Rethinking Impact Workshop

In association with the CGIAR’s Participatory Research and Gender Analysis System Wide Programme (PRGA) and ILRI’s Innovation Works, the ILAC Initiative co-organized a workshop on ‘Rethinking Impact: Understanding the Complexity of Poverty and Change,’ at CIAT headquarters, Cali, Colombia, March 26-28, 2008.The objective of the workshop was to draw from the experience of professionals from multiple disciplines of natural and social sciences regarding evaluation of research aimed at poverty reduction, social inclusion and sustainable development. The workshop focused on three themes:

• Case Studies with lessons learned
• Impact assessment and evaluation approaches
• Institutionalization of new approached for research management and impact assessment

We were particularly interested in new methods and metrics that have been developed and tested in ongoing evaluations and impact assessment efforts supporting learning.

The workshop was attended by 59 professionals (42% of whom were women) from Natural Sciences, Evaluation, Economics and Social Sciences background.

ILAC Learning Laboratory Meeting – March 2008

The Learning Laboratory is an ILAC activity in which professionals from collaborative research programmes come together to share knowledge and experiences, experiment with new approaches for facilitating innovation for poverty reduction, and evaluate the results. The first meeting was held from March 30 – April 2, 2008 in Cali, Colombia. It was attended by 29 professionals (from 7 case studies and other experts) from different organizations and backgrounds.

The following seven programmes working on pro-poor agricultural innovation participated in the meeting:

• Integrated Crop Management and Value Chain Improvement for Sweetpotato Livelihoods in Central Luzon, Philippines – Users’ Perspectives With Agricultural Research and Development (UPWARD-CIP)
• Andean Change Program
• Network for linking users to researchers for banana and plantain improvement
• The Kenya Smallholder Dairy Project (SDP)
• Knowledge and Monitoring System of SG2000 Innovations in Africa
• African Highlands Initiative (AHI)
• Generating new knowledge on Knowledge Intensive Agricultural Systems

The overall workshop objectives were:

1. Develop inputs to work plans for ILAC Learning Laboratory cases
2. Develop inputs to the ILAC Project Design Document and Work Plan
3. Develop relationships, understanding and links among members of an incipient community of innovation researchers and practitioners

The objectives were pursued through clarifying and agreeing on impact pathways for: 1) ILAC as a whole, and 2) for the individual cases.

A report has been produced with more details about the meeting and also what the next steps will be.