Institutional Learning and Change Initiative - Promoting collaborative pro-poor agricultural innovation

Foresight in Agriculture and Rural Development

Cristina Sette — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 09:37:53 +0000

Through the Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR), an inventory by means of electronic media was launched. This inventory aims to identify and record forward-thinking activities that have been developed, in a systematic and documented way, on issues related to agriculture, rural development and farming systems for the next 10-20 years.

This inventory should help identify a) individuals and organizations that are or have recently been engaged in such forward-thinking activities and b) what future scenarios were envisaged. It is open to anyone who has engaged in this type of activity over the past five years. It is produced in seven languages (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish) to provide an opportunity for more people to participate.

Interview with Javier Ekboir, ILAC coordinator

Cristina Sette — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 10:31:54 +0000

Interview with Javier Ekboir, ILAC coordinator (in Spanish with subtitles in English)

After a field trip to the Cañete River Basin in Peru, Javier Ekboir talked with us about his impressions about what he saw, the rural dynamics he could perceive and some common aspects he found with other places in the world. Pay attention about his interesting thoughts about how globalization could be an opportunity for some cultures, but also a problem for some populations.

ILAC presence at the South African Monitoring and Evaluation Association (SAMEA)

Cristina Sette — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 14:43:55 +0000

ILAC, through its project called BetterEvaluation, in partnership with RMIT, ODI and Pact, and funded by IFAD and Rockefeller Foundation, participated and co-sponsored a series of activities at the 3rd Biennial South African Monitoring and Evaluation Association (SAMEA) Conference in Johannesburg (5-9 September 2011).
The activities included:
• One-day pre-conference workshop on BetterEvaluation
• Exhibit booth
• Sponsor the Conference Welcome and Cocktail
• Paper Session
• Lunch Session

News from the ILAC Initiative - February 2011

Cristina Sette — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 08:17:15 +0000

News from the ILAC Initiative:

ILAC’s New Mission

Following the recent changes in the CGIAR, ILAC adapted its mission and strategy to better contribute to the change process. The ILAC initiative continues to foster learning from experience and use of the lessons learned to improve the design and implementation of agricultural research and development programs; however, our future work will emphasize helping the CGIAR Consortium Office and the Centers to develop new ways of partnership and research models, and by creating a space for reflection on the future of the CGIAR.
ILAC’s strategy detailing the actions to be implemented to reach these goals has been recently published and can be found in http://www.cgiar-ilac.org/files/ideas_for_change_ilac_17feb.pdf .

Decentralized Experimentation with Centralized Learning

Cristina Sette — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 13:49:23 +0000

Most changes in the CGIAR have occurred in a decentralized manner and few lessons have been drawn from these various experiences. To change in a more deliberate way, the CGIAR needs to develop the capacity to use adaptive management approaches (i.e., to learn during implementation and adapt the strategies as problems and opportunities emerge). To learn how to develop this capacity, ILAC has teamed up with the CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food (CPWF) to try out a structure for decentralized experimentation with centralized learning.

BetterEvaluation

Cristina Sette — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 12:54:44 +0000

What is BetterEvaluation?
BetterEvaluation is an international collaboration to improve evaluation. BetterEvaluation is designed to support practitioners to share their knowledge and experience to take the field forward and develop fresh, innovative, and novel approaches to evaluation.

At the heart of the project is an interactive web-based platform about evaluation methods and approaches that supports evaluators and evaluation commissioners to choose the most appropriate combinations of evaluation approaches and methods, and to implement these methods well.

ILAC Briefs

web10 — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 21:45:36 +0000

Horton, D., Prain, G., Thiele, G. (2010) Perspectives on Partnership: Highlights of a Literature Review. ILAC Brief No. 25. Rome, Institutional Learning and Change (ILAC) Initiative

Whitty, B. (2010) An accountability framework for technological innovation. ILAC Brief No. 24. Rome, Institutional Learning and Change (ILAC) Initiative

Foresight in Agriculture

Cristina Sette — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 12:14:03 +0000

Through the Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR), an inventory by means of electronic media is now being launched. This inventory aims to identify and record forward-thinking activities that have been developed, in a systematic and documented way, on issues related to agriculture, rural development and farming systems for the next 10-20 years.

BetterEvaluation in Rome

Cristina Sette — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 06:59:18 +0000

The Institutional Learning and Change (ILAC) Initiative of the CGIAR, in partnership with WFP, FAO and IFAD, organized a worskhop on evaluation in Rome, at FAO, on 19 September 2011.

This workshop aimed to generate some discussions on complexity and evaluation methods, as well as provide an opportunity for evaluators based in Rome to interact with one another.

The one day program had three main parts:

ILAC Initiative and the CGIAR

Cristina Sette — Thu, 28 May 2009 13:07:16 +0000

The ILAC Initiative aims to increase the contribution of the CGIAR to poverty alleviation by improving planning, monitoring and evaluation of collaborative agricultural research for development. ILAC contributes specifically by:

Building capacity
Providing technical support to scientists and managers
Mobilizing funds and resources
Facilitating knowledge sharing
Influencing research and development policies to promote institutional learning and change

A document containing ILAC contributions to Bioversity International, its host, is attached below.