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July 2008 Edition

Mon, 08/04/2008 - 08:58 — Cristina Sette

In this July 2008 issue:

"A good decision is based on knowledge and not on numbers" Plato (Greek Philosopher, 427-347 BC)

News from the ILAC Initiative:

  • Rethinking Impact Workshop
  • Learning Laboratory Workshop
  • Facilitation Workshop
  • ILAC Initiative Publications
  • New at the ILAC Website

News and Events from the Broader Community:

  • New publications on topics related to institutional learning and change
  • International Conference on Evaluating the Complex
  • Discussion and Roundtable organized by DURAS Project
  • International Initiative for Impact Evaluation
  • CGIAR Change Management Initiative
  • Upcoming Events

 

News from the ILAC Initiative:

  • Rethinking Impact Workshop

In March 2008, the Systemwide Program on Participatory Research and Gender Analysis for Technology Development and Institutional Innovation (PRGA Program), ILRI's Innovation Works, and the ILAC Initiative co-organized a workshop on ‘Rethinking Impact: Understanding the Complexity of Poverty and Change,’ at CIAT headquarters in Cali, Colombia. The workshop's themes were as following: (1) lessons from real cases about approaches linking action with research for sustainable poverty reduction, social inclusion and equity; (2) approaches for organizing impact evaluations to assess such research and action; and (3) changing institutions and behaviors to support new ways of conducting research and assessing it for poverty reduction, social inclusion and equity.
The Workshop was attended by 59 professionals (including 3 workshop reporters and a facilitator), 42% (25) of whom were women. Thirty-two (54%) of participants were affiliated with the CGIAR and twenty-seven (46%) were non-CGIAR (e.g. NGOs, universities, advisors, and donor organizations).
Thirty-two papers were presented (papers are available at the Workshop website ) and an additional nine keynote presentations were given during the workshop.
The highlights of each day were captured on a 'newsflash' produced overnight and distributed to participants and the larger community of professionals interested in research impact (sent electronically to over 4,000 individuals).

The following issues were discussed during the workshop:

  • Complexity: causes of and solution to poverty are multi-dimensional and complex. Increasing understanding of this complexity should be a high priority
  • Roles: distinctions between research and development are breaking down, scientists that aim towards use of research results play multiple roles
  • Linkages: one important role it to help link different actors in the innovation system (academia, farmers, policy, civil society and market forces)
  • End users: organizations effective at innovating in such systems are effective at strategically engaging end-users
  • Impact assessment methods: a wide range of methods and approaches are needed to evaluate the impact of complex activities and multiple roles
  • Capacity: capacity is needed for a new way of working, such as training and skills development, staffing mix, policies and procedures mechanisms adjusted, organizational learning capacity increased, and top level commitment built

For more information, please see these documents available on the Rethinking Impact Workshop and ILAC website:

 

Workshop Coordination Team

 

 

 

 

Other pictures can be seen at the ILAC Photo Gallery section.

  • ILAC Learning Laboratory Workshop

The first workshop of the ILAC Learning Laboratory was held from March 30 to April 2, 2008 at CIAT near Cali, Colombia. The Learning Laboratory brings together professionals from collaborative research programmes to share knowledge and experiences, experiment with new approaches for facilitating innovation for poverty reduction, and evaluate the results.
The following seven programmes working on pro-poor agricultural innovation participated in the meeting:

  • Integrated Crop Management and Value Chain Improvement for Sweetpotato Livelihoods in Central Luzon, Philippines - Users’ Perspectives With Agricultural Research and Development (UPWARD-CIP) (Dindo Campilan, Julieta Roa and Lorna Sister)
  • Andean Change Programme (Carlos Arturo Quiros, Emma Rotondo, Graham Thiele, Jacqueline Ashby and Vivian Polar)
  • Network for linking users to researchers for banana and plantain improvement (Charles Staver, Claudine Picq and Luis Pocasangre)
  • The Kenya Smallholder Dairy Project (SDP) (Julius Nyangaga, Phillip Cherono and Ogeli Makui)
  • Knowledge and Monitoring System of SG2000 Innovations in Africa (Dejene Aredo and Roberto La Rovere)
  • Generating new knowledge on Knowledge Intensive Agricultural Systems in India (Shambu Prasad)
  • African Highlands Initiative (Adolf Nyaki and Jeremias Mowo)

The workshop also benefited from the expertise and perspectives of Robert Chambers (Institute of Development Studies), Patricia Rogers (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology) and Mark Lundy (CIAT). The workshop was facilitated by Boru Douthwaite, Sophie Alvarez and Simone Staiger of CIAT.
During the workshop participants developed problem trees, network maps and logic models for their programmes. That will be the basis of developing collective action and for eventual monitoring and evaluation.
During the four days participants were interviewed on camera for their views about the ILAC Initiative, their involvement in the Learning Laboratory and also some key messages they were taking home. The videos are available on ILAC website, section 'ILAC Videos' . Below are some pictures from the meeting. To see other pictures, visit the Photo Gallery section of this website.

Group Photgraph
 

  •  Facilitation Workshop

ILAC Initiative sponsored its sixth training workshop on 'Group Facilitation Skills for Participatory Decision-Making', 22-25 April 2008. Since 2005 ILAC has trained over 120 professionals from from CGIAR Centers and partner organizations. The workshop took place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and was hosted by CIMMYT (Centro Internacional de Mejoramiento de Maiz y Trigo). Twenty professionals from 7 CGIAR centers (Bioversity, CIAT, CIP, CIMMYT, IFPRI, ICARDA and ILRI) attended the workshop.

