Institutional Learning and Change Initiative

Keywords:

Abstract:

The CGIAR is an informal association of 58 public and private sector members that supports 16 international agricultural research centers known as Future Harvest Centers. CIMMYT is a Future Harvest Center. The Future Harvest Centers share a mandate to increase agricultural productivity in developing countries, alleviate poverty, and enhance the sustainability of the natural resource base. Successful achievement of this mandate depends on the ability of the Centers to identify appropriate research priorities, effectively manage ongoing research, account for resources invested in research and development activities, and build and maintain public support for international agricultural research. Effective impact assessment should play a key role in achieving the above. The conference reported herein was organized to enhance the effectiveness of CGIAR impact assessment efforts. Specific objectives included: 1. Providing a forum for publicizing ?best practices' in impact assessment research and for disseminating results of recent impact assessment research. 2. Fostering dialogue between impact assessment practitioners, both within the CGIAR and throughout the larger research and development communities. 3. Demonstrating to donors that Future Harvest Centers are committed to organizational learning. The program included invited and contributed papers sessions, panel presentations, free discussion sessions, and poster sessions. Participants highlighted experiences and case studies of impact measurement in agricultural productivity; equity, poverty, social health, and nutrition; the environment; and institutions and human capital. Participants also described novel approaches for assessing hard-to-measure impacts in
such areas as training and capacity-building, institutional strengthening, networking, participatory research, and policy research. Many presentations, focusing principally on non-conventional approaches, analyzed the factors constraining the effective use of impact assessments research. Critical insights were gained regarding the design, process and use of impact assessment studies. Discussion also took place between those practitioners conducting impacts research and the potential users of such information. This included representatives from the donor community, the media, national research systems, NGOs and those involved in research prioritization in the CGIAR. Insights were gained regarding how to improve the effectiveness of impact assessment results, particularly applying those results to research priority setting. Extensive discussions took place between impact assessment practitioners and representatives of the media and donor communities regarding the most appropriate ways to build and maintain public support for international agricultural research.