Welcome to the view from my office! My office in Mara House has a great view of the Ngong Hills, but this monthly blog is not going to focus on that view. Rather, I want to use it to keep you up to date with what I have been doing, what I’m thinking and my views on a number of issues of importance to ILRI.

My first day as DDG-Integrated Sciences found me in Montpellier for the opening of the Consortium Office and a series of meetings on the refreshing of the CGIAR Strategy and Results Framework (SRF) and development of indicators and targets for the CGIAR and CRPs. The SRF is the overall strategy for the CGIAR along with key indicators of success which should a) guide the overall objectives, direction, priorities and way of working for the CGIAR, b) guide the development of the second phase of CRPs, c) help persuade donors to invest in the CGIAR and d) persuade partners to work with us. Needless to say we have a long way to go to reach an SRF that will achieve all this.

In the second week in June I was in Tanzania with Jimmy, where we travelled to Morogoro to visit Sokoine Agricultural University, the district administration and see some of our field sites where we are implementing our smallholder dairy research. The official opening of our office in Dar es Salaam was on 13 June, attended by the Minister of Livestock and Fisheries and many of our partners. Congratulations to Amos Omore and the team for arranging a very successful event which raised the profile of our work in Tanzania and showcased some of our projects there.

Following the Institute Management Committee meeting on 16-17 June, I was back in Addis for a week with Boni Moyo, who will be taking over as DG’s Representative and Program Leader for Animal Science for Sustainable Productivity in August, to spend some time with her and begin the process of handing over. I also worked with Gail Amare who joined ILRI the previous week as Head of Administration in Addis.

I have been spending time getting to know the programs and staff in Integrated Sciences better. I am more familiar with some people and programs than others and I’m looking forward to getting to know everyone.

One of my priorities in the coming weeks is to ensure we have a convincing and easily understood science plan. While the board approved the general thrust of the science plan at its meeting in April we need a version that communicates the key elements of the plan in a succinct manner to both internal and external audiences. To achieve this, Suzanne Bertrand and I will be working together to produce a 10-12 page version of the plan. This will then provide the basis for developing plans for each of the ILRI programs, our contributions to the CRPs and the regions in which we work.

Till next month…

Iain