of the Missouri Botanical Garden (who gave the keynote presentation on 'The Loss of Crop Diversity-Its Meaning For Us'), Geoff Hawtin, Interim Executive Secretary of the Trust, Nora Pouillon, proprietor of Restaurant Nora, America's first certified organic restaurant, and Rayna Green, Curator of the Division of Cultural History at the National Museum of American History. The panel discussion, which was attended by about 350 people, was followed by a reception in the Rotunda of the Museum. There, 17 of Washington's leading chefs served a diversity of special dishes, each of which featured a crop on Annex 1 of the International Treaty (and thus eligible for funding by the Trust)! About 250 people paid to attend the dinner, whose goal was to raise awareness about the importance of crop diversity. The event was organized by the Trust with the National Museum of Natural History and the American Institute of Wine and Food, a non-profit educational organization devoted to improving the appreciation, understanding, and accessibility of food and drink. The evening was a great success and one that we may consider replicating elsewhere.

Meet Julian Laird : Julian Laird is Director of Development at the Global Crop Diversity Trust, based at IPGRI. Prior to the Trust, Julian spent eight years at Earthwatch Institute, an environmental NGO supporting field research and public involvement in science in over 50 countries. There he set up, managed and raised funds for a range of projects across sub-Saharan Africa, before becoming Director of Programmes with responsibility for fundraising for, and managing, a wide-ranging portfolio of international conservation projects, which included an extensive set of partnerships with the private sector. He spent his last year at Earthwatch as Acting Chief Executive before moving to Rome to take up the position at the Trust.