The institutional history of the CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food - Water Scarcity, Livelihoods and Food Security - page 83

The CPWF supported innovative research that created new partnerships and
mutual learning amongst individuals and organizations. In November 2004
Project Leaders met for their first workshop in South Africa. During the
workshop, the CPWF presented an initiative called “knowledge sharing in
research.” This was a precursor to the participatory impact pathways assessment
workshops that would be held in 2006. The workshop was the CPWF's first
experiment in running a forum that was not dominated by science.
In November 2006 the CPWF held the first International Forum on Water
and Food in Vientiane, Lao PDR. The Forum brought together the CPWF's
partners to discuss research results in a format that emphasized synthesis of
research experiences and learning. Opinions were mixed; many researchers
were dissatisfied with the lack of focus on research and its results. Others
approved of the Forum's agenda, which was oriented towards development and
outcomes. Disagreement over the balance between research and development
focus remained an issue throughout the course of the CPWF. The Forum
encouraged participants to overcome their business as usual mindset and to
think and debate at individual and program levels.
The CPWF introduced SGPs in an effort to encourage its project partners
to begin to think about development outcomes. Run on a short time frame,
successful SGPs would demonstrate the types of development outcomes that
might be expected from the CPWF's research projects (Woolley, 2011). A call
was made to national NGOs and NARES in 2005 to submit proposals for
SGPs. The CPWF received 120 proposals, of which 14 were selected (Biswas
et al., 2007, p. 23).
SGPs represented only 1.5 percent of the Phase 1 research budget and ran
for only 12-18 months. Nevertheless, they “made significant contributions to
identifying water and food technology for specific end users (thus showing the
potential of the CPWF research in general); to better understanding of
adoption; to stimulating research by [NGOs]; and to better connecting the
CPWF's researchers in general to the reality of the development process”
(Woolley, 2011). The CPWF's flexibility in trying out new approaches for
development projects gave it important lessons and insights.
In June 2005 the CSC discussed the gap between impacts predicted in
project proposals and those detailed in project reports. It recommended that
the CPWF carry out an ex ante impact assessment. The CPWF launched a
project “Impact Assessment of Research in the CPWF” in October 2005. The
project developed three tools for ex ante evaluation:

• Impact pathways—causal pathways connecting intended project outcomes

and impacts with project activities—were incorporated into planning of
new projects of the CPWF;

• extrapolation domain analysis identified areas where the CPWF's projects

could be scaled up; and

• scenario analysis analyzed possible future events by considering alternative

outcomes in relevant conditions at a basin scale (Biswas et al., 2007, p. 53).