The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) was established in 1971 to support the Rockefeller and Ford Foundations in funding four international agricultural research centres in Colombia, Mexico, Nigeria and the Philippines. As the first global programme to receive grants from the World Banks net income, the CGIAR now consists of 16 autonomous international centres, with a membership of 62 countries, including 24 developing and transition economies. This report evaluates the work of CGIAR and makes several recommendations to address the future challenges it faces in promoting agricultural research.

Workshop, held in Singapore on 7-9July 1986, which examined a number of case studies documenting the present level of evaluation of research management activities in different national programs and institutions. Participants used this case study material and their practical experience to reach consensus on some aspects relating to the different uses and users of evaluation, the role of evaluation in the planning process, and how to organize and implement an evaluation prgram in different types of research organizations, as well as reviewing the evaluation activities of external donor agencies. An alternative approach was suggested that would be more effective in the long run to both national programs and donor agencies. Areas of further collarboration were also identified.

This pioneering text brings together for the first time the global institutions on the front line of the campaign against hunger and poverty. The institutions examined in this book – the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the World Bank, the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) – play important roles in achieving and maintaining world food security, which is essential for human existence, economic and social development and world peace. By analyzing the origins, functions, successes and difficulties of these global institutions, Shaw highlights the continuing relevance of these bodies in their quest to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century. In the light of the current world food crisis, this book provides a particularly pertinent commentary on a highly topical issue that is never far from the media spotlight. This book is essential reading for all students, academics and readers with an interest in international organisations, agricultural development and economic and humanitarian affairs