By the CGIAR Secretariat and Simone Staiger-Rivas, leader of the Institutional Knowledge Sharing Project of the ICT-KM Program

Background on the CSO-CGIAR Engagement Process

Civil society organizations (CSOs) – by which is meant the non-profit sector, including NGOs, farmer organizations, advocacy groups, universities and advanced research institutions – are key partners in the CGIAR.

The 15 Centers and 4 Challenge Programs it supports together work with as many as a thousand CSOs. These partners, by helping ensure the relevance of our research for development and by boosting its effectiveness, contribute to accomplishing our shared goals of strengthening food security, reducing poverty and improving natural resource management in the developing world.

With the aim of further improving this collaboration, the CGIAR developed the Strategic Framework for Engagement between the CGIAR and CSOs in 2006 (http://www.cgiar.org/pdf/agm06/agm06_cso_engage_framework_may06.pdf), which offers a series of recommendations designed to give civil society a stronger voice in the CGIAR and foster mutual learning in joint endeavors.

As a start toward implementing its CSO engagement strategy, the CGIAR organized various events in connection with the CGIAR Annual General Meeting 2006 (AGM06), held in Washington, D.C., during early December. These events – the Virtual Conversation, Innovation Marketplace and CSO-CGIAR Forum – gave rise to a constructive dialogue among CGIAR stakeholders.

AGM 06 saw also the launch of a new competitive grants program, an initiative which is part of the building blocks for further expanding engagement with CSOs and sharing knowledge for impact. The objectives of this new initiative are to (1) support innovative projects involving civil society partners and other stakeholders in agricultural research for development, (2) promote partnerships between the CGIAR and CSOs that apply novel approaches for working together better, and (3) to create new avenues by which a growing network of CSO and CGIAR partners can continue to learn one another through active knowledge sharing.

Background on the Knowledge Sharing Project

The Knowledge Sharing (KS) Project builds on the momentum and lessons learned from previous initiatives within the CGIAR to work towards broader institutional change. The Project’s overall objective is to improve CGIAR effectiveness by promoting collaborative learning and innovation, and supporting effective use of KS approaches and tools throughout the CGIAR. The Project has two components: one that focuses on aspects related to KS in research; and the other—the Institutional Knowledge Sharing Project—has three major aims:

1. To incorporate KS in strategic activities at the CGIAR system level.
2. To introduce KS into projects that manage organizational change in CGIAR Centers.
3. To strengthen KS champions.

To create impact at the level of CGIAR top management and benefit from current interest in KS approaches generated by the CSO Initiative, the project is promoting the use of KS approaches in important activities at the system level. That is,

• It contributes to the design and preparation of the Science Forum at the Annual General Meeting of the CGIAR (AGM07), to be held in Beijing, China, on 4 December. The Forum is designed to foster dialogue on scientific achievements and opportunities. (More at http://www.cgiar.org/meetings/agm07/agm07_stakeholder_sf.html)

• It works with the CGIAR Secretariat on the CSO Initiative, focusing on facilitating the CSO–CGIAR engagement process. (More at http://www.cgiar.org/csos/index.html)

Knowledge Sharing for Effective CSO–CGIAR Engagement

The Institutional Knowledge Sharing Project of the ICT-KM Program became involved with the CSO Initiative after the strategy document was approved. The main questions that emerged were: We know what we want to achieve, but how can the CGIAR concretely engage with the CSO community? What methodologies can we use? What would be the most suitable process?

A meeting in Washington with the CGIAR Secretariat Team and Bellanet’s Allison Hewlitt covered some ground and put forward ideas on how to organize a 1-day CSO forum at the AGM06 in an interactive and engaging way. For 6 months, the Team worked intensely to prepare and facilitate different activities.

The KS Project’s support was based on three fundamental principles: inclusiveness, active listening, and opportunities for exploration.