The training offered helps build essential knowledge, attitudes and skills that project managers and team leaders need for effective participatory decision making. Dr. Sam Kaner, of Community at Work (San Francisco, California), who delivered the training is a recognized leader in consensus decision-making. He is also the co-author (with Sarah Fisk, Lenny Lind, Catherine Toldi and Duane Berger) of The Facilitator's Guide to Participatory Decision-Making (2007).

The next course is tentatively scheduled for the first semester of 2009. For more information contact ilac@cgiar.org.

  • ILAC Initiative Publications

ILAC Briefs:

Mayne, J. (2008) Contribution Analysis, ILAC Brief 16, Rome, Institutional Learning and Change Initiative (read)

 

 

Douthwaite, B., Alvarez, S., Thiele, G. and Mackay, R. (2008) Participatory Impact Pathways Analysis: A practical method for project planning and evaluation, ILAC Brief 17, Rome, Institutional Learning and Change Initiative (read)

 

La Rovere, R., Dixon, J. and Hellin, J. (2008) Institutionalizing impact assessment at CIMMYT, ILAC Brief 18, Rome, Institutional Learning and Change Initiative (read)

 

ILAC Working Paper:

Watts, J. and Horton, D.(2008) Institutional Learning and Change: An initiative to promote greater impact through agricultural research for poverty alleviation. ILAC Working Paper 5, Rome, Institutional Learning and Change Initiative. (read)

 These and other publications are available for free download on the ILAC website (www.cgiar-ilac.org). A limited number of paper copies may be obtained upon request. Contact ilac@cgiar.org for more information.

  • New at the ILAC Website (www.cgiar-ilac.org)
    • New photos were uploaded in section Photo gallery
    • New references and links have been added to the ILAC website under the section 'Resource center'
    • New section 'ILAC Learning Laboratory' contains information about the learning laboratory and the participating cases

News and events from the broader community:

  • New publications on topics related to institutional learning and change

 

The Institute of Development Studies (IDS, University of Sussex) Bulletin has published a special issue entitled "Impact Evaluation: the Experience of Official Agencies". Aid effectiveness has long been disputed, after decades of inconclusive macroeconomic analysis. Now there is a growing body of evidence from detailed, field level, microeconomic impact evaluations. The articles in this IDS Bulletin show how the design of these studies increasingly address the various sources of bias for which previous projects were criticised.
 

Journal of MultiDisciplinary Evaluation. The news and thinking of the profession and discipline of evaluation in the world, for the world, edited by Michael Scriven, E. Jane Davidson, and Chris L. S. Coryn

 

  •  International Conference on Evaluating the Complex

The Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) organized an international conference on 'Evaluating the Complex' from 29-30 May 2008 in Oslo, Norway. Speakers included Howard White (International Initiative on Impact Evaluation); Patricia Rogers (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology); Michael Q. Patton (Director of Utilization-Focused Evaluation and Former President of the American Evaluation Association), among others. Jamie Watts, ILAC Coordinator, attended the conference.

Presentations and other documents can be found at http://www.norad.no/default.asp?V_ITEM_ID=10820

  • Discussion and Roundtable organized by DURAS Project

After four years of implementation, the DURAS Project (Promoting Sustainable Development in Agricultural Research Systems, http://www.duras-project.net/ ) is wrapping up its activities. A project closing seminar was organized under the auspices of GFAR on 11-13 June 2008 at the FAO Headquarters in Rome. During the seminar, three main topics were discussed: (1) personal and institutional change; (2) translating research priorities into concrete action; and (3) financing agricultural research for development (ARD). Jamie Watts, ILAC Coordinator, made a presentation on evaluating partnerships and was a discussant for a session on institutionalizing new approaches.

DURAS is a joint GFAR - Agropolis International initiative supported by the French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs through its Priority Solidarity Fund (PSF). It aims to contribute to strengthening the involvement and enhancing the scientific potential of southern stakeholders in ARD.

  • International Initiative for Impact Evaluation

The International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie) aims to contribute to policy decisions that improve social and economic development programs in low- and middle-income countries - and it will do this by encouraging and funding the research, production and use of evidence from rigorous impact evaluations. This non-profit entity has been founded by a group of low- and middle-income governments, bilateral and multilateral agencies, foundations and major NGOs.The 3ie website features its own blog. Current questions for discussion are "What do people want from 3ie?" and "How can 3ie facilitate getting high quality proposals for impact studies from developing country institutions?"

  • CGIAR Change Management Initiative

The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) has launched a change management initiative designed to introduce reforms to enhance the CGIAR’s effectiveness and efficiency. It is their belief that transformation is necessary to enable the CGIAR to adjust to the rapidly changing external world and better achieve its mission. For more information, visit the site http://www.cgiar.org/changemanagement/ .

  • Upcoming Events
  • International Conference on Research for Development, Bern, Switzerland, July 2-4, 2008 (read)
  • Australian Evaluation Society Annual Conference, Perth, September 8 to 12, 2008 (read)
  • European Evaluation Society Biannual Conference, Lisbon, Portugal, October 1 to 3, 2008 (read)
  • Training Course on Evaluation and Impact Assessment (EIA) of Learning and Training, Turin, October 13-15, 2008 (read)
  • American Evaluation Association Annual Conference, Denver, November 5 to 8, 2008 (read)

We would appreciate your feedback on the newsletter, so that we can serve you better. So please let us know what you like about it and what you feel we could improve. If you are not yet on our mailing list and would like to be, please send us an email. For further information about the ILAC Initiative, please contact:Cristina Sette, ILAC Programme Specialist, ilac@cgiar.org, www.cgiar-ilac.org
 

 

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