Ruth is Head of the Department of International Environment and Development Studies at Noragric, the Norwegian University of Life Sciences. She is also a member of the CST and has been part of several change processes in the past. How is this one different?
I am very optimistic. Past processes I’ve been involved with have not been able to implement their recommendations because they didn’t spend long enough on the process and on getting buy-in from different actors. This time, we have a much more inclusive process. The recommendations have been refined through dialogue and we have options that are actually doable.
There has also been greater focus on trust and changing mindsets and this means that we are more able to listen to each other. During the past two days we have been able to put the proposed models on hold and focus on the building blocks and elements that we can agree on. This is very constructive and means that we can look forward, rather than getting stuck on deciding which model is the best one.
We also have new and highly committed leadership in Kathy Sierra and Ren Wang, who are moving the process forward in an open and constructive way.
Filed under: CGIAR Change Management, CGIAR Change Retreat at IRRI Sept08, Stakeholder Reactions on CGIAR Change Management
