The CIO is responsible for providing vision, strategic planning, and coordination of information technology (IT), information management (IM) and knowledge management (KM) activities within the CGIAR. The CIO manages the ICT-KM Program, which aims at a CGIAR "without boundaries": an internationally distributed, unified, and open knowledge organization. CGIAR staff, regardless of location, will be able to collaborate in science using high-capacity computing and communication systems. The GPGs that the CGIAR manages will be safeguarded, developed, and made accessible for use by all stakeholders.

The ICT-KM Program is helping the CGIAR transform the way the system works by incorporating new ICT and KM practices to preserve, produce, and improve access to the agricultural GPGs needed by the poor in developing countries. The program's main components include developing and implementing a portfolio of projects to address the goals of the program; nurturing champions and communities of practice; and gaining economies of scale. All of these activities will help the CGIAR work more effectively and efficiently as a true organic, unified system rather than 15 separate centers.

March 2004 marked the beginning of another exciting and productive chapter for the program when it witnessed the kick-off of the ICT-KM 2004 Investment Plan. As the role of ICT-KM in the CGIAR continues to expand, the CIO is focusing more than ever on ensuring that its vision and strategy are correctly aligned with the needs of the centers and the system as a whole in order to bring about real change in CGIAR processes. The following sections describe the key accomplishments of the CIO in 2004.

ICT-KM 2004 Investment Plan

The 2004 Investment Plan proposed a portfolio of projects designed to address the goals of the ICT-KM strategy and to help the CGIAR system strengthen the development and application of ICT and KM practices and tools. In March 2004, the plan was approved with a funding of up to US$5 million. The 15 projects to be supported through this investment are grouped into three categories: "ICT for Tomorrow's Science," "Content for Development," and "A CGIAR without Boundaries."

The first year of implementation of the 2004 Investment Plan has shown good progress. Under the careful monitoring of the CIO, 10 projects have been approved and are now being implemented. Another five projects are either being resubmitted or are undergoing review.

Numerous projects, workshops, and meetings also took place with participation from the ICT-KM projects coordinator and the Chief Information Officer, along with coordinators of other projects under the plan. The aim was to encourage cross-project linkages and maximize joint efforts.

A presentation on the project's progress took place at the Annual General Meeting.

Gaining Systemwide Efficiencies

As part of its goal of achieving a more unified, more effective, borderless CGIAR, the program is working toward helping the CGIAR system work as a unified system rather than as 15 separate centers. Several efficiency gains, totaling more than an estimated US$500,000, were achieved in 2004.

Building on the success of the negotiation for Microsoft products (which in 2003 generated savings exceeding US$1 million), the ICT-KM Program has been identifying new possibilities for systemwide agreements that can help achieve savings for the CGIAR. Through a systemwide agreement, products including WinZip, Adobe Acrobat(saving up to 70% on some products), the Oxford English Dictionary, Surf-control, and Internet Neighborhood were purchased . Products currently u nder negotiation are Bibliographic Management Software and Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software.

The consortium of CGIAR libraries continues to negotiate agreements for a number of journals and has brought about considerable savings for the system. M ultisite license agreements were signed in 2004 with CABI Publishing, Kluwer Academic Publishers, and SpringerLink Information System.

A two-year extension on the current CGNET contract for messaging and Web-hosting services was signed in May. This new contract has resulted in significant savings in voice and Internet connection rates and has provided a series of new services.

Most of the above results were achieved through central coordination; encouragingly, centers are now starting to offer to share their "deals," Evidence that the program's efforts to encourage sharing among communities is bringing positive change.

ICT-KM Program and Project Monitoring and Evaluation

A comprehensive ICT-KM program evaluation is being implemented to document the degree to which the program contributes to CGIAR change and to provide information about the evolution and, ultimately, the review of the ICT-KM program strategy. It is being coordinated with individual projects and is assisting with the development and implementation of internal project evaluation plans.

The program evaluation applies a utilization-focused approach that documents and assesses who and what is changing, why, in what dimensions, and with what results or outcomes. The evaluation, which is planned from the outset, is incorporated into ongoing data collection and reporting activities so that the results provide insights for guiding change and facilitate continuous learning. Major stakeholders are included in the evaluation to ensure that the results are used in subsequent decision-making processes. The program is implementing this activity in collaboration with IDRC's Evaluation Unit.

The comprehensive M&E plan is being finalized, and implementation will commence in 2005.

Collaboration with Other SO Units

• CIO and the SAS-HR. The CIO contributed ideas and experiences towards the preparation of the "OneStaff" concept note developed by the SAS-HR Unit. The CIO also participated in the Human Resources Management Meeting in June in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and presented the topic "Mainstreaming Knowledge Management and Sharing in the CGIAR." The director of the SAS-HR Unit is closely involved in a project in the "CGIAR without Boundaries" category of the ICT-KM Program that aims to ensure that appropriate knowledge-sharing processes become part of mainstream human resources activities.
• CIO and the Gender & Diversity Unit. The CIO is collaborating and supporting the G&D Unit in its effort to introduce possible methods for monitoring and evaluating the impact of gender and diversity practices. The CIO p resented the topic "Mapping Outcomes on the Path to Impact" at the G&D strategic planning workshop in June, in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

All heads of the SO units are invited to participate in the Monitoring and Evaluation Design Workshop to ensure that other units learn from the ICT-KM experience as it evolves and to seek opportunities that could lead to joint adoption.

• CIO and CAS-IP and IAU: GPG Assets Rehabilitation Initiative (GPGA 1 review ). In a joint effort with CAS-IP and IAU, the CIO supported the review of the "GPG-1 Information" projects at CIFOR and WorldFish.
• GPG Assets Rehabilitation Initiative (GPG 2 plan ). Jointly with the FHAO, CAS-IP, and IAU, the CIO conducted a first round of consultation to plan the second phase of the GPG project.