Annex 1. Recommendations of the System Review Relevant for the TAC Assessment of CGIAR-NARS Collaborative Relationships

RECOMMENDATION 2

The Panel recommends that IARCs strive to serve as global Centers of frontier science and technology for sustainable food security, serving as a bridge that brings advanced science and technology to bear on the needs of the world's poor. They should become resource centers on frontier technologies, policy research, sustainable use of natural resources, capacity building, and networking. They will need to enhance their symbiotic scientific links with NARS, ARIs, the private sector, and NGOs in industrialized and developing countries. At the same time, they should help develop and disseminate environmentally sensitive technologies based on appropriate blends of traditional and modern methods, while placing more emphasis on work in low-potential areas.

RECOMMENDATION 3

The Panel recommends that IARCs concentrate on topics relevant to improving sustainable food security and the generation of greater opportunities for rural income. This dual strategy will require:

greater inter-Center collaboration;

new methods of increasing System synergy;

new and expanded partnerships;

IARCs, in conjunction with regional and sub-regional organizations, acting as neutral convenors of all the actors in the research-development continuum in each region, while providing access to assets and resources and filling gaps by providing what others cannot do as competitively; and

the CGIAR to use its moral force and its scientific credibility to get the type of cooperation and coordination established that makes optimal use of available resources.

RECOMMENDATION 6

The Panel recommends that, in partnership with FAO, the World Bank, NARS, ARIs, and NGOs, the CGIAR develop an effective Global Knowledge System for Food Security. This would be a central element in the CGIAR's future capacity building efforts. ISNAR and IFPRI should be considered as the convening Center for this initiative. This initiative should:

benefit NARS, NGOs, civil society organizations, and the media;

pay attention not only to frontier science and technology but also to traditional wisdom;

be built on a decentralized management scheme for its various components;

make international research databases available as free goods to developing nations;

produce Web sites of special relevance to the developing world through a highly skilled central screening and coordinating unit;

promote the organization, spread, and understanding of traditional knowledge systems;

facilitate direct contact via e-mail between developing-country scientists and individual experts throughout the world, beginning with the organizing of young professionals and IARC alumni;

promote cooperative activities through a geographically indexed Web database containing projects of all organizations performing agricultural research and development in each region; and

take account of existing relevant databases.

RECOMMENDATION 8

The Panel recommends that:

the CGIAR continue to emphasize the capacity building efforts that have been successful in the past;

the CGIAR strengthen partnerships with bilateral and multilateral development agencies providing technical assistance and support in capacity building;

there be an increased emphasis on broadening the range of capacity-building efforts that the CGIAR considers essential for its work, particularly policy-making capacity in NARS;

new emphasis be placed on establishing national-, regional-, and sub-regional-level consultative processes for research and development;

the CGIAR play a leading role in organizing, and if necessary producing, a large menu of Web-based, highly interactive distance education and training courses;

Centers pursue meaningful collaborative partnerships with strong NARS in areas of strategic research,

the CGIAR encourage the internationalization of certain strong NARS, thereby facilitating more South/South research collaboration; and

a stepped-up CGIAR public awareness program is needed to promote awareness of CGIAR/NARS collaboration and the importance of research to developing-country governments.

RECOMMENDATION 10

The Panel recommends a special collaborative focus on Africa that incorporates the following elements to create an effective strategy for African agriculture and that complements the efforts of other organizations, including sub-regional associations:

Promote national/regional consultative processes for agricultural research and development in order to facilitate the integration and increase the efficiency of the efforts of all actors.

Set up an African Capacity Building Initiative for Sustainable Food Security as a major inter-Center initiative. It should help train a cadre of African leaders who can assist the political leadership in their countries to remove policy constraints and develop a well-conceived strategy for sustainable food security.

Under the leadership of the director of the proposed African Capacity Building Initiative, set up a task force with the Centers, TAC, the CGIAR Secretariat, FAO, the World Bank, UNDP, the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP), and other relevant organizations, including sub-regional associations, to develop a special focused program for African food security.

Launch a well-planned Lab to Land Program to take the benefits of the best available technologies to farmers and to promote on-farm participatory testing, breeding, and research.

Develop research programs in urban and peri-urban agriculture in cooperation with relevant organizations, including AVRDC.

Emphasize modern ecological farming methods, taking into account the poor infrastructure and low use of external inputs.

Set priorities on staple or relevant food crops, such as cassava, yams, cowpeas, plantain, and other "indigenous" African food crops.

Promote partnerships between strong NARS from various parts of the world and strategic African NARS.

RECOMMENDATION 11

The Panel recommends that:

where appropriate, the range of the CGIAR's partnership be broadened to include other organizations with a shared commitment to its mission and goals;

in relevant areas, the CGIAR enter into Memoranda of Understanding with partners that contain a Voluntary Code of Conduct;

IARCs should not enter into partnerships that will lead to the monopolistic and exclusive use of the research results;

the CGIAR establish a Media and Communications Unit; and

the Chair convene a high-level meeting with CEOs of interested representative agribusiness to exchange views and consider opportunities for new partnership relationships, including with farmers' cooperatives and seed growers' associations.

RECOMMENDATION 20

The Panel recommends that the CGIAR support the convening of a Global Forum every three years, confined to a general meeting on future global agricultural research issues and involving all major stakeholders. Further, the CGIAR should monitor GFAR's development and viability, as well as the implications of GFAR with respect to the work of CGIAR Centers, particularly ISNAR.

RECOMMENDATION 25

The Panel recommends that:

Relevant System-wide programs be provided sufficient funding on a long-term basis (at least five years), as they can be a useful complement to the CGIAR through improved coordination;

since eco-regional activities are part of the strengthening of NARS, a workshop should examine and assess past practical experiences, issues, and potentials involving all relevant actors in a region, with a proposal for further actions to be discussed by the CGIAR in 1999, at the latest;

Members and Centers place high priority on ensuring funding of high-quality collaborative research activities, including ecoregional and other System-wide programs, as well as other inter-Center initiatives that are important to the CGIAR mission;

eco-regional activities be managed by the NARS and regional and sub-regional organizations, with the political and financial support of both the NARS and any bilateral donors; and

a special task force composed of key stakeholders be established to formulate specific plans and modalities to improve the governance and financing of System-wide programs.

RECOMMENDATION 27

The Panel recommends that an overall policy for CGIAR collaboration with the for-profit sector be developed at the System level under conditions that contribute to and do not compromise the basic public interests and objectives of the CGIAR. Financial contributions from the for-profit sector should be accepted for research activities of mutual interest, in line with the CGIAR mission statement, and directed toward the agreed research agenda. Further, a foundation should be the locus of a major fund-raising strategy to mobilize funding from private sources.