Douthwaite, Boru

Álvarez, S.

CGSpace

The	  3rd	  International	  Forum	  	  on	  Water	  and	  Food	  Tshwane,	  South	  Africa	  November	  14	  –	  17, 2011	  	   	   	  	  	  Co-­‐hosted	  by:	  	  	   	  H o w  R e s e a r c h e r s  T h i n k  T h e y  W i l l  M a k e  a n  I m p a c t :  E v i d e n c e  f r o m  t h e  C h a l l e n g e  P r o g r a m  o n  W a t e r  a n d  F o o d  SOPHIE	  ALVAREZ1	  AND	  BORU	  DOUTHWAITE2	  1International	  Center	  for	  Tropical	  Agriculture	  (CIAT),	  Colombia	  2CGIAR	  Challenge	  Program	  on	  Water	  and	  Food	  (CPWF),	  Sri	  Lanka	  b.s.alvarez@gmail.com	  S e s s i o n :  L e a r n i n g  t o  I n n o v a t e       S u m m a r y  The	   Challenge	   Program	   on	   Water	   and	   Food	   (CPWF)	   requires	   that	   its	   projects	   make	   explicit	   the	  pathways	   by	   which	   researchers	   believe	   their	   research	   will	   achieve	   outcomes,	   such	   as	   changes	   in	  knowledge,	   attitude,	   skills	   and	   practice.	   	   These	   pathways	   are	   made	   explicit	   in	   the	   form	   of	   testable	  hypotheses,	   also	   called	   theory	   of	   change.	   	   The	  CPWF’s	   goal	   is	   to	   increase	   the	   resilience	  of	   social	   and	  ecological	  systems	  through	  better	  water	  management	  for	  food	  production.	  	  This	  study	  characterizes	  and	  critiques	  these	  pathways	  in	  terms	  of	  their	  general	  plausibility	  and	  against	  already-­‐established	  theories	  of	  change	   from	   the	   social	   science	   literature.	   	   The	   paper	   presents	   early	   evidence	   as	   to	   the	   validity	   or	  otherwise	   of	   the	   pathways	   derived	   from	   analysis	   of	   project	   monitoring	   data.	   	   This	   analysis	   will	   help	  projects	   improve	   their	   outcome	   pathways	   and	   make	   those	   outcomes	   more	   likely.	   	   The	   paper	   also	  Key Message Researchers	  are	  guided	  in	  their	  actions	  by	  the	  way	  they	  believe	  their	  research	  will	  benefit	  next	  users	  and	  end	  users	  of	  their	  work.	  	  Improving	  these	  outcome	  pathways	  can	  improve	  the	  likelihood	  of	  beneficial	  outcomes	  for	  users.	  	  There	  are	  practical	  ways	  of	  monitoring	  and	  improving	  progress	  along	  outcome	  pathways	  and	  the	  CPWF	  is	  working	  to	  develop	  and	  use	  them.	  	  	  	  International	  Forum	  on	  Water	  and	  Food	  reflects	  on	  the	  costs	  and	  benefits	  of	  making	  outcome	  pathways	  explicit,	  and	  then	  monitoring	  progress	  along	  them.	  	  	  	  

How researchers think they will make an impact: Evidence from the challenge program on water and food

https://cgspace.cgiar.org/bitstream/10568/10386/1/LiSe004_ns.pdf

How researchers think they will make an impact: Evidence from the challenge program on water and food

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