Globalization, technical change and migration are changing the dynamics of poverty and food production. These factors, combined with a better understanding of the nature of complex processes, are also changing the nature of scientific research, the roles researchers can play in poverty...

The ILAC Initiative consists of an evolving community of individuals committed to increasing the contributions of agricultural research to sustainable poverty reduction around the world. ILAC promotes research, methodology development and capacity development to increase understanding of...

This paper presents six key issues from the Rethinking Impact: Understanding the complexity of poverty and change Workshop (RIW) held in Cali, Colombia, March 26–28, 2008. The workshop discussed how agricultural and natural-resources research can be more effective in generating solutions for...

Summary of workshop on Rethinking Impact: Understanding the complexity of poverty and change. March 26–28, 2008, Cali, Colombia

This report summarizes the papers presented and the discussions that took place at the workshop on Institutional Learning and Change in the CGIAR held at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in Washington, D.C. from February 4–6, 2003. The workshop brought to together...

Outcome mapping is a methodology for planning, monitoring and evaluating development initiatives that aim to bring about social change. The process of outcome mapping helps a project team or program to be specific about the actors it targets, the changes it expects to see and the strategies it...

Since it was conceptualized in the late 1980s as a research methodology and change paradigm, the technique of ‘appreciative inquiry’ (AI) has proved to be highly effective for capturing the positive features of an organization or social system and energizing the members to strive for higher...

Innovation in the food and agriculture sector is frequently short-circuited by a lack of trust and communication between actors in the market chain. To overcome these problems and stimulate innovation, the Participatory Market Chain Approach (PMCA) brings together small farmers, market agents,...

Utilization-focused evaluation (UFE) is based on the principle that an evaluation should be judged by its utility. So no matter how technically sound and methodologically elegant, an evaluation is not truly a good evaluation unless the findings are used. UFE is a framework for enhancing the...