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Proposed Action Plan to develop a CGIAR Capacity Strengthening and Partnership Development Strategy

CGIAR Consortium, October 12

INTRODUCTION

In response to the challenge to achieve a food-secure world by 2025, the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) has undertaken a comprehensive reorganization to integrate the work of its global system of international research centers into a single Consortium that implements fifteen new global research programs. The CGIAR’s Strategic Results Framework (2011) identifies several cross-cutting issues that directly affect its likelihood of success in achieving its four system-level outcomes of reducing rural poverty, increasing food security, improving nutrition and health and the sustainable management of natural resources. Strengthening the capacity of the partners of the CGIAR, particularly but not exclusively the national systems for agricultural research, is one of those cross-cutting issues that, to date, have not yet been fully fleshed out in the new CGIAR structure.

This note proposes to advance in 2013 a CGIAR Capacity Strengthening and Partnership Improvement Strategy to explore and determine the role of the CGIAR and its research programs in the strengthening of capacity within the consortium and among CGIAR partners with the following potential objectives:

1. Strengthen the capacity of research partners to undertake applied or downstream agricultural research for development in high priority countries for CGIAR CRPs that currently have a low capacity – in order to increase the potential for CGIAR developed “international public good” innovations to be further developed adapted and adopted.

2. Strengthen the capacity of the CGIAR and its downstream development and delivery partners that are instrumental in successfully moving innovations from the lab into the hands of farmers, such as for example local seed companies, or farmer organizations.

3. Strengthen the capacity of individuals and organizations to develop and maintain efficient and effective international partnerships in the areas affecting the CGIAR’s agenda – from effective innovation platforms to the development of an effective cadre of researchers that have international experience and exposure – in all areas necessary and sufficient – to reduce poverty, hunger and malnutrition and maintain healthy ecosystems.

In addition to capacity building strategy development and subsequent mainstreaming in each of the CGIAR Research Programs, it is proposed that there will be some initial actions that are more effectively organized at the system or Consortium level, rather than at the CRP level. Such actions will be based on extensive experience with elements of capacity building readily available in the system, at many countries and among CGIAR donors and research partners such as CIRAD and EMBRAPA, where some particularly effective programs exist that focus on two

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critical aspects to build individual researcher capacity and at the same time create more effective institutional partnerships by means of PostDoc (or junior professional, or associate expert) and visiting scientist programs.

A number of CGIAR partners have had PostDoc or Visiting Scientist programs with individual CGIAR member centers – and have now approached the Consortium with the request to organize system wide programs to increase their efficiency and effectiveness. It is expected that this will have the following advantages or benefits:

Strategic

• Bring new skills, novel research approaches and unusual perspectives necessary to refine and ultimately achieve the SLOs of the SRF.

• Address current needs/gaps by supplementing with new external capacity CRPs tackling research problems and themes necessary to achieve the SLOs of the SRF (e.g., quantifying and internalizing the value of ecosystem services or incorporation of gender in research and delivering mechanisms).

• Build stronger synergies with key external research partners, governments and other stakeholders.

• Foster intellectual exchange across disciplines and CRPs enabling spaces for innovation and creative problem solving.

Administrative

• Provide access to all CRPs and centers through a single agreement; • Make easier to arrange a competitive selection across CRPs and centers efficiently and

effectively; and • Realize the potential befits of harmonizing conditions across CRPs, centers and partner

countries to increase effectiveness and fairness.

Finally, while many of the CGIAR member centers and CRPs list their ability to partner, and their current partnerships, as a strength, partner feedback indicates that partners frequently have a different perspective of the CGIAR – often more negative. Consequently, the Consortium is preparing to implement a Partner Perception Survey in late 2012, to serve as baseline to measure and monitor future improvement.

RECOMMENDATIONS

1. Follow the same model as used for gender research to mainstream capacity strengthening and partnership development across the CGIAR and CRP portfolio.

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2. Appoint a capacity strengthening advisor to the Consortium to develop a CGIAR wide strategy; support CRPs in developing their strategies and support the development of a Capacity Strengthening and Partnership Development Network or CoP.

3. Conduct a Partner Perception survey for the CGIAR and for all of the CRPs individually, that can be used as a 2012 baseline and to develop strategies for improvement against.

4. Establish a CGIAR PostDoc and Visiting Scientist program, in 2013, in collaboration with and co-funded by countries (e.g. Netherlands, Japan, Brazil) and research partners (e.g. CIRAD, EMBRAPA) interested in supporting such a program and hosting PostDoc or Visiting Scientist Fellows.

ACTION PLAN TO DEVELOP A CAPACITY BUILDING & PARTNERSHIPS STRATEGY

For gender research, another of the cross-cutting issues, an approach has been followed by the Consortium Office that is proposed as a reasonable model to follow to “mainstream” capacity strengthening in the CRP portfolio as well, i.e.:

1. Appoint a long-term consultant as capacity strengthening advisor to support Consortium Capacity Strengthening activities.

