Institutional innovations are critical for effective performance of agricultural research centres in natural resource management projects that often include multiple and diverse stakeholders with contrasting objectives and activities. This report shows how institutional histories of projects can be used as tools to help reveal institutional innovations thereby promoting Institutional Learning And Change (ILAC). This report extends an earlier work on using institutional histories over a thirty-year period to understand research practice at an international agricultural research centre, by focusing on applying institutional insights to a current project of the agroecosystems group of ICRISAT with an Indian ‘unconventional’ donor. It draws out lessons for scaling-up of activities in multi-partner initiatives. The report also explores the use of actor-oriented tools for project management and recommends its use to enable collective reflection on partnerships in review and planning meetings of projects. The learning from the historical study and the application of institutional histories in an ongoing project together reveal interesting insights on international agricultural research centres and their efforts towards a transition into learning organizations.
This brief explains the concept of gender equality in advisory services and discusses the opportunities that gender equality in rural advisory services can create for global and local food production, women’s economic empowerment, household food security, and nutrition. It summarises...
The Andhra Pradesh sorghum coalition illustrates the valued added by working in coalition. By combining different perspectives to give rise to new, synthesised ideas, the member organisations worked at a faster pace and achieved their objectives more successfully and sustainably...
This report is based on systematic review of over 500 documents, and discusses, impact of the farmer field school, theory of change, targeting farmers, implementation, impact on participant farmers, and implications for policy, research and practice.
This Practical Guide to Capacity Development in a Sector Context has been compiled to accompany Asian Development Bank (ADB)’s Capacity Development Framework and Action Plan.1 Its purpose is to provide ADB staff and other development practitioners with a set of...
The IFAD Innovation Strategy does not set new objectives for staff, but rather defines what is needed to create an innovation-friendly environment and to support staff in achieving the expected results.To strengthen its innovative capabilities and become a better catalyst...