Inclusiveness
The KS Project contributed to the design and facilitation of a virtual conversation. Representatives of CSOs, their CGIAR partners, and others were invited to participate in a facilitated, email-based, online discussion. The main purpose of this Virtual Conversation was to give participants in the Innovation Marketplace and others attending the CGIAR’s AGM06 an opportunity to get to know one another and learn about a wide range of collaborative experiences. Nearly 160 people registered for the Conversation, and about 65 posted more than 200 messages in English, French, and Spanish. All messages received in the last two languages were translated into English.

Immediately after the event, 33 participants completed an online evaluation form, with 53.1% rating the Virtual Conversation as good and 34.4% as excellent. What participants liked most were the variety of perspectives, the different CSO–CGIAR collaborative activities that were showcased, and the facilitation and efforts of the organizing team. As one participant said:

It was my first time to participate in such virtual conservation forum. I have to confess that I am very pleased to be part of it because I have learned more. All my expectations are met. The thing I have liked most is getting to know better the various types of partnerships being nourished by both CG centers and CSOs. And also, from the participants’ reactions, I have a good grasp of how this fruitful partnership could be enhanced. Thank you.

What participants liked least was the lack of time, the number and length of messages, and the lack of focus. (More at http://www.cgiar.org/monthlystory/december2006.html)

• What went well from a KS perspective:  1. The incentives were right: the most active participants in the Virtual Conversation were also those who had been invited to the face-to-face CSO Forum in Washington.2. The active participation in three languages.3. The online facilitation, with time dedicated to conducting summaries, daily digests, and translation of messages.
• What could have been improved:  1. The Virtual Conversation generated a momentum that should have been built on immediately after the AGM meeting to create a group of CSO representatives who could form the basis (or core group) for a more permanent interaction with the CGIAR.2. The first week of the online dialogue, dedicated to introductions and presentation of experiences, generated a quantity of e-mails that some felt was too large.

Active Listening
The Institutional KS Project supported the design and facilitation of the CGIAR’s first-ever forum with CSOs at the AGM06. Attended by more than 100 CSO representatives, the event featured a series of lively group discussions aimed at identifying lessons learned and new avenues for improved collaboration, drawing on the experiences of almost 50 current CSO–CGIAR partnerships. These partnerships were presented in a 3-day Innovation Marketplace.

The hundreds of cards, indicating lessons learned and suggested next steps, and the evaluation forms produced by the CSO–CGIAR Forum participants were carefully compiled immediately after the Forum closed. This output was shared in summary form with the three persons who were designated by the CSO–CGIAR Forum Advisory Group to make a joint presentation to the CGIAR Business Meeting on the key results from the Forum at the AGM06. These people were farmers Fernando López of Uruguay and Glyvyns Chinuntha of Malawi, and Rajul Pandya-Lorch of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).

About a dozen CGIAR Member representatives shared their views on the Forum, urging the CGIAR to build on the momentum it had created. They further noted that the Forum had represented “a step in the right direction” and had established “a new dynamic in CSO–CGIAR partnerships.” Members also offered ideas about the future role of a special advisory group and underlined the great potential of the Pilot Grant Program. Echoing much of the input from Forum participants, Members also emphasized the importance of capacity strengthening and more dynamic two-way communication in CSO–CGIAR partnerships.

• 
  What went well from a KS perspective: 1. The whole day showcased a different way of organizing meetings, allowing for active listening. 2. The dynamics (World Café, Chat Show, Poster Discussions) worked well, with participants effectively documenting the conversations.
• What could have been improved:1. The way we accompanied the CSO representatives, many of whom came alone and needed more guidance and help throughout the event and their stay.2. The Innovation Marketplace process, where many poster presenters waited in vain for a visit from a judge. A preselection process had taken place beforehand, but had not been communicated to the participants. A more transparent selection process was needed. 3. More CGIAR staff could have been invited, as many discussion tables lacked CGIAR presence.