2. Develop and put in place a CGIAR Capacity Strengthening and Partnership Development Strategy.

3. Develop CRP Capacity Strengthening and Partnership Development Strategies for those CRPs that do not already have such, and review the set of strategies to ensure consistence across the CRP portfolio.

4. Encourage and support implementation of the CRP Capacity Strengthening and Partnership Development strategies across the CRP portfolio.

Establishing a robust, properly resourced ability to address the capacity strengthening and partnership development dimensions of agricultural research and development at the Consortium level in general is also central to the CGIAR’s new results-oriented approach, very similar to parallel concerns for gender research in particular. For the first time, the CGIAR has developed a comprehensive Consortium Level Gender Strategy (2012) that commits to deliver research outputs with measurable benefits to women farmers in target areas within four years of inception of any given Program and to ensure the deployment of best-in-class scientific talent for this purpose. Research on gender is now conceived in the CGIAR’s Strategic Results Framework as a theme that cross-cuts the CGIAR Research Programs because significant opportunities exist for cross-program synergy and efficiency. A similar approach is proposed to be followed for the more general and critical question of strengthening capacity both within the CGIAR and for its partners to deliver impact in close collaboration with the CGIAR.

Consequently, it is proposed that in early 2013 a senior advisor for capacity strengthening will be appointed at the Consortium office and a Capacity Strengthening and Partnership Development Network will be established to support the development and implementation of a Capacity Strengthening Partnership Development Strategy by each Program. Clear and enforceable accountability mechanisms designed to improve the relevance of the CGIAR’s research to poor farmers, both women

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and men, are integral to the Consortium’s approach and will include monitoring of each Program’s Capacity Strengthening and Partnership Development Strategy results, the resources it allocates to achieve these and its deployment of relevant expertise.

STAKEHOLDER PERCEPTION SURVEY

The Consortium has initiated a project to carry out stakeholder perception survey to get a baseline of how our stakeholders perceive the CGIAR’s approach to partnering – particularly as related to the new CRPs - in 2012. In September a working group has been formed with partnership specialists from among the Consortium members and CRPs to lead this work, with Daniela Alfaro of the Consortium Office as project leader. In October a survey firm, GlobeScan, has been contracted to carry out the survey. The survey will be based on the list of partners provided by each CRP, based on questions that the working group develops, and will generate a detailed report for all of the CGIAR and summary reports (score cards) for each of the CRPs. The survey will be conducted in late 2012 and the report is expected in early 2013.

CGIAR POSTDOC AND VISITING SCIENTIST PROGRAM

The Consortium proposes to create a CGIAR PostDoc and Visiting Scientist Program in 2013, in close collaboration with partners interested to co-fund or host such fellows. The primary function of the program would be to develop a framework that hosts and harmonizes similar programs from various countries and partners across the CGIAR through a single competitive call and simple harmonized administrative procedures and employment and compensation conditions.

1. CGIAR PostDocs, for young scientists placed with CGIAR CRPs, or CGAR’s ARI partners for 18-month to two-year temporary positions (extendable to 3 years max) for entry-level scientists with a recent PhD, from all nationalities - but a majority from developing countries and a target of 50% women; and

2. CGIAR Visiting Scientists, for senior scientists with national partner institutes or CGIAR centers that are hosted by CRPs or ARIs such as CIRAD in France, while on leave of absence or sabbatical from their regular positions to gain international experience and/or exposure to cutting edge research facilities or methods (e.g. senior scientists from national systems that do not have international experience) to work at CGIAR centers or ARI partners for a period of 6-12 months.

3. CGIAR Scientists at Large, for CGIAR scientists to spend time as visiting scholars at existing – or new – partner organizations broadening their research perspectives in benefit of the SRF while addressing specific key problems of the CRRs that might be of cross-disciplinary nature or involve expertise or skills currently beyond the current CGIAR proficiencies.

Such a program has a range of well-known benefits:

• opening up the CGIAR system to young scientists with recent training in cutting edge methods and approaches;

• critical “stepping stone” entry level positions for young scientists that are interested to gain international experience – often a bottleneck for joining international research organizations;

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• opportunities for experienced scientists in national systems to gain international experience and exposure;

• opportunities for CGIAR scientists to update their knowledge in advanced labs or research groups;

• opportunities to develop and improve partnerships among the CRPs and their partners through, over time, staff exchange;

• improved staff diversity from nationality and gender perspectives; and • opening up the CGIAR to new forms of partnership and ideas.

The dual problem for the CGIAR is that: (a) its scientist cadre is aging and inflow of young scientists is limited; (b) the system is (and is perceived to be) too closed – not open enough to effective partnerships (interested partners find it hard to get in).

For young scientists with a recent PhD and an interest in an international career the problem is to gain international experience, as most international positions require international experience to begin with. This is a problem also for experienced/senior scientists in national systems without (significant) international experience.

