CRP 2020 Reviews: WHEAT

In 2020 the CGIAR CAS Secretariat is conducting independent reviews of the 12 CGIAR Research Programs (CRPs), including this one of WHEAT. The reviews will provide information on quality of science and effectiveness in each CRP. This review covers the Phase II years of 2017 through 2019, with a view to identifying lessons for future research modalities

CGIAR GENDER Platform: Evaluation Report

The summative and formative evaluation of the GENDER (Generating Evidence and New Directions for Equitable Results) Platform assessed its progress from January 2020 to October 2022, to document lessons and best practices, to also provide forward-looking recommendations for the newly transitioned CGIAR GENDER Impact Platform. The evaluation was conducted between October 2022 – June 2023 by the external team, which was led by an evaluation expert and comprised of three subject matter experts to specifically address Evidence, Methods, and Alliances modules of the Platform. This evaluation employed theory-based, utilization-focused, participatory, and feminist approaches aligned with CGIAR’s Evaluation Framework and Policies. The Platform evaluation readiness was determined by an evaluability assessment jointly carried out by the GENDER platform team, with facilitation and quality assurance under IAES, following the CGIAR evaluability assessment guidelines. The presentation of approaches and methodology of the evaluation and its novelties was shared with the wider audiences at the 2023 gLOCAL event: How Evaluations Contribute to Addressing The Greater Societal Issues: Evaluation of the CGIAR GENDER Platform Additional detail on methodology is provided in the Annex. Seven key evaluation questions were framed along the five evaluation criteria: relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, coherence, and sustainability. Quality of Science evaluation criteria was integrated into the specific evaluation sub-questions of the Evidence module study, to pretest the evaluation guidelines CGIAR on evaluating QoR4D in process and performance evaluations. The evaluation used three kinds of triangulation: investigator triangulation, data triangulation, and methodological triangulation. Mixed methods were employed, including: online survey (119 respondents- see survey blog), key informant interviews (84 participants), and desk reviews on Platform indicator data, annual reports, module financial data, and other secondary documents. Executive summaries of three module reports are includes in the Annex, complementing the Platform-wide evidence and conclusions. Responding to the key stakeholder groups, the evaluation made 11 recommendations for: the GENDER Platform and CGIAR management. Complementing lessons from other platform evaluations of Excellence in Breeding Platform and Big Data in Agriculture, lessons learnt from this evaluation of the GENDER platform that would apply to new CGIAR impact platforms. Please read the evaluation report with stand-alone annexes, and Management Response to the evaluation. Stay tuned for other knowledge management products

Advancing Systems Thinking in Evaluation: A Review of Four Publications

ReviewThis article reviews four books published in 2010 and 2011 on the topic of systems thinking in evaluation: Developmental Evaluation: Applying Complexity Concepts to Enhance Innovation and Use by Michael Q. Patton; Purposeful Program Theory: Effective Use of Theories of Change and Logic Models by Sue Funnell and Patricia Rogers; Systems Concepts in Action: A Practitioner's Toolkit by Bob Williams and Richard Hummelbrunner, and Evaluation in the Face of Uncertainty: Anticipating Surprise and Responding to the Inevitable by Jonathan Morell. These books describe the interdisciplinary landscape of systems theories, encompassing general systems theory, systems dynamics, complexity theory, network theory, and learning systems, and how they can be used to improve evaluation practice. The books appeal to many different and sometimes overlapping audiences. Separately, they address specific information needs about how to incorporate systems concepts into different aspects of evaluation design, data collection, analysis, and reporting. Together, the books complement and reinforce each other, creating a cohesive picture of the state of the art of systems thinking by encouraging thinking about situational dynamics in an often complicated and complex world. The books' authors also advance systems thinking in evaluation by inviting their readers to test out the books' ideas and methods in their own evaluation work. © The Author(s) 2012