Harnessing research for development to tackle wicked problems - Water Scarcity, Livelihoods and Food Security - page 52

coordination project led by a Basin Leader. 4 The Mekong Basin was an excep-
tion with funding from AusAID allowing 19 projects in five countries.
R4D in Phase 2 was based on the assumption that innovation is essential for
sustainable change to occur. Social and economic change as described in
OLMs arose from technological and institutional innovations fostered by
interactions among stakeholders and partners. The CPWF contributed to
learning selection in the innovation process by training people to work
differently and linking behavior to outcomes specified in the OLMs.
The CPWF R4D framework and processes allowed researchers in basin
programs to understand the complexity of agricultural water management, and
how scale affects the impacts of research. Basin teams discussed with stake-
holders about how change takes place and how best to support it (Hall, 2013).
The form of the discussions differed between basins, but they were guided by
a CPWF-wide emphasis on adaptive management, reflection and learning.
They took the form of stakeholder meetings at the research design stage,
annual reflection meetings in the basins, and engagement platforms at local,
national and regional level.
In 2013, CPWF Basin Leaders and Project Leaders began a process to learn
and reflect on the diversity of approaches applied under R4D (CPWF, 2013).
Thus the definition and framework described below is inductive and ex-post.
We use examples from Phase 2 BDCs to explain the framework and how it
evolved.
R4D is defined by the CPWF as: “An engagement process for under-
standing and addressing development challenges defined with stakeholders.
Stakeholders are champions and partners in the research process as well as the
change it aims to bring about.” CPWF's practical experience of R4D in BDCs
is distilled into eight principles (Box 3.2).
We now discuss sub-sets and combinations of these principles.

Box 3.2 The eight principles of the CPWF's R4D
1

Theory of change;

2 knowledge management;

3 partnerships and networking;

4 research on R4D;

5 policy and engagement;

6 adaptive management;

7 gender and diversity; and

8 capacity building.

Source: CPWF (2013)