Status and strategic directions

1

• Status and strategic directions
• for Impact Assessment
• at CIMMYT

2
IA at CIMMYT context

• Significant tradition (Pingali, 2001).
• People-centered, livelihoods- / poverty-oriented
  approaches
• CIMMYT strategy, 2004 and Business Plan, 2006
• From focus on adoption and RoR in crop
  improvement
• to assessing a broader range of impacts than in
  the past
• To include vulnerability, distribution of
  benefits, direct/indirect impacts
• IA more issue-oriented rather than
  commodity-oriented ways,
• From crops to livelihoods, multi-dimensional
  assessments
• IA guidelines gtgtgt
• While maintaining a robust economic analytical
  basis

www.cimmyt.org/english/docs/manual/ia/contents.htm
3
A strategy for building, strengthening,
sustaining IA
4
epIA, eaIA, PS studies at CIMMYT 1994-2007

• - Spatial level
• Global / public good (30),
• sub-country / country (20),
• regional (8)
• - Assessment level
• Program (21), institutional (17), special project
  (11)
• - Crop type
• Maize (23), wheat (17), Maize wheat (11)
  other crops
• - Topic
• Breeding (42), Participatory Res. (9), Capacity
  Building (5), CA
• - Methodologies
• Economics (41), reviews (36),
• participatory (12), livelihoods (6)

5
Accountability learning purposes

• Purpose
• accountability (45)
• learning (defined in a very broad sense!, 36)
• targeting / Priority Setting (12)
• Learning purpose of IA is gaining ground to
  complement and expand the accountability function

6
Example external assessment of SG2000 in Africa

• CIMMYT plays different functions through the
  project
• independently gathers knowledge on SG2000
  interventions,
• assess and monitor impacts over a period of time
  (2006-11)
• feedback of information to SG2000 and its Donors.

IA value for policy, as the results are being
used by SG2000 to revisit and change their
strategy of investing in Ethiopia by refocusing
investments to better target the intended poorer
farmers in actual need of better agricultural
technology.
http//sg2000ia.cimmyt.org/
7
External and internal IA

• IA project / study cost metadata on major IA
  studies
• For IA projects completed in 2005-07
• Average external / internal was 32-42 / 68-58
• We move towards a 30-70 share in this balance
• 30 for external NARS and external senior
  support from international professionals
• CIMMYT internally does at least 70
• to enhance credibility, to maintain cross-check
  systems on quality of IA, to increase and
  diversify IA capacity

8
Cross-CGIAR IAs - examples

• ICRAF commissioning external IA of African
  Highlands Initiative to CIMMYT
• CIMMYT conducting with ICARDA training for
  ex-post IA of Winter Wheat program in Turkey
• CIAT supporting CIMMYT on developing Impact
  Pathways for flagship products
• CIMMYT allying with IITA to assess impacts of DTMA

9
Emerging trend more ex-ante IAs

• Type of studies
• Ex-post (51 of 57)
• Ex-ante (14 of 57), mainly in last 4-6 years
• Largest impact through ex-ante studies leading to
  key investment recommendations, e.g.
• On drought through the DTMA project gtgtgt
• Future focus on climate change studies
• Global Rust Initiative for early warning of stem
  rust

http//dtma.cimmyt.org
10
Expansion of CIMMYTs IA capacity

• Common practice for external supply of IA work
• Normally Western-trained and -based
  professionals
• Now external IA should use more outstanding
  professionals from regions where CIMMYTs work
  and mission are focused
• Examples
• Sub-Saharan Africa DTMA, SG2000 and other
  projects
• Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia, with
  ICARDA?
• Latin America via Mexican institutions, EMBRAPA,
  CIP, CIAT?

New positions open or under development Post Doc
Associate Scientist on IA to be based in
Africa Senior scientists in Mexico
11
Communication

• Improving all communication related to IA
  outcomes
• strengthening collaboration with CIMMYT
  Communications,
• outsourcing some communication activities
• e.g. sharing economic databases, internal
  reports, journal papers, Web Pages, briefs, list
  of ready-to-hand-out briefs and spotlights to
  deliver easier messages on IA stories, videos,
  formal publications, etc.

12
Partnerships

• Synergize strategically with Centers and advanced
  Institutes on specific elements of IA, e.g.
• IFPRI, on forward-looking studies and models, GIS
  data
• Bioversity, on ILAC work
• ICARDA, on wheat IA studies, and on livelihood
  impacts
• IRRI, on IA data collection and management tools
• IITA, on DTMA project, data and methods
• CIP and CIAT, on IA guidelines and methods
• Universities
• e.g. Yale, Rutgers, Cornell, Wageningen,
  Pretoria, UC Davie, Virginia, Georgia,
• NARS
• e.g. Addis Ababa University, Makerere, Uganda
  KARI, Kenya Chapingo University, Mexico TAGEM,
  Turkey, etc.

13
2009-13 Future / planned IA activities

• Project level
• Increasing adoption monitoring, ex-post / ex-ante
  scenario studies on returns on DTM investments in
  Africa, through DTMA project
• Increasing role played on policy-influencing
  research, such as from assessments conducted for
  SG2000 interventions in Africa,
• Linked to participation in ILAC activities using
  this as case study
• Institutional level
• A global IA of Conservation Agriculture focusing
  on wheat
• Full-fledged global IA of training and knowledge
• IA of the promotion and development of an impact
  and IA culture
• Strategic assessment of value of (intermediate)
  genetic resources
• Global future scenarios of climate change impacts
  (on wheat)

14
Resources and costs

• 5 of Center resources needed for effective IA
  and PS
• In the past this was 3-4 ex post IA studies,
  principally for purposes of accountability and
  1-2 for scenario or future oriented studies,
  along side priority setting studies.
• Now ex ante impact studies are under-invested,
  hence would need 2 ex post IA, 2 ex ante IA, 1
  PS.
• Core Resources will determine flexibility for IA
  and PS at program / research theme level
• Based on CIMMYT project metadata, overall
  spending on IA activities per year, and Centers
  budget
• These guidelines apply to IA and PS research
  only

15
Conclusions

• More project (larger ones) -level Impact
  Assessments
• Maintaining program and institutional level IA
  work
• Increasing ex-ante IAs for improved targeting and
  PS
• Further institutionalization of IA and IA
  learning culture
• Expansion of communication
• Expansion of capacity new positions opened /
  opening
• Progressive decentralization of IA work beyond
  HQs
• Mexico, Ethiopia, and possibly to Asia

16
Muito obrigado!