TMT Journal Update #3 – Message from CGIAR Chair Katherine Sierra

London Donor Workshop Confirms CGIAR Reform Is “On Track”
The Transition Management Team (TMT) convened an informal donors’ workshop in London on April 29-30 to provide an update on progress to date and our latest thinking on many of the key elements of the new CGIAR.  This workshop was an important milestone for us as it [...]

Closing remarks

After thanking the participants for their input over the two days, Jonathan Wadsworth, Senior Agriculture Research Advisor, Department for International Development, UK and member of the TMT, summed up progress made during the meeting:
It appears that the Transition Management Team (TMT) and workstreams are more or less on track and we have received lots of [...]

Steve Hall’s impressions

Steve Hall, Director General of WorldFish, Alliance Chair and member of the TMT (he’s been quite busy lately!), gives his impressions from the Donor Workshop:

Stakeholder reactions: Catherine Coleman

CIDA is one of the CGIAR’s longest-standing donors. CIDA Senior Analyst Catherine Coleman explains why she is now more encouraged about a continuing relationship:
Although we indicated we were not sure about contributing to the Fund, this wasn’t based on scepticism about the reform process, but rather on a lack of information on how this would [...]

Research for Development: the GCARD

The Global Conference on Agricultural Research for Development (GCARD) will be radically different from previous CGIAR annual meetings. Its overall purpose is to ensure agricultural research delivers development value. Rather than a ‘one-off’ event, GCARD encompasses a six-year process of comprehensive review of regional research priorities and development needs. This process will work in tandem [...]

Stakeholder reactions: Peter Core

Peter Core is Director of the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research. He has seen the CGIAR come a long way during the past four months with the reform framework.
I’ve been really pleased at this meeting to see the development and the detail of the pillars of the new CGIAR. Yesterday, we had an excellent [...]

Who is here?

Group photo of participants at the informal donor workshop in London!

Key points of discussion on the Fund

The discussion focused on two main points: accountability and governance.
Regarding accountability, people felt this should be seen not only as an issue of roles and responsibilities, which at present has a rather ‘punitive’ bias, but also as a value that should be important to everybody, from Centre local staff, scientists and directors to donors and [...]

How will the Fund work?

Today’s discussions are focused on funding and accountability. Ren Wang, CGIAR Director, outlined current proposals for the new CGIAR Fund. This is going to be a central, pooled fund providing multi-year support for the Mega Programs – under the Strategic Results Framework – and the Centres and their partners implementing the Programs. It intends to [...]

A view from the South

Yusuf Abubakar, Executive Secretary of Nigeria’s Agricultural Research Council, puts the discussions in an African perspective:
My hope for the new CGIAR is that it will give sub-Saharan African institutions the opportunity to participate more actively in CG activities. Particularly the increased focus on partnerships and the new format of the Global Conference should encourage broader [...]