A two-dimensional outcome pathway model for research for development (R4D) programs

The CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food (CPWF) is a research for development program that focuses on improving the lives and environment of stakeholders through improved water management in the agriculture and fisheries sectors. To successfully meet the program goal, a project’s outcome pathway must be designed in such a way that makes the project theories of change explicit. The project must make explicit the cause and effect logic, by which its research will help achieve developmental outcomes. In the first phase of the CPWF, projects designed their outcome pathways as a linear logic model starting from inputs to activities to outputs and then outcomes. Outputs and outcomes are linked by intermediate outcomes from the scaling-up and scaling–out processes. This model was found to be an oversimplification. Thus, in Phase 2, CPWF revised the outcome pathway into a two-dimensional logic model, with institutional scale as the second dimension. This logic model was developed through a participatory impact pathway analysis as part of the ex-post impact assessment of the project, Coastal Resource Management for Improving Livelihoods. The two-dimensional outcome pathway model consists of interdependent outcome pathways on at least three scale levels: farm, community, and an enabling environment that affects both. The model describes how project research will influence behavior of actors at the three scales and how these pathways support each other. The Basin Development Challenge Programs in CPWF Phase 2 use this framework to plan for widescale and sustainable adoption of technologies

Climate-smart agriculture appreciation event for the members of the Philippine Network of Environmental Journalists

The appreciation event was organized to provide the members of the media with the basic concepts about the effects of climate change to agriculture, and of the contribution of agriculture to climate change; to facilitate collection stories on field-based experiences through interactions with farmers who have adopted practices that helped them adapt to climate risks; and to showcase climate smart agriculture approaches in demo farms, school garden, and farmers field. Through this activity, they can also help IIRR extend its reach and scale-out learnings from various CSA initiatives. Once available, these media products will be collated

Aerobic Rice - responding to water scarcity, An impact assessment of the ‘STAR in Asia’ project

Rice, a staple food for over 70% of Asians, is also the single biggest user of water, requiring 2-3 times more input (irrigation plus rain) water per unit of grain produced than crops such as wheat and maize. With growing populations, increased urbanisation and environmental degradation, the supply of fresh water is depleting. Recognising the water constraints to rice yield, the aim of the project entitled ‘Developing a System of Temperate and Tropical Aerobic Rice (STAR) in Asia’ was to develop water-efficient aerobic rice technologies. This paper highlights the success of that project

Report on Ganges BDC Reflection Workshop

Phase II of the CGIAR Challenge Program for Water and Food (CPWF) is a multi-institutional and inter-disciplinary research for development initiative focused on increasing the resilience of social and ecological systems through better water management for food production.Phase II in the Ganges Basin began in 2011 and is scheduled to end in 2014. With the aim of improving the livelihoods of Ganges coastal zone farmers in Bangladesh and West Bengal India, the five projects comprising the Challenge are focusing on areas where there is already some level of water control, especially within the polders of Bangladesh but also extending to areas outside polders in India.The goal of the Challenge is to reduce poverty and improve livelihood resilience. The first most important function of the Reflection Workshop is that it allows Ganges BDC project teams to share their individual project activities, findings, issues, opportunities and visions.This enables the BDC team as a whole to discuss, collectively, any adjustments that need to be made to better address the goal of the BDC, and to identify early results that should be built on, particularly for out and upscaling

Training on Establishing Climate-Smart Villages (CSVs) in Myanmar to Improve Food Security and Resilience in Agriculture

This training on establish Climate-Smart Villages (CSVs) in Myanmar was a collaborative effort of the Food Security Working Group (FSWG) and the Myanmar Program of the International Institute of Rural Reconstruction. This was supported in part by donors of the FSWG and the International Development Research Center-Canada through the 3-year action research project of IIRR-Myanmar in 4 CSVs. The overall goal of this training was to increase the understanding of the concepts, processes and tools in implementing of CSVs as an approach to build climate resilience among small-holder farmers, achieve nutrition security and gender equality in Myanmar. It was aimed for local NGOs and members of the Food Security Working Group (FSWG), Myanmar’s largest alliance of development organizations advocating for food security and sustainable livelihoods in Myanmar. This training was part of IIRR-Myanmar’s out-scaling pathway by engaging and building capacities of local civil societies to replicate the CSV approach as platforms to promote climate smart agriculture in Myanmar

CPWF publication policies and guidelines: Version 1.2

The Challenge Program on Water and Food (CPWF) was launched in 2002 as a reform initiative of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). The CPWF aims to increase the resilience of social and ecological systems through better water management for food production (crops, fisheries, and livestock). Since 2002, the program has evolved from a range of research projects to an integrated research program that focuses on specific development challenges in six river basins around the world: Andes, Ganges, Limpopo, Mekong, Nile and Volta. Publishing and documenting research is an important part of the research for development process. It is increasingly recognized that interim results can be important for development practitioners and that communication strategies need to be integrated from the beginning of the research process rather than seen as a by-­‐product For this reason, the CPWF strongly encourages the publication of research results, both intermediary and final. It is important to share the CPWF's findings and demonstrate our achievements to our stakeholders, extension agents, donors, policy makers, and other researchers.The guidelines should be seen as a complement to the CPWF Information and Communication Strategy and a range of other guidelines that have been developed including: • Internal knowledge-­‐sharing guidelines; • Identity guidelines (to be developed); and • Working Paper series, notes for contributors. The guidelines are intended for CPWF partners working in projects or in the Topic Working Groups. These policies and guidelines should be seen as a work in progress and will be updated as and when necessar

Fostering local adaptation platforms for agriculture: How context specific climate-smart villages (CSVs) can relate to local adaptation efforts.

Local adaptation platforms help empower sub-national and local government players, civil society organizations, and public-private partnerships in demonstrating the validity of agro-ecology-specific solutions to current and future climate change impacts. This brief discusses how Climate-Smart Villages, good examples of local adaptation platform, have served as centers for discovery, adaptation, learning, and sharing of climate-smart agriculture in local communities

The AMIA Experience: Supporting local actions for Climate Resilient Agriculture

The brief tackles how the Adaptation and Mitigation Initiative in Agriculture (AMIA) Program of the Philippines’ Department of Agriculture (DA) served as a platform for supporting local actions for climate resilient agriculture. The document discusses a number of key lessons emerging from the AMIA Village experience on the importance of local platforms for adaptation in the form of Climate-Smart Villages towards overall resilience building of the sector