The 15 CGIAR Centers and their many national partners are together creating a wealth of knowledge that can help rural communities in developing countries build sustainable livelihoods. While all players are doing much to ensure this knowledge is widely shared, formidable obstacles to its uptake and use, and, ultimately, the impact of CGIAR agricultural research, remain. One of the missing elements, the appropriate and effective sharing of knowledge, both within Centers and between them and their partners, has reduced the effectiveness of CGIAR research and development (R&D) efforts.

As the workshop moves into its second week of on-line discussions, and learnings (week one we talked about Why KS, now we explore the Who via a network mapping exercise), I wanted to share with you the amazing role that our two workshop mentors are playing. Not only do we have two former participants (Pete [...]

Our colleagues Sophie Alvarez and Boru Douthwaite from the CGIAR are busy with their team supporting projects all over the globe with their project planning and M&E by using a novel approach that has lots to do with knowledge sharing. The Participatory Impact Pathways (PIPA) is now outlined in our KS Toolkit.
Participatory Impact Pathways Analysis [...]

Some interesting responses have come to the blog post on
“Sharing knowledge-tell us a story”–article on KSinR project in latest New Agriculturalist
The questions which have arisen have asked whether this type of work has not already been done-thus we are re-inventing the wheel. It has been pointed out that many approaches, initiatives and attempts have already [...]

It may sound like the title of one of Aesop’s fables….but it really is the title of a very intriguing book I just finished reading.
It is a book about the power of decentralised organizations: the parallel to the animal kingdom is intriguing! If you cut off a spider’s head, it dies; if you cut off a [...]

An organization that does not change is bound to die….. all centers, our teams, our partners all face similar challenges. We need to build on each other’s strength, on the lessons we learn to be able to move forward…
We know there a lot of good stories you can tell us on how you..

Work in geographically [...]

As I am participating in a meeting of the Change Management Process of the CGIAR at IRRI in Los Baños, Philippines I was happy to have a chat with Sue Parrott who took over the role of a live blogger during the event. Sue works for Green Ink., a UK-based communications consultancy, and has been [...]

A research-oriented organization such as the CGIAR cannot be satisfied just knowing that it has produced good research. It is critical to ensure that the knowledge or outputs this research produces is put to the best possible use. Using the same philosophy that questions how a crop grown in a lab can feed a hungry [...]

The CGIAR is undertaking a major Change management process,  and new governance and funding options are already on the table for discussion.
The CGIAR has opened up access to all interested to participate in this debate through the Virtual Forums at www.cgiar.org/cgdisc.
A live blogger has joined the change management retreat group meeting in Los Banos, Philippines [...]

September 2-4, 2008. A CGIAR / FARA Consultation towards Partnerships and Coordinated Implementation was held at FARA’s Headquarters in Accra to harmonize CGIAR and FARA research initiatives in Africa.
This consultation was not intended to cover the overall operation of CGIAR and FARA in the continent. The focus was on collective action initiatives requiring strategic partnerships between [...]

Since 2004 the ICT-KM Program has funded the Online Learning Resources (OLR) project to identify and apply innovative ways to make available and accessible content knowledge of the CGIAR for teaching and learning purposes.
From the 15 of September, for 2 days participants from most CGIAR centers, a number of advanced research institutes and partner institutions [...]