The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) is a key constituent organization of the Global Forum on Agricultural Research and of course was one of the bodies instrumental in its foundation as a platform bringing together those concerned about agricultural research for development. 

However, in recent years, there has been growing concern that the CGIAR system has lost clarity of purpose and has not adapted to take account of the new research for development landscape in which many other partners, including the national systems of emerging economies, are now involved. The CGIAR Change Management Process, established among the CGIAR and its stakeholders, thus sets out to achieve reform of the international agricultural research system to create a system that all can support as playing a valuable role. 

This is being tackled through a series of working groups, addressing the vision, partnerships, governance and finance of the CGIAR and coordinated through a Central Steering Team. Prof Dr Adel El-Beltagy, GFAR Chair, sits on the Central Steering Team (and represents GFAR on the Executive Council of the CGIAR) and GFAR Executive Secretary Dr Mark Holderness co-chairs the Partnerships Working Group. The Working Groups are drafting papers and seeking to articulate coherent proposals for change that provide clear, constructive ways forward, are aligned with each other and acceptable to all. 

The way in which the CGIAR operates depends very much on its purpose and thus the ‘Vision’ working group has been the first to report. Their report is now available on line on the CGIAR website (this site also describes the change management process in more detail). World Bank Vice- President & CGIAR Chair Kathy Sierra has now written to stakeholders to encourage participation in an e-discussion (‘Virtual Forum’). We would encourage you all, as the stakeholders in agricultural research for development, to input your thoughts and opinions directly via this mechanism: 

Dear all,
I would like to invite you to join a series of virtual discussions on the CGIAR Change Management Initiative.

Our first engagement is through a blog, where I present some of my initial thoughts, and ideas on the Change Initiative, describe some of the current debates, and invite your comments. Please join the conversation at http://changemanagement.cgiar.org/.

The blog is part of a series of e-conversations that will be held over the next six months in order to gather ideas and reactions as our thinking develops.

A series of e-discussions on the papers produced by the Change Management working groups will also be launched. “Visioning the Future of the CGIAR”, a paper produced by the Visioning working group is already available in the Virtual Forums for your consideration and discussion. Working groups on Partnerships, Governance and Funding will each present their papers to the broader CGIAR community later in the northern summer and seek your comment.

I look forward to a productive exchange of information, viewpoints and vision.

Katherine Sierra
Chair

Once the other working groups have reported, these will also be put to wider discussion through an electronic consultation, managed by the CGIAR Secretariat and through face-to-face discussions around the world. GFAR and FORAGRO have arranged for the first of these to take place during the FORAGRO conference and GFAR Steering Committee meeting, in Montevideo at the end of July. The FORAGRO event will include a position paper from the CG Centres in Latin America and responses from the region. Senior figures from the CGIAR and the Change Management Central Steering Team will be present to discuss the process and its implications. During the GFAR Steering Committee meeting, the wider implications of the CGIAR change process will be discussed with GFAR’s stakeholder representatives. GFAR’s different constituencies can each play a key role in facilitating and organizing subsequent discussion of the proposed changes and their implications in other regions of the world. 

The CGIAR forms a key constituency of the Global Forum on Agricultural Research and constructive partnership between the CGIAR and our other constituencies is crucial for ensuring that agricultural research is driven by the needs of the poor and delivers against the global challenges now facing us all. 

We would urge and encourage you all to take an active part in these processes as they develop, so that we create an international agricultural research system that adds value in the best possible ways to national and regional processes, to help meet the future needs of this world.