"Linking international agricultural research knowledge with action for sustainable poverty alleviation: what works?"

Eldis, the portal for development information, highlights this report in its facet on "Poverty".

How can knowledge better contribute to poverty reduction? While the international community’s attempts to mobilise science and technology for sustainable development are not new, it is not clear that they have been as successful so far. This new report from the Center for International Development at Harvard University and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Kenya, reviews experience in implementing five agricultural projects in Africa and Asia over a period of twelve years. It aims to identify institutional arrangements and procedures that are more likely to strengthen the links between research and development.

In making this link, the report considers the three major challenges as being finding ways to:

• bring about a closer match between R&D agendas and decision-maker needs
• combine knowledge from different scientific disciplines and sources
• facilitate adaptive learning in the face of persistent uncertainties

The original report, which comes from the International Livestock Research Institute via the Harvard Center for International Development, perhaps reflects the view of a research organization. I might suggest that it is really important for the constituents to demand that knowledge be used by government decision makers and that government institutionalize means to encourage knowledge use by those in the private sector. Of course, it is difficult for donor agencies to reach out to the public directly -- governments tend to object.