In order to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the operations, the SWAs are concerned primarily with the implementation of change in the CGIAR. This implies that once the goals are set, there will not be need for those SWAs to continue. SWAs will be an integral part of the mainstream work of the centres.
The SWAs prior to 1996 can be classified as: (1) those undertaken to implement the ecoregional approach; and (2) those undertaken to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of more specific aspects of the System's work.
A CGIAR research activity may be characterised as ecoregional if it meets the following general criteria: (1) conducts research on the technical and human dimensions of problems in the sustainable improvement of productivity; (2) addresses landscape units in the agroecosystem of a priority agroecoregional zone; (3) has effective and clearly identifiable partnership linkages with national research systems and other research agencies of the region, and shows the complementarity of function across the partners; and (4) fosters close linkages with global strategic commodity/subject matter research activities.
The following lists show the programmes related to ecoregional approach and specific areas strengthening:
A. Systemwide initiatives and Programmes Undertaken by the CGIAR to Implement the Ecoregional Approach
Regional initiatives for:1. Sustainable natural resources management options to arrest land degradation in the desert margins of sub-Saharan Africa2. The warm humid and sub-humid tropics of sub-Saharan Africa
3. The humid and sub-humid tropics of Asia
4. On-farm water husbandry in West Africa and North Asia
5. Coastal environments
Regional Programmes:
1. Sustainable rice/wheat based cropping systems in the Indo-Gangetic Plain
2. Enhancing agricultural research effectiveness in Tropical America
Cross-Regional Programmes for:
1. Alternatives to slash-and-burn agriculture
2. Sustainable mountain agricultural development
B. Systemwide Initiatives and Programmes Undertaken by the CGIAR to Strengthen Specific Areas of CGIAR Research
Initiatives in:1. Water management2. Agricultural research indicators
3. Property rights and collective action
4. Soil, water and nutrient management
5. Integrated pest management
Programmes in:
1. Genetic resources2. Livestock research
The list of ecoregional programmes doesn't address comprehensively all of the wide-ranging objectives described for the ecoregional approach (some SWAs are very selective). The second group (programmes to strengthen specific areas) are much more targeted than the first and all are actually or potentially global. A common feature would be the fact that they all appear to deal with expediting change in the System to help optimise the use of its resources.
There has been a continuing strong emphasis in working more closely with NARS, while the scope of proposals has broadened considerably since TAC presented its recommendations at ICW93.
Several categories have been identified in which inter-centre research co-operation is likely to add value to the System's work: (1) combine the expertise of different centres or agencies on a long-term basis for the solution of major problems; (2) avoid the need to duplicate expertise that already exists elsewhere; and (3) concentrate expertise around the use of expensive and technically demanding facilities.
The Centre Directors meeting in 1994 identified two other important collective purposes: (1) to provide activities of common interest to a number of centres, thereby increasing the impact of the CGIAR; (2) to ensure consistency among the policies and strategies of the various centres in order to avoid problems that can arise when different centres work together.