It is proposed here to create a CGIAR PostDoc and Visiting Scientist program that is over and above / additional to the regular CRP budget, so that these entry level positions do not compete with regular / experienced staff. The positions are all temporary, not career track – other than in exceptional cases neither PostDocs nor Visiting Scientists would be converted to regular staff positions.

Partnership and co-funding through in-kind “national” contributions

It is proposed that the primary funding for this program will come as in-kind contributions from national programs. That is, a number of CGIAR partner countries have an interest to run young professional or PostDoc programs together with the CGIAR. To gain scale, effectiveness, fairness and visibility it is proposed here to create a CGIAR-wide program that would pull these national programs together (rather than the old model that was bilateral per center).

For example, The Netherlands runs young professional programs and has expressed an interest to re-develop the current group of center-level programs into a single CGIAR-wide program. Similarly, CIRAD of France is interested to establish a joint PostDoc and Visiting Scientist program with the CGIAR. EMBRAPA of Brazil has also expressed an interest to pursue a joint PostDoc program.

The CGIAR Consortium’s contribution will be to help organize these programs into a single, effective program at scale, and to match or complement national funds where necessary.

CGIAR PostDocs

The program would be open to individuals with a recent PhD (obtained ideally less than 3 years ago) who have not yet had another PostDoc position. These are essentially training positions, not career track positions; even good PostDocs that perform well would be expected to move on after their fellowships end. That is, they are not well compensated, selection cannot emphasize “prior experience”, and there

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is a strong obligation for the host institution to ensure that there is adequate mentoring and training of the PostDoc.

CGIAR PostDocs would be hosted by the CRPs, either at one of the participating CGIAR member centers, or possibly with one of the ARI partners of the CRP that has the appropriate lab facilities.

CGIAR Visiting Scientists

This program would be open to scientist working in national programs or universities with a good track record in their area of research, but limited international experience. The idea is that the Visiting Scientists would be hosted for 6-12 months with a CRP (either CGIAR member center or CRP partner with appropriate lab facilities) and return to their employer thereafter Visiting Scientist Fellows would have to be nominated by their employer, with support of their employer (e.g. maintaining their national level salaries) and would be supported by the CGIAR through a living and travel allowance, and possibly a research costs allowance (i.e. not a regular employment package).

CGIAR Scientists at Large

This program would be open to CGIAR senior scientists to spend time as visiting scholars at existing research or academic partner organizations broadening their research perspectives in benefit of the SRF or addressing specific key problems of the CRP. The partner organization would host the CGIAR scientist for 6-12 months to undertake cross-disciplinary research, to acquire new expertise or skills currently beyond the current CGIAR proficiencies or to work collaboratively addressing a particular key research question(s) that is/are relevant to one or more CRPs or to achieve the SLOs of the SRF.

Preliminary Operational Ideas

After feedback and consultation on this preliminary proposal, presuming there is positive feedback, the two/three programs could be started up as experimental or pilot programs in 2013. This would require developing and agreeing the harmonized employment conditions in the second half of 2012, and finding countries / partners interested to participate in the program.

Initially CIRAD has expressed an interest to establish a joint PostDoc and Visiting Scientist program – sarting with 5 PostDocs and 5 Visiting Scientists in 2013. EMBRAPA has expressed a possible interest in a joint PostDoc program with potentially 20 PostDocs initially. The Netherlands has also expressed a desire to re-negotiate its current center-based APO or junior expert program (with 4 CGIAR member centers) into a CGIAR wide program through the Consortium (currently some 20 junior experts placed). Even though this note presumes “sponsorship” by a few countries, it is worth noting that the young professional program operated by the Netherlands, for example, is comprised of developing country nationals, EU nationals and Dutch nationals (and the current group of about 20 placed with the CGIAR includes 12 originating from developing countries and only 4 Dutch nationals).

It is expected other countries may find this attractive also.

Operationally it could work as follows (for both the PostDoc and the Visiting Scientist Fellows):

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1. The national program or partner with an interest to join the CGIAR PostDoc and Visiting Scientist Program and the Consortium negotiate conditions (number of positions, matching or complementary costs carried by the Consortium, funded from Window 1 and proposed as part of the annual Financing Plan).

2. Partners accept the harmonized set of employment or hosting conditions (to be) developed by the Consortium and its members so that all CGIAR Fellows get treated fairly and equitably, regardless of the country that sponsors them or the CRP/center/partner that employs them.

3. Development of a selection and employment/hosting process in steps that could involve: a. Aligning areas of interest or priorities between sponsors or partners and the CRP portfolio. b. Developing annual or bi-annual calls for proposals (job descriptions) from CRPs or ARIs for

PostDocs or Visiting Scientists they would like to host. c. Joint selection by the Consortium and partners of the positions to be (jointly) funded. d. Recruitment and selection of candidates for selected positions jointly by partners and the

Consortium; e. Fellowships awarded for PostDocs and Visiting scientists. f. Regular reporting, monitoring and evaluation by the Consortium in collaboration with partners

4. Twice per year the CGIAR runs an induction / training program for new Fellows.