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A Decidedly Civil Online
Dialogue about Partnerships
The December 2006 Story of the Month will run for
both December and January. We wish all our readers a peaceful and
restful holiday season .
Throughout most of November, a diverse group of researchers and
development professionals kept up a continuous stream of
informative and constructive messages in the CGIAR's first
facilitated online dialogue about its partnerships with civil
society organizations, or CSOs. Referred to as a "Virtual
Conversation," the dialogue was the positive prelude to a
day-long, face-to-face Forum - involving CSOs, Members of the
CGIAR, staff of the Centers and Challenge Programs it supports and
others - at the CGIAR Annual General Meeting (AGM06) in early
December.
Nearly 160 people registered for the conversation, and about 65
posted more than 200 messages in English, French and Spanish. All
messages received in the latter two languages were translated into
English.
Many of those engaged in the Virtual Conversation had been
invited to take part in the Innovation Marketplace, another event
at AGM06 designed to allow CSO representatives and their CGIAR
partners to share insights and experiences from their collaborative
work across the developing world. The Virtual Conversation gave
them an opportunity to get to know one another in advance, through
virtual introductions, and to exchange information about their
work. This encompassed a wide range of topics, such as crop
improvement, land management, biodiversity conservation, organic
farming, enterprise development, farmer participatory research and
the use of new information and communications technologies (ICTs)
for rural development.
The Conversation also prompted participants to express views on
key issues underlying their partnerships. Much of the discussion
centered on the respective roles and responsibilities of CSOs and
the CGIAR, and there appeared to be a consensus that these are
reasonably clear and complementary. Participants commented that
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) tend to engage in
"short-term, focused actions for the benefit of clients,"
possess "deep knowledge" of local situations and focus
mainly on implementation "at the grassroots level."
Researchers, they said, whether in academic institutions forming a
part of civil society or in CGIAR-supported Centers and Programs,
are concerned with "cutting-edge science," "capacity
building" and "technology transfer."
A more difficult question, perhaps, is how CSOs and the CGIAR,
with their differing roles and responsibilities, can best create
partnerships that offer maximum benefit to rural people. Comments
on this question highlighted the heterogeneity of the organizations
and individuals involved. Some argued that successful partnerships
depend mainly on strong relationships between the individuals
actually doing the research and development work. Others, in
contrast, emphasized the importance of positioning partnerships
within strong institutional frameworks through formal agreements
between CGIAR and CSO managers. Stronger CSO alliances at the
international level, it was suggested, could facilitate the
creation of such agreements. Many participants stressed the
importance of inclusive, participatory processes at every level -
from decisions about project design to interaction with farmers in
rural communities.
The discussion of those issues was substantially enriched by the
inclusion of seven interviews carried out with CSO representatives
and CGIAR Members and leaders. These were readily accessible as
audio and text files on the Conversation's Dgroups virtual
platform.
Some participants initiated parallel discussions on issues of
particular interest to them, such as public-private partnerships
and systems for collective marketing of agricultural products.
An online survey was conducted at the conclusion of the Virtual
Conversation, with about 30 participants responding. Ninety percent
considered it to be excellent or good, and most agreed it had
largely accomplished its objective of allowing participants to get
to know one another, exchange views and information and prepare for
AGM06. These results were reinforced by most respondents'
comments, in which they stressed the value of hearing opinions from
so many different perspectives.
* The Virtual Conversation on CSO-CGIAR engagement was
facilitated by Simone Staiger-Rivas of CIAT and organized by her
with assistance from Allison Hewlitt of the Bellanet International
Secretariat in Canada; Zineb Benchekchou, Maria Iskandarani,
Danielle Lucca, Nathan Russell and Florencia Tateossian at the
CGIAR Secretariat; and Enrica Porcari of the CGIAR ICT-KM
Program.
The organizers are grateful to all participants for
contributing to the dialogue and for taking time to read messages.
We would also like to thank the persons listed as follows for
agreeing to be interviewed during the Virtual Conversation: Luis
Ampuero, President, Fundación Casa de la Agricultura, Bolivia; Ruth
Haug, Professor and Department Head, NORAGRIC, Norway; Arun Joshi,
Professor, Banaras Hindu University, India; Diemali M'Naouer,
Professor, National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INAT),
Tunisia; Francisco Reifschneider, CGIAR Director; Tom Remington,
Agriculture Adviser, Catholic Relief Services (CRS), Kenya; and
Francis Seymour, Director General, CIFOR, Indonesia.
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photos by Chas Geer
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