Harnessing research for development to tackle wicked problems - Water Scarcity, Livelihoods and Food Security - page 47

• Analysis and incorporation of lessons learned.

• Research is not the center of the work itself but is a distributed activity

involving a dense network of people.

Innovation is a key component of R4D, which is defined as “novel ways to do
things better.” It is about the “how” of doing things differently that triggers
change, not just the “what” of new outputs, although they also are important
(Perrin, 2002). An innovation system is a network of organizations and people,
together with the policies that affect their innovative behavior. The system
brings new processes, new forms of organization and new products into
economic use. Innovation is often driven by entrepreneurs pursuing market
opportunities (Hall et al., 2010).
The most important tool in R4D is the “learning system.” Learning systems
include approaches such as learning by participatory action or social learning.
Both focus on a series of steps that help groups of people learn while they are
doing (Mbabu and Hall, 2012). Learning systems feature:

• an effective performance management or monitoring and evaluation
system;
• facilitated strategic and organizational planning;
• a research culture that supports an institutional learning and change
agenda;
• research operations that explore processes and pathways to impact; and
• links to communities of practice sharing experiences and lessons.

Harnessing complexity: Theoretical basis of the CPWF
approach
In its evolving R4D program, the CPWF built on the networks of water and
agricultural scientists of Phase 1. It developed solutions to local problems by
involving the people who would adopt those solutions. In 2007, the CPWF
applied one variation of the theory of change (ToC) (Weiss, 1995) to its new
R4D approach. It asked, “How can the small investments that the CPWF can
make have an impact on the lives of the millions of people living in the basins
in which it works?” This led the CPWF to the concept of “emergence,”
wherein complex systems and patterns arise out of a multiplicity of relatively
simple interactions. 1 Hence, the CPWF's ToC is to carry out research that
fosters emergence (Box 3.1).
The ToC the CPWF adopted is based on: (1) the theory of complex adap-
tive systems, coupled with learning selection; (2) social network theory; and (3)
program theory (Rogers et al., 2000). We describe how each of these bases
contributes to our ToC in terms of “cornerstones.”