Harvesting Research and Innovation for Impact

CGIAR ANNUAL PERFORMANCE REPORT 2021

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A farmer displays potatoes on her farm, Kenya. Photo by N.Ronoh/CIP.
Message from the Executive Management Team

Time to transform

A message from our Executive Management Team on CGIAR’s 50th year of delivering achievements, our progress toward One CGIAR, and major contributions reported in 2021.

Claudia Sadoff
Elwyn Grainger-Jones

Highlights of 2021

91 Cases of high-level, long-term, at-scale impact for sustainable development

132 Reports on the outcomes and impact of CGIAR research

1,152 Innovations

95 Policies

261 Highlighted partnerships

718,136 People trained by CGIAR

353 PhD students contributing to CGIAR research

2,539 Peer-reviewed publications

96,590 Germplasm samples (63,788 accessions) were distributed by CGIAR genebanks to users

739,653 Crop, forage and tree accessions managed by CGIAR genebanks

330 Monitoring, evaluation, learning and impact assessment (MELIA) activities

Our transition to a new research and innovation portfolio

In 2021, CGIAR developed a new research and innovation portfolio that builds on its legacy of progress and achievement.
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Our response to the COVID-19 pandemic

In a year of exceptional challenges and disruption, discover how CGIAR focused on supporting policymakers, farmers, consumers, and other food system stakeholders to mitigate the impacts of COVID-19 on those most affected by the pandemic.
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Our contribution to impact

CGIAR’s work contributes to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Discover the ways in which we leveraged our expertise and partnerships to contribute to global impact in 2021.

Contribution to the SDGs
    Explore CGIAR research that helped
  • reduce poverty
  • improve food and nutrition security
  • protect natural resources and ecosystems
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Fifty years of impact
    CGIAR celebrates 50 years of delivering critical science and innovation to feed the world and end inequality.
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Global recognition
  • World Food Prize
  • Arrell Global Food Innovation Award
  • Borlaug Field Award
  • Africa Food Prize
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CGIAR at the UNFSS
    Learn about CGIAR’s involvement in the historic United Nations Food Systems Summit.
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CGIAR at COP26
    Explore CGIAR’s contributions to COP26, the most important climate summit since 2015.
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Recent achievements

Explore a selection of recent achievements from our research and innovation with partners around the world.

Results indicators

CGIAR uses results indicators to allow aggregated portfolio reporting on: contribution to System Level Outcomes and SDGs, innovations, policies, partnerships, capacity development, Altmetric Attention Scores, and peer-reviewed publications. Explore the data on each indicator below, and via the CGIAR Results Dashboard.

Dashboard
New or improved outputs, including knowledge and technologies.
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Policies, legal instruments, investments, or curricula informed by CGIAR research.
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Important relationships among CGIAR and external institutions.
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People trained by CGIAR, including PhD candidates and graduates.
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Altmetrics are metrics and qualitative data that complement traditional, citation-based metrics
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CGIAR research papers published in peer-reviewed journals.
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Crosscutting Platforms

The four CGIAR Platforms continued to drive crosscutting and multidisciplinary work in 2021.

Working together

Milestone achievements
  • Milestone numbers for 2021
  • How our milestones targeted SDGs
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Innovation Catalogue
  • CGIAR’s Innovation Catalogue, a new tool for documenting and exploring agricultural innovations.
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Gender, Diversity, and Inclusion (GDI) in CGIAR workplaces
  • Advancing GDI through data and learning
  • Workplace wellness and community building
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Use of pooled funding
  • How we used W1/2 funds strategically for research
  • Examples of approved W1/2 use in 2021
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Monitoring, evaluation, learning, and impact assessment
  • Returns on investment from advances in wheat production
  • Economic impacts of livestock interventions
  • Benefits of improved GLDC crops
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Intellectual assets
  • How we managed our intellectual assets in 2021
  • Details on restricted arrangements
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Open and FAIR data assets
  • Our commitment to open and FAIR data
  • Launch of the FAIRscribe tool
  • Update on the GARDIAN database
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CGIAR Advisory Services
  • Contributions by the ISDC, SPIA, and the CAS/Evaluation Function
  • Advancing progress with the CAS Secretariat
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Internal audit
  • 2021 CGIAR System Internal Audit Function activities
  • Cross-CGIAR internal audit work
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Governance
  • How we progressed toward One CGIAR
  • A new CGIAR research and innovation strategy
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Funding and finance

In 2021, CGIAR System revenue was $839 million, a 14% increase from the previous year ($736 million in 2020). System-level results improved from a net deficit of $0.6 million in 2020 to a net surplus of $0.2 million in 2021. Explore the highlights of our financial performance and funding in 2021 or search our dashboards to get a closer look at our books.

CGIAR has a wealth of experience and knowledge spanning 50 years, with a global network of 15 top-class Research Centers working in partnership with 3,000+ organizations in more than 70 countries around the world.

CGIAR Research Centers

Photo credits: Our contribution to impact background: Portrait of a Dao woman, Vietnam. Photo by T. Chinh/Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT. Results 2020 background: Scientists work in a lab, Vietnam. Photo by T. Chinh/Alliance Bioversity International-CIAT. Our financial performance: Scientists working in a lab, Vietnam. Photo by T. Chinh/Alliance Bioversity International-CIAT. CGIAR Financial Dashboards: An assortment of whole, unprocessed maize and wheat kernels. Photo by A. Cortés/CIMMYT. Funders: Researchers sample roots for gene expression analysis. Photo by M. Quintana/IRRI. Active Grants Dashboard: A hearder with his animals, Azraq desert, Jordan. Photo by S. Abaza/IWMI. Additional credits on the second-level pages of the CGIAR Annual Performance Report 2020 website.