Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research - CGIAR
From: The Secretariat
July 1996
CGIAR Mid-Term Meeting
May 20-24, 1996
Jakarta, Indonesia
Perspectives on Policy and Management Research in the CGIAR; Strategic Study of Institutional Strengthening Research and Service; and Priorities and Strategies for Policy, Public Management, and Institution Strengthening Research and Service in the CGIAR1
1
Extract from "Summary of Proceedings and Decisions - Report on Parallel Session II", CGIAR Mid-Term Meeting 1996, Jakarta, Indonesia
CGIAR Secretariat · Mailing Address: 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20433, U.S.A. · Office Location: 701 18th Street, N.W. Tel: (1-202) 473-8951 · Cable Address: INTBAFRAD · Fax: (1-202) 473-8110 · E-mail: [email protected] or [email protected]
In Parallel Session II, chaired by Mr. Faisal Kasyrno (Indonesia), Members of the Group considered three studies. The first two were commissioned by TAC and conducted by two external panels, chaired by Dr. Alain de Janvry and Dr. John Nickel, respectively. The two panels interacted with each other during the period of study, to capture the commonalities between policy and management research and institutional strengthening research and service. The third study reflects TAC's synthesis of the first two studies for the purpose of drawing lessons for the CGIAR's future work in these areas.
The reports were presented by Mr. Guido Gryseels (TAC) who served as Secretary of both external panels. The presentation focused mainly on TAC's synthesis report, which concluded that:
· Strategic directions of CGIAR activities in both policy research and institutional strengthening research and service are appropriate, and these activities are, in general of high quality.· The Centers should assign high priority to a number of topics which have high potential payoff. In the policy research area, these include: the public-private interface; common property resources; generic, as compared with country-specific, policy studies; and political economy of policy and management
· decisions. In the institutional strengthening area, the most urgent need is to conduct more research on institutional development, particularly related to agricultural research in developing countries. Also important is improving understanding of the role and management problems of NGOs and other non-profit organizations of civil society.
· Inter-center coordination and collaboration in policy and public management research should be enhanced through decentralized and informal mechanisms.
· Regarding institutional strengthening research and service, Centers should take full advantage of opportunities to work with more than one NARS in any given activity, particularly through regional groupings initiated by the NARS themselves.
The discussion highlighted the complexity of conceptually integrating work on public policy, public management and institutional strengthening. It was noted that there are differences in the scientific bases of these areas. Whereas the key scientific discipline on which policy research is based is economics, management research relies on a more heterogeneous set of fields and disciplines. It was pointed that the difficulties caused by this phenomenon are not addressed in the studies. As well, surprise was expressed that the work on management made little reference to the body of literature on management.
Several Members stressed the importance of inter-disciplinary work, enabling economists and other social scientists to work together with biological scientists. Another theme emphasized was the significance of participatory research, particularly in studying such subjects as management of common property resources. It was observed that there was considerable scope for carrying out policy and management research in close collaboration with NARS.
The need for strengthening the empirical base of policy and management research was highlighted. One Member recommended developing a systemwide GIS database to improve the empirical foundations of policy and management research.
Another Member observed that the documents gave little guidance to the Centers - with the exception of IFPRI and ISNAR - on future research on policy and management for use in the preparation of Center medium-term plans. Another noted that Centers have expressed a strong desire to collaborate with IFPRI on policy research. Although this speaks well for IFPRI's competence in policy research, it was felt that collaboration with other competent institutes within the global research system would help broaden the CGIAR's partnerships with these institutions.
Regarding next steps, Mr. Gryseels noted that these strategic studies had served as background to the priorities and strategies document being considered by the Group. They will also be used in the external reviews of IFPRI and ISNAR. which will examine in greater detail the operational implications of the strategic suggestions made in the studies.
