Review of the CPWF small grants initiative

This working paper reviews the experiences of the Challenge Program on Water and Food (CPWF) with 14 “small grants for impact” that were contracted in early 2006 and operated for periods of 12 to 18 months. For a total investment of under US$1 million – less than the equivalent of a typical 3-5 year CPWF research for development project in Phase 1, the small grant projects made significant contributions to identifying water and food technology for specific end users (thus showing the potential of CPWF research in general); to better understanding of adoption; to stimulating research by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and to better connecting CPWF researchers in general to the reality of the development process. Four of the small grants were outstanding in their contribution across all four of these criteria; six others made significant contributions to one or more, representing a high success rate for the original investment. The quality of many of the 126 eligible proposals received was sufficient to have identified at least 20 more projects suitable for immediate funding at that time in late 2005. Unfortunately, other demands on CPWF funding and priorities on research set by the Consortium Steering Committee made it impossible to support these. This review concludes that calls for small grant proposals are an effective way of obtaining local impact and of connecting a wide range of relevant institutions to the efforts of a network such as CPW

Improving the resilience of agricultural systems through research partnership: A review of evidence from CPWF projects

This paper explores the potential benefits of working to improve the resilience of complex adaptive systems in agriculture and aquaculture through engaging in diverse partnerships among different types of research and development institutions, and the people in those institutions. We use five case studies of CPWF research-for- development efforts to draw lessons about achieving effective results in system resilience. The paper gives concrete examples of effective partnerships and the positive changes that resulted for farmer and fisher communities. According to the literature (e.g. Sayer and Campbell, 2001), one key to successful attainment of resilience is the interlinking of at least three system levels. Similarly, it appears from our study that projects need to intervene at three or more system levels, with their corresponding actors, to bring maximum benefit to small rural households. In the CPWF experience presented here, one level often provides the key opportunity to mobilizing the other levels. Hence, diverse partnerships increase the chance of innovation and success when that diversity covers at least three institutional scales, for example, farm households, community-based organizations and regional policy-making. We note that there is therefore likely to be a close link between resilient results and broad partnerships in research and development. We find evidence that research products produced in this way contributed better to the resilience of rural livelihoods than those typically obtained from “business as usual”, that is, using the science-driven Central Source of Innovation model, and that such contributions were often unexpected; this merits further study beyond the scope of this paper. In most of the cases, the “business as usual” research would not have produced any of the results. In others, some key results, but not the complete set of results, would have been obtained because not all levels of actors would have been present in the research. The projects discussed in these case studies contributed to resilience of livelihoods because they sped up learning processes that were cognizant and inclusive of different system scales. This provided the checks and balances necessary to avoid promoting a change to the detriment of a long term trend, or of another system user. Involving actors from more system levels increased the ability to analyze, and generated more benefit for more people. By scoping the environment of diverse institutions for ideas, partners picked up good ones quickly. They understood “what is going on”. A further key to success was leadership of the research-for-development teams by results-oriented, committed, well-connected people, accustomed to systems thinking, which was also a result of broader partnerships

Hounded out of time: Black Shuck’s Lesson in the Anthropocene

Drawing in nightmares, shadows and loneliness, this article follows a rarely-trodden and difficult path across the shifting geology of Norfolk; a track marked by fleeting glimpses and horrible signs of the deadly consequences of deep time and human choice. The subject of fascination for folklorists, cryptozoologists and the general public alike; in East Anglia stories abound of a huge, devilish hound, with saucer-shaped eyes and followed by the demonic stench of sulphur; Black Shuck. Pursued by - rather than pursuing - footprints in the mud, whispered stories from isolated places, and the mysteriously mutilated corpses of deer, this ethnographic description considers the significance of encounters with this phantasm for recent debates surrounding the proper understanding of the beginning of the Anthropocene, and the implications of this for our sense time and responsibility. In this era of unprecedented human power over the natural world, the Shuck - the mere sight of whom brings death - still haunts us; his chthonic presence reminding us of the inexorable, yet unpredictable power of death. By attending the monstrous, spectral ambiguity of the Shuck, and his ability to reformulate the landscape of East Anglia as a social space, this article explores the how coeval quality of the longue durée of deep time, and the haunting rupture entailed by the prospect of our own mortality, can enchant, rather than blunt, our sense of human responsibility in the Anthropocene

Rede of Reeds: Land and Labour in Rural Norfolk

Abstract - Rede of Reeds: Land and Labour in Rural Norfolk The central aim of this thesis is to provide a detailed ethnographic account of the human ecology of the Broads - a protected wetland region in the East of England - focussing upon how working lives shape and are shaped by this reedy landscape. In conversations about the management of the Broads, the concept of "common sense" is a frequent trope; encompassing a wide range of associated meanings. But what are these meanings of "common sense" in English culture, and how do they influence the peoples of England, and landscapes in which they work? This thesis addresses these questions ethnographically; using academic and lay deployments of common sense as a route into the political economy of rural Norfolk. Based on 12 months of fieldwork in the Broads National Park, this thesis draws together interviews and participant observation with land managers of various kinds - including conservationists, farmers, gamekeepers, volunteers, gardeners, and administrators. Chapter 1 dissects the differences between academic and popular understandings of "common sense" as a phrase, and produces an ethnographically-derived, working definition. Chapter 2 examines the attitudes of farmers, establishing "the common" as a root metaphor for social and practical rectitude, actualised through labouring in a shared landscape. Chapter 3 explores how the common is sensed, reflecting upon the diverse sensoria afforded by different degrees of enclosure on a single nature reserve. Chapter 4 explores how the concept of common sense intersects with a prevailing culture of possessive individualism, creating a fragmented society in the Park, wracked by controversies over management. Chapter 5 examines bureaucracy in Broadland - frequently cast as the very antithesis of common sense. In the conclusion, we return to the title, and ask - what do the reeds have to say about land, labour, and human nature?This PhD research was funded primarily by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) under the Care for the Future: Thinking Forward Through the Past research theme. It was also supported by the generosity of the Mongolia and Inner Asian Studies Unit, and the Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids

The CGIAR’s Challenge Program Experiences: A Critical Analysis

This document has been prepared by staff of the four Challenge Programs (CPs) established by the CGIAR in 2002-2004 as a contribution to the first meeting of the Consortium Planning Team (CPT) with the Alliance Executive and Deputy Executive (17-20 February 2009)