Presentation by Philip Thornton, CCAFS Priorities and Policies for CSA Flagship Leader, at the GCRF Networking Workshop on 29 October 2018 at SRUC, Edinburgh.
Introduction to heat waves and Heatwaves in Bangladesh.pptx
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What makes an effective agricultural research for development project?
1. Philip Thornton
Flagship leader, CCAFS, Nairobi
What makes an effective
agricultural research for
development project?
Photo: G. Smith (CIAT)
2. Why Iโm standing here
The international agricultural research system
A few principles for effective ag research for development programs
โช The need to deliver down the impact pathway
โช Navigate towards specific points of leverage
โช Utilize the โthree-thirdsโ principle
โช A plausible theory of change and impact pathway are key
โช Innovate in partnerships
โช Innovate in communications
โช Innovate in learning
Outline
3. โข Worked in agricultural research for development for nearly 35 years,
mostly in the CGIAR as a researcher and research leader
โข Working as a research area leader (Priorities & Policies for Climate
Smart Agriculture) for the CGIAR Research Program on Climate
Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) since 2010
โข Based in Edinburgh, hosted by the International Research Institute
(ILRI) in Nairobi, Kenya
โข Honorary research affiliations with the School of Geosciences,
University of Edinburgh and CSIRO, Brisbane, Australia
Why Iโm standing here
4. CGIAR: a global network of 15 agricultural research centres aiming to reduce poverty,
improve food and nutrition security, and improve natural resources and ecosystem services
5. โฆ plus 8 agri-food system programs, 4 global integrating programs,
3 research support platforms
โข Annual budget USD 950 million
โข 10,000 staff in about 75 countries
โข Centres work with multiple programs
โข Programs work with multiple Centres (some
with all)
โข Links to one CRP a โportalโ to the rest of the
system (and to hundreds of partners)
7. โฆ delivering great science as well as outcomes
Some recent CGIAR / CCAFS outcomes
โข 7 million farmers getting climate-
informed advisories in Senegal
โข New insurance indices being used to
protect crops of millions of farmers in
India
โข USD 500 million of investments by
IFAD and the World Bank โclimate-
proofedโ
8. Principle 2: navigate towards specific points of leverage
Example: Agriculture in NDC mitigation priorities (nationally determined
contributions) as of March 2018
98 countries
13 countries
https://ccafs.cgiar.org/agricultures-prominence-indcs-data-and-maps
9. โข Participatory scenario-guided NDC process involving decision makers across all
sectors
โข Future scenarios of Costa Rica in 2030 developed to assess emissions reduction
in agriculture, energy, transport, waste and forests
โข Recommendations made taking into account the major uncertainties and
sectoral synergies / trade-offs
โข Formed the basis for the mitigation measures in the NDC in 2017
Veeger et al., 2015
10. Allocation of:
โข Thought
โข Time
โข Effort
โข Resources?
Principle 3: utilize the โthree-thirdsโ principle
Vermeulen & Campbell, 2015
11. โข To focus on people and
outcomes (behavioral changes)
โข How are research outputs to be
used? Co-development,
learning, incentives
โข Plan to revisit them, to address
unanticipated changes and
failure of key assumptions
โข Sometimes, can use
assumptions as research
hypotheses
Principle 4: a plausible theory of change and impact pathway are key
13. How else to reach >500 million smallholders by 2030?
Up to 40% gender disparity
in agricultural productivity
in some countries
420 million youth in Africa
- two-thirds unemployed/vulnerably employed
- one in six in wage employment
Age group will nearly double by 2050
1 GT GHG reduction target (2030)
Current technologies can only do 20-40%
Principle 5: innovate in partnerships
14. Different skills,
partnerships
โข Research partners:
national, international,
regional
โข Public sector, inter-
governmental and policy
partners
โข Non-governmental
development partners
โข Private sector partners
(inputs, finance)
15. Principle 6: innovate in communications
โข Make use of the growing literature on global change
communications: framing, psychology, values, attitudes,
beliefs, political ideologies, โฆ
โข Tap in to new skills in discourse analysis and understanding
gender norms (how can they be modified?), behavioural
science, marketing science
โข Power of rapidly evolving info and comms technology
16. Principle 7: innovate in learning
Project (self) learning
โช Meaningful performance
expectations (outputs,
outcomes)
โช Measurable indicators
โช Evaluating what is being
achieved against expectations
โช Pragmatism: a mix of formal /
informal, quantitative /
qualitative
โช Big research agenda: new
methods (cost & effort vs
rigour)
Monitoring,
evaluation &
learning
modules
17. Principle 7: innovate in learning
Building capacities
Link in to existing national science-policy dialogue
platforms, networks of scientists, farmers and policy
makers who regularly exchange knowledge on
adaptation to climate change
South-south exchanges: farmers from
one place visiting other farmers to learn
from and teach each other
ccafs.cgiar.org/blog/when-colombia-met-
senegal-photostory