As we all know, the CGIAR Research Programs are upon us … Generating lots of changes and lots of discussion, and sometimes even some uncertainty and stress!

One of the challenges they generate is communication. Where do I find out about them? Which ones is ILRI involved in? What are they doing? And what’s the consortium up to in all of this?

This post will point you to some good starting places … it may not answer all your questions!

First of all, you need to know that the Consortium of International Agricultural Research Centers – that ILRI belongs to – recently produced a ‘branding’ strategy to help us describe ourselves. The proposals include the following two guidelines:

In official communications, never reduce ‘CGIAR Research Program’ to the acronym ‘CRP’

‘CGIAR’ is the official name … following recent reforms, CGIAR ceased to be a consultative group. Therefore, ‘CGIAR’ is no longer an acronym. Consequently, ‘CGIAR’ should never be spelled out, but promoted as a recognizable name in itself.

Where to find a list of CRPs? This is on the Consortium web site: http://www.cgiar.org/our-research/cgiar-research-programs/

The ILRI web site has some basic information on the CRP’s that we are involved in: http://www.ilri.org/crp. Each has a contact person/leader you can ask for information: Polly Ericksen (Drylands, CRP1.1); Alan Duncan (Humid Tropics, CRP1.2); Derek Baker (Policies and Markets, CRP2); Tom Randolph (Livestock and Fish, CRP3.7); Delia Grace (Nutrition and Health, CRP4); Polly Ericksen (Water, Land and Ecosystems, CRP5); and Mario Herrero (Climate Change, CRP7).

Each CRP has its own set of communication tools and platforms. Some are more advanced than others. Here are a few places you can start:

Livestock and Fish: Website with news and key information; Wiki with meeting plans, calendar of events, information on components, etc; repository with reports, documents, etc; events calendar. You can sign up to receive email alerts. See the page on the Consortium web site.

Climate Change (CCAFS): Website with news and key information; repository with reports, documents, etc; events calendar. You can join a Yammer network to exchange news and updates. See the page on the Consortium web site.

Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE): Website with key information ; Blog with news; Wiki with meeting plans, information on components, etc. You can join a Yammer network to exchange news and updates. See the page on the Consortium web site.

Agriculture for Human Nutrition and Health (A4NH): Website with key information; ILRI web site for the ‘aghealth’ component. See the page on the Consortium web site. Sign up for news updates

Policies Institutions and Markets: Information on the IFPRI web site. See the page on the Consortium web site.

Dryland Systems: Website with news and basic information. See the page on the Consortium web site.

Humid Tropics: Website with news and basic information. See the page on the Consortium web site.

More generally, the Consortium recently established a Dspace ‘library’ (the same as we use) to archive CRP documents (as well as other official documents, publications and communication materials produced by the CGIAR).