workshop

By Christine C. Jost

In the CGIAR Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) program, we do research to enhance food security and agricultural development in the face of climate change. But the pathway from research to impact is complex.

Impact pathways encourage scientists to join a network of partners to ensure that their work contributes to a larger vision. The partners work together to design the pathway. Usually scientists focus on the activities we’d like to do, and the outputs that will result.

By designing an impact pathway we focus on achieving outcomes – changes in behaviors, practice, beliefs, understanding, capacity, networks, policies and institutions that are needed in order to achieve lasting impact. Then we work backwards to outputs and activities. An impact pathway approach ensures that all the necessary steps are taken to achieve the desired outcomes. 

Why focus on outcomes rather than outputs? Targeting outputs emphasizes processes, which makes it difficult to link changes, like increased maize production by smallholder farmers, to specific interventions that might have occurred during the process. Read more »

By Fatimata Kane and Arame Tall

“Before, our rainy seasons were longer. We were able to predict weather and seasonal changes by observing animal behavior in their natural habitats,” Paul Thiaw, a local Senegalese farmer, told researchers at a recent workshop on climate services. “With habitat loss and biodiversity decline, we have simply lost some valuable climate pattern indicators,” he stressed while adding, “this is where we can benefit from climate service expertise.”

Farmers are constantly facing new environmental challenges, which are threatening food production in some of the poorest regions of the world. One way to reduce vulnerability is through implementing and working with climate services that are relevant for smallholder farmers. Read more »

By Catherine Mungai, John Recha, Maren Radeny and James Kinyangi

Farming households in East Africa face increasing poverty levels and food insecurity due to challenges resulting from climate change and variability. In order to help farmers in the region to develop resilience to climate change, the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) East Africa initiated participatory action research (PAR) across the six learning sites in East Africa.

The learning sites are located in Kenya, Nyando and Wote, Uganda, Hoima and Rakai, Tanzania in Lushoto, and Ethiopia, Borana. Within the sites, researchers and development partners are working with farmers to test climate smart agricultural interventions that can be scaled up elsewhere. Read more »

By Liz Carlile

We know that real change takes place when we learn by doing, and as development specialists we are all very good at telling people what to do. But as researchers and practitioners engaged in a shared learning process for change we still have a very long way to go. Recent work done by the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and the University of York to stimulate a new discussion in the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) and the development of their new strategy to promote social learning within the CGIAR. A new working paper offers an overview of current theory and practice on climate change communication and social learning in the global South with a view of informing CCAFS strategy in this area. Read more »