During the Annual General Meeting in 2001 (AGM01), the Consultative Group on International
Agricultural Research (CGIAR) decided to accelerate, on a pilot and one-time only basis the
preparation of up to three Challenge Programs (CPs) so that the System can explore ways of
improving CP design and implementation. They are called Pilot Challenge Programs. The CGIAR also
decided to initiate in 2002 the regular process for the design and development of challenge programs.
They are called Regular Challenge Programs.
In the Change Design and Management Team (CDMT) report which proposed the establishment of the
CGIAR Executive Council (ExCo) as well as the concept of CPs, GFAR has been identified as among
the partners who can facilitate, as required, the development and implementation of these Challenge
Programmes. GFAR and the Regional and Sub-regional Fora (RF/SRF) are expected to play a
facilitating role in the idea generation, pre-proposal development, full proposal development and CP
Implementation phase. As such, GFAR was nominated to sit in the CGIAR ExCo.