Hubbing for impact

HUBBING FOR IMPACT

by André Devaux, Claudio Velasco, and Evgeniya Anisimova | December 23, 2015

PIM’s Latin America and Caribbean Regional Value Chain Hub meeting with the Learning Alliance Peru

PIM’s work on value chains (VC) generates much more than academic research and analysis. It includes a variety of hands-on tools and activities aimed to help development practitioners and value chain actors achieve their goals. In 2015, the VC team started a new initiative: regional value chain hubs to strengthen collaboration, coordination, and joint learning among value chain researchers across CGIAR and with external partners on the ground.

Why a hub?

A regional hub builds on the previous value chain work conducted by individual CGIAR centers and seeks to add value to these activities by linking existing communities of practice and facilitating on-going connections between research, development, evidence, and policy formulation.

The Learning Alliance of Peru (Alianza de Aprendizaje Perú) is a key partner in developing the hub in the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region. On December 4 in Lima, the LAC Value Chain Hub (coordinated by the PIM’s VC team from CIP, CIAT, and IFPRI) organized a meeting with the Alliance (LAP) to discuss the concept of the LAC VC Hub and how it could collaborate with the LAP members. Over 30 members of the LAP representing various organizations including the Ministry of Agriculture of Peru, Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) participated in the meeting.

Maximo Torero (IFPRI), leader of PIM’s research flagship 3 (Inclusive Value Chains and Efficient Trade) set the scene with an overview of PIM’s value chains portfolio. André Devaux (CIP) then followed with a presentation about VC hubs and potential areas of collaboration with the Alliance in the LAC region. LAP members expressed strong interest in the opportunities provided by the hub, especially  for accessing new sources of knowledge and learning new approaches (such as impact assessment methods), and for strengthening links with other innovation platforms in the region. Participants agreed to meet again in early 2016 to develop more detailed plans. One of the activities that the VC team is already planning to organize in the first quarter of 2016 in collaboration with the colleagues from PIM’s research flagship 1 (Technological Innovation and Sustainable LAP review slideIntensification) will be a training workshop on impact assessment methods.
As part of the meeting, Gladys Triveño from the Proexpansion consultancy firm presented results of the study analyzing 11 years of the Learning Alliance of Peru’s experience. The study was co-financed by members of LAP and PIM as part of the Regional Value Chain Hubs activity.

 About the authors:

André Devaux is Latin American and the Caribbean (LAC) regional Director at the International Potato Center (CIP). Claudio Velasco is a research coordinator for Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region at the International Potato Center (CIP). Evgeniya Anisimova is communications specialist at the CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM).

Featured image: André Devaux giving a presentation during the meeting.