Opportunities for Exploration
More recently, the Institutional KS Project supported yet another event within the CSO–CGIAR engagement process. This event was the inception workshop of the four winning projects of the CSO–CGIAR Competitive Grants Program, which is supported by the Government of Norway, DFID, USAID, and the World Bank. A striking feature of this Program is that the funds are disbursed to the CSO partners. During the workshop, CSO partners remarked again and again that this approach represents a new paradigm in CSO–CGIAR engagement. The workshop was held in Washington, DC, in October 2007. It aimed to:

1. Set the stage for project implementation and find a common ground for the program.
2. Explore issues around partnerships.
3. Stimulate the sharing of knowledge and experiences between projects throughout the duration of the program.

The 2-day event offered opportunities for fruitful discussions around each project’s focus, partnership networks, and issues related to project communication. Some of the main points included in the workshop’s agenda were:

• The active participation of the CGIAR Secretariat Team, whose CSO Initiative was included along the same lines as the four winning proposals.
• An interactive session on people and networks, which was led by consultant Nancy White.
• An introduction to communication and outreach strategies, which was led by Purvi Mehta-Bhatt from Science Ashram in India.
• An overview of the insights and lessons learned from a CSO–CGIAR partnership study that was recently commissioned by the CGIAR Science Council.

At the end of the meeting, the walls of the meeting room were covered with network maps, colorfully drawn on flip charts; post-it graffiti areas where participants had commented on each project presentation; discussion summaries on issues that need to be worked on after the workshop (like project contracting and reporting); and ideas that emerged on project documentation and communication.

Nancy White, in addition to her network session, attended gatherings to take notes and provide facilitation. Short videos were produced with participants’ digital cameras, and pictures were taken of different sessions. As a result, an almost complete documentation on the project was achieved and made available online through a wiki only 2 days after the workshop ended. (See http://wiki.cgiar.org/KSproject/tiki-index.php?page=Competitive+Grant+Scheme)

In the short videos, the participants highlighted very different aspects of the event, including the cross-regional richness of experiences of projects in Africa, Asia, and Latin America; the opportunity to share with colleagues of similar thinking and thoughts; and interest in particular sessions such as that on networks and communication.

One participant stated at the very end, “We are committed to make this process work”, thus expressing awareness of the opportunity to showcase more effective ways of CSO–CGIAR engagement.

• What went well from a KS perspective: 1. Sufficient time and space were available for the group to come up with ideas for follow-up actions. 2. Guest speakers gave lively presentations, bringing in diverse perspectives.
• What could have been improved: 1. More active involvement of the participants beforehand via a Dgroup to share workshop expectations, thus including them more effectively in the agenda.2. More mechanisms could have been purposefully incorporated for joint learning on partnerships between CSOs, CGIAR Centers, and the CGIAR Secretariat (as manager of the program) throughout the Program, which seems to be a vital component.

All the events—the Virtual Conversation, CSO–CGIAR Forum, and CSO–CGIAR Competitive Grants Program Inception Workshop—provided an opportunity to demonstrate how KS methods and principles can open up meaningful spaces for dialogue by establishing thoroughly explicit objectives and carefully designing group dynamics.

Next Steps

As Fionna Douglas,  Communications Advisor of the CGIAR Secretariat, stated in one workshop session, engagement with civil society is a process that has multiple entry points. 

Representatives of CSOs and CGIAR staff have been invited to discuss the findings of the recent study on CSO–CGIAR partnerships commissioned by the Science Council. This time, the Institutional KS Project will support the virtual event through mentoring activities. Facilitation will be led by a CGIAR Secretariat Team member, Florencia Tateossian, who has frequently expressed enthusiasm for the opportunity of listening to members of the CSO community and learning more about making the process of CSO engagement work for all the players involved.  (See discussion at http://www.dgroups.org/groups/cgiar/cso-cgiar-forum/index.cfm)

The Secretariat Team is also considering the use of a blog, Crossroads, as one way of engaging, on a more permanent basis, with CSOs.