Oversight and
Assurance

In 2022, the efforts of CGIAR’s Independent Science for Development Council (ISDC), the Standing Panel on Impact Assessment (SPIA), and the Independent Advisory & Evaluation Service (IAES) contributed to the System’s effectiveness, its culture of continual learning, and its transition to One CGIAR.

Highlights of ISDC in 2022 included:

• Completion of 14 independent reviews of CGIAR Research Initiatives with pooled CGIAR funding. This included an initial review of 12 Initiative proposals, followed by another review on accelerating crop improvement through genome editing and one on the latest Initiative on Fragility, Conflict, and Migration.
• Quality of Research for Development was bolstered through four discrete sets of activities: (i) gathering lessons about the ISDC-moderated CGIAR Research Initiative review; (ii) ISDC technical notes related to inclusive innovation; (iii) ISDC technical notes related to comparative advantage; and (iv) the return of the ISDC Science Forum in 2022.

Highlights of SPIA in 2022 included:

• Two matchmaking events on CGIAR campuses that brought together CGIAR and academic researchers to jointly develop impact assessment studies focused on testing key assumptions of the Theory-of-Change of CGIAR’s new Research Initiatives.
• Technical guidance and close monitoring provided by SPIA for the 19 impact assessment studies in the portfolio that are on track to deliver results by 2024 despite COVID-19 delays, with results being shared on an ongoing basis through SPIA webinars.
• Data collection and analysis ongoing at a national scale in four CGIAR priority countries (Ethiopia, Uganda, Vietnam, and Bangladesh) to document the reach of CGIAR-related innovations. Results of work-in-progress were shared and discussed with System Council, CGIAR leadership and researchers, including through in-person presentations at ILRI, IRRI, WorldFish and the Alliance of Bioversity International & CIAT.

Highlights of the IAES/Evaluation function in 2022 included:

• CGIAR governance bodies endorsed the new CGIAR Evaluation Framework and Policy. To operationalize these documents, two evaluation guidelines were launched (i) Conducting and Using Evaluability Assessments within CGIAR (in English and in Spanish); and (ii) Applying the QoR4D Framework to Process and Performance Evaluations.
• Science-Metrix (an Elsevier company) co-developed a technical note on the use of bibliometrics in evaluating CGIAR performance. Lessons from the 2020 independent evaluative reviews of 12 CGIAR Research Programs informed this effort.
• A brief, drawn from evaluations of Excellence in Breeding and Big Data in Agriculture platforms (2022 and 2021, respectively) featured evaluation learning and recommendations on cross-cutting themes, e.g., governance, gender, partnerships, and monitoring, evaluation and learning.

During the year, IAES maintained its strong focus on supporting the three mandate areas and the communication of relevant, accessible, and timely independent advisory and evaluation products to stakeholder groups.