Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
7
Partnerships, platforms
and power
Amy Sullivan, a* Terry Clayton, b
Amanda Harding c and Larry W. Harrington d
a Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network
FANRPAN, Pretoria, South Africa; b CGIAR Challenge Program on Water
and Food, Vientiane, Lao PDR; c CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and
Food CPWF, Paris, France; d CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and
Food CPWF, Ithaca, NY, USA; * Corresponding author,
amysullivan3@gmail.com.
Introduction
Previous chapters described how the Challenge Program on Water and Food
(CPWF) adopted a research-for-development (R4D) approach to address
problems in complex adaptive water and food systems. In R4D, the entire
research process, including outputs, can be the basis for strategic engagement
with decision-makers. Engagement strategies feature the participation of
development actors or boundary partners. They aim to modify decision-maker
knowledge, attitudes and skills to influence policy and practice (outcomes).
Engaging decision-makers from the outset allows them to contribute to define
the problem, set priorities, and design and implement the research. Strategic
engagement creates feedback loops to improve research itself. New infor-
mation can improve researchers' and decision-makers' understanding of the
problem in hand and how to address it (Figure 7.1).
In this chapter we further explore R4D engagement strategies and what
these may look like in program implementation. We argue that innovations
are embedded within a policy and political context and that engagement deals
with power relationships. We found that partnerships and platforms 1 are central
to successful engagement, but that these are also complicated by questions of
power. We first explore the CPWF's experiences with partnerships and
platforms and then discuss power issues in the context of R4D. We present
two kinds of examples, from individual CPWF projects and from the CPWF
itself as a reform program of the CGIAR.
Partnerships
Partnerships and networks are central to the CPWF's R4D approach. Basin
and Project Leaders focused on developing partnerships and collaboration. The
CPWF found that personal contacts and engaging in networks to create social
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