Alianza Cambio Andino-Research Plan for Social Analysis JAA 3/24/2009 PROGRAMA ALIANZA CAMBIO ANDINO RESEARCH PLAN FOR SOCIAL ANALYSIS

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1 PROGRAMA ALIANZA CAMBIO ANDINO RESEARCH PLAN FOR SOCIAL ANALYSIS

2 Goal and Objectives of the Research Plan Background The goal of Cambio Andino s social research is to understand social organizational factors that affect how the poor benefit from agricultural innovation, and in particular, public sector R&D, in order to improve the effectiveness of participatory methodologies for enhancing the inclusion of the poor. Cambio Andino is a collaborative program that involves partnerships among diverse types of organizations, most of which are directly engaged in rural development. The Program is hosted by two international agricultural research centers (CIP and CIAT) whose mandate is to produce international public goods from research, to which Cambio Andino s social analysis aims to contribute. Objectives of social analysis Cambio Andino aims to consolidate a set of proven participatory methodologies for agricultural R&D, gather evidence on their effectiveness for improving the inclusion of the rural poor in processes of agricultural innovation and use this evidence to influence the formulation and implementation of policies that improve inclusion of the poor. The specific objectives of social analysis are to: (1) Contribute to understanding of how social capital creates conditions in which participatory methodologies may be more or less effective in promoting the inclusion of the poor in agricultural innovation. (2) Complement the program s impact studies with data and analysis on social capital as a driver of inclusion/exclusion for the poor. (3) Contribute social analysis to the policy debate and strengthen the credibility of policy narratives and recommendations that can benefit from an understanding of the workings of social capital. (4) Produce refereed journal articles as a contribution to the program s international public goods Objetivos del análisis social: (1) Contribuir al entendimiento de cómo el capital social crea condiciones que aumentan la eficacia de los métodos participativos en promover la inclusión de los pobres en procesos de innovación agropecuaria. (2) Complementar los estudios de impacto del Programa con datos y análisis sobre capital social. (3) Contribuir con análisis social al debate sobre políticas y fortalecer la credibilidad de recomendaciones políticas (4) Publicar como contribución a los bienes públicos internacionales del Programa. 2

3 The policy case for participatory methodologies Demand-driven, community-based or community-driven local development is perceived as an important pro-poor innovation strategy by major development agencies, such as the World Bank. The argument is that when services or products are co-produced by local actors and the state, the result will be more relevant services and more willingness locally, to co-share costs of these services, leading to more sustainable development in the long run. The basic strategy used by community-driven development is to put in place more participatory, decentralized management and budgeting procedures so that the poor obtain a high level of control over and responsibility for management and resource allocation for the production of public goods. Critics have shown that these participatory approaches are subject to elite capture and do not guarantee that the poor benefit more. In agricultural R&D the demand driven approach involves: Strengthening farmer organization ( and social capital) starting with informal groups and graduating to formal associations and federations of producer organizations Facilitating the collective identification and expression of demand from poor producers (this requires the development of producers social capital). A competitive market of service providers is usually created. Decentralizing service delivery that includes payment for services by producers and/or their organizations, often funded through social development funds that provide groups with microfinance. (Microfinance draws heavily on social capital through group pressure to ensure repayment) Co production of services: this may occur through farmer-to-farmer extension, farmer-led adaptive research etc where farmers assume part of the costs of service delivery Building in procedures for quality control of services that include evaluation by poor users and their participation in governance. (This requires empowerment and may depend on social capital if carried out collectively). The case for participatory approaches and methodologies is that increased participation by clients in the co-production of services or products that are public goods will lead to more useful or valuable services or products for clients and more willingness among clients to assume financing and governance responsibilities. In agricultural innovation systems, increased participation by producers and producer organizations in the development and dissemination of agricultural innovations (that are public goods) should result in innovations that are more useful to farmers and that enable them to be more competitive. This should result in greater willingness on the part of producer organizations to share costs of R&D, to demand/exert quality control and assume governance responsibilities in the innovation system. 3

4 In the Andean region, this approach influenced international development donor efforts to restructure national agricultural innovation systems so that adaptive research and technology transfer services were made more decentralized and, at least in theory, subject to local producers demand. One mechanism has been for the state to develop policies and procedures to solicit and finance proposals on a competitive basis from suppliers of adaptive R&D services, in response to demand from producer and other organizations involved in local development. A number of weaknesses have been detected from experience with this approach but the basic principle of trying to match supply with demand for R&D still underlies national policy for agricultural innovation. In several Andean countries this principle is manifest in an increased interest in and support for approaches that facilitate greater participation of producers in the design, implementation and evaluation of agricultural innovation. Participatory methodologies provide systematic procedures for involving poor producers in different aspects of the agricultural innovation process. Several are included in Cambio Andino: to improve formulation of producer demand, increase participation in market chains, improve product and technology development and evaluate the quality of service delivery. Cambio Andino has selected five methodologies that enhance producer participation in different segments of the agricultural innovation process, for further development in 2008, as summarized in Table 1. The general research hypothesis is that exposure to participatory methodologies builds the social capital assets of the poor. Table 1. Methodologies Producer participation is enhanced in: Methodology A Base organization of farmers for collective action DOI B Technology development EPT C Market and product development EPCP D Local innovation project development and administration EPPR E Evaluation of service delivery or project performance SEP Research questions Social capital 1. What is the status of social capital of the poor in selected sites where participatory methodologies are being implemented by the Program? 2. Are there significant differences in the level or type of social capital of the poor compared with other, more prosperous socioeconomic groups in the study areas? 3. Can we relate social capital to differences in empowerment? 4. How is the stock of social capital of the poor related to their exposure to the use of participatory methodologies? 4

5 5. How is the stock of social capital of the poor and their exposure to participatory methodologies related to their inclusion or exclusion from agricultural research and extension services and their participation in market chains? Participatory plant breeding (PPB): PPB is a specific participatory methodology that is of strategic importance and will receive especial attention because of the focus of the CGIAR centers on plant breeding. 1. What trends can be identified in the experience with PPB in Latin American national agricultural research programs over the past 2 decades (approximately )? How have national agricultural research programs responded to experience with PPB: have there been changes in research priorities or in the organization or research as a result of this experience? 2. What do these trends tell us about conditions in national programs that have favored or hindered the institutionalization of PPB methodologies? Are there generalizable features of more or less successful PPB approaches or methodologies? 3. How does the success or failure of institutionalization of PPB relate to characteristics of agricultural innovation systems, in particular the types of actors involved in different PPB experiences? 4. How inclusive of and beneficial to the poor have different PPB approaches been? Activities The following activities are planned: (1) Comparative analysis of the implementation of participatory methodologies, based on analysis of profiles of cases (Perfiles de Contenido) of the experience of the Program s implementing projects. (2) A detailed analysis of the FEDECAFE, Colombia case to be done collaboratively with a team drawn from the participatory methods, impact studies and policy areas so that it can be used for policy dialogue. (3) Survey research on relationships between social capital, poverty, gender and inclusion: PhD theses. (4) A research paper on the history and impact of PPB in Latin America; building PPB content into the inventory of methodologies via a search for the grey literature. (5) A paper that lays out the policy case for participatory methodologies and looks broadly at the evidence drawn from published refereed journal articles and (especially in LAC) grey literature. 5

Web Annex 6: Output indicators and targets 2016-17

CL 153/3 Web Annex 6 1 Web Annex 6: Output indicators and targets 2016-17 SO1: Contribute to the eradication of hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition 1.1 Member countries and their 1.1.1 Improving capacities