Perspectives on partnership: Highlights of a literature review

Working in partnership has become central in efforts to address complex environmental, socio-economic, and technological problems. The terms partner or partnership appear more than 100 times in the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness and more than 200 times in the version of the CGIAR's new Strategy and Results Framework presented at the recent Global Conference on Agricultural Research for Development. It is promoted as an effective means to mobilise the resources and capacities needed to generate knowledge, stimulate innovation and influence decision-making. Nevertheless, partnering is often experienced as timeconsuming and frustrating, and it has proved difficult to demonstrate its 'value added'. To improve partnering at the International Potato Center (CIP), we reviewed publications, evaluations and reports dealing with partnership. Rather than a single 'partnership literature' we found several different literatures that approach the subject from different perspectives. Several themes – relating to partnering processes vs. partnership structures, partnership dynamics, types of partnership, incentives for partnering, the key role of trust, power and equity issues, success factors and evaluation – cut across the distinct literatures. This ILAC Brief presents findings in each of these areas, notes some prominent knowledge gaps and identifies areas for future study

CGIAR Program on Participatory Research and Gender Analysis : internally commissioned external review

The review was carried out during the PRGA III International Seminar and Small Grants Workshop, held in Nairobi from 6 to 11 November, 2000. The Review was based on published materials made available during the week, presentations by and interviews with the PRGA staff and informal interviews with different Program stakeholders. In addition, a simple questionnaire was used with liaison scientists to gain a better, semiquantified, insight into the state of participatory research and gender analysis in the different CGIAR Centers. The Review Report has been organized in two parts. The first part consists of a review of the achievements of the Program, based primarily on comparing current achievements (after three years of the Program) against the Indicators and Milestones associated with the Goal, Purpose and Outputs of the five-year Program. The main part of the Report consists of suggestions and recommendations for changes in different parts of the Program, which may help to achieve even greater success than has been already achieved in the past three years

Gender in agricultural mechanization: Key guiding questions

This tool describes case studies of gender implications in mechanization in RTB crops, illustrating both positive and negative outcomes. GENNOVATE research has shown that the beneficiaries of mechanization tend to be the wealthier rather than the poorer farmers and more often men than women. However, results also reveal that women have strong interest in mechanization as a way to improve their own circumstances

Root and tuber crops: Untapped potential for food and nutrition security and rural livelihood development in Myanmar. Results of a scoping study.

RTCs are not a priority crop in Myanmar, but there is still significant growth in production and demand, particularly potato and cassava. Information from farmers and other stakeholders in the RTC sector revealed various concerns and issues affecting RTC development in the study sites in terms of input supply, production, processing, and marketing. Initiatives for RTC development should focus on the accesibility of quality planting material, improved cultivation practice, small-scale mechanization, postharvest and processing facilities, and value chain development