CGIAR and the Bank - Mobilizing Science to Reduce Poverty

December 16, 2009

The world’s largest agricultural research network and a longstanding partner of the World Bank – the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) – met in Washington in December to endorse a set of far-reaching reforms, which will enhance the organization’s ability to mobilize science for the reduction of poverty and hunger in developing countries.

The World Bank’s partnership with the CGIAR dates back to 1971, when the World Bank, along with the Rockefeller Foundation and others, founded the group in response to the threat of famine in South Asia.

Since then, the CGIAR already has built up a strong record of impact. For every US$1 invested in its research, an additional $9 worth of food has been made available in developing countries, according to an independent assessment carried out in 2003. However, new and evolving development challenges have prompted the CGIAR to redesign its institutional structure.

New model to help the poor and hungry

“Our past success provides no guarantee that we will succeed in meeting the challenges of the future,” said Katherine Sierra, Chair of the CGIAR and Vice President of the Sustainable Development Network. “The reforms approved today will enable us to do more and have even greater impact.”

CGIAR has a strong record of impact. For every US$1 invested in its research, an additional $9 worth of food has been made available in developing countries.“The food price crisis of 2008 provided a window on the challenges ahead, drawing our collective attention to the fact that, if we are to feed 9 billion people by 2050, we need a 70% increase in agricultural production,” Sierra added. “The crisis confirmed the need to re-imagine our institutions and approaches to ensure that we have the best possible structure and systems in place to help the poor and hungry.”

The change initiative was launched in 2008 in order to sharpen the focus of CGIAR research, streamline its governance structures, reverse a trend toward declining core resources and strengthen partnerships with national agricultural research systems, civil society and the private sector. A new partnership model was agreed on in principal at the CGIAR’s Annual Business Meeting in December 2008. Throughout 2009, the model has been further developed into operational plans, which were approved by CGIAR Members at their 2009 Business Meeting on December 8, 2009.

On behalf of World Bank president Robert Zoellick, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala opened the meeting with remarks that underscored the historic significance of the occasion. “It will shape the future not just of the CGIAR but of developing country agriculture,” she said. She also showed a brief video on the origins of the CGIAR, which featured a conversation between Norman Borlaug and Robert McNamara. The clear message was that, just as these visionary leaders joined forces to meet the agricultural challenges of the last century, the CGIAR must now renew its fruitful marriage of agricultural scientists with investors in development to confront even greater challenges in the new millennium.

In recent years, the World Bank has contributed US$50 million annually to the CGIAR through the Development Grant Facility. The World Bank’s investment in and support for the CGIAR is closely aligned to the Bank’s vision for Agriculture for Development, as described in the 2008 World Development Report, and to the objectives of the World Bank Group’s Agriculture Action Plan for 2010 to 2012.

The reforms involve the establishment of a new Consortium of the CGIAR Centers and a new CGIAR Fund. The Consortium will unite the 15 CGIAR Centers under a legal entity and provide a single entry point for the Fund to contract Centers and partners for research products. The new Fund will harmonize donor contributions with a view to improve the quality and quantity of funding, ensure greater financial stability, and reverse the trend toward restricted funding. It will also focus research investment on priority areas and simplify reporting requirements.

A strategy and results framework will link the two pillars of the new model through a collective research agenda that aligns funders and researchers. The strategy will be implemented through a portfolio of “mega programs,” large-scale research initiatives on key development issues designed for big impact. In broad terms, the portfolio will harness the Centers’ strengths to boost agricultural productivity and reduce pressure on natural resources in the face of climate change, water scarcity and other threats.

“The mega programs will draw on the CGIAR’s clear strengths – that is, its ability to improve major food crops for resilience and nutritional value and to enhance the management of crops, livestock, trees, water, soil and fish. The changes we are making will better align our efforts against the continuing scourge of poverty and hunger,” said Steve Hall, Chair of the Alliance of the CGIAR Centers.

Reforms for results

The reforms will also make the CGIAR more open, with a stronger focus on collaboration with partners, including national agricultural research institutes, civil society and the private sector. Developing countries and partners will get more of a voice in the membership of the Fund Council and through a new biennial event for engaging stakeholders, the Global Conference on Agricultural Research for Development.

Many CGIAR members – including Australia, Belgium, the European Commission, the Netherlands and Norway – not only endorsed the reforms at the one-day business meeting on December 8, 2009, but also pledged to increase their support. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, already large supporters of CGIAR research with current investments averaging US$80 million per year, announced its intent to join the new CGIAR Fund.

Implementation of the reforms will take place over the course of 2010, and the new CGIAR Fund and Consortium will be put in place and become operational. The research portfolio of Mega Programs will be developed in the coming months, with at least one expected to be operational by late 2010.

“What we are doing is the equivalent of transforming an ocean liner, a ship with a single hull, into a catamaran with two hulls” remarked Ren Wang, CGIAR Director. “A catamaran is faster and more stable, and the new CGIAR ship will also be faster, more stable and agile than the old.”