PIM evaluation reports available online

PIM EVALUATION REPORTS AVAILABLE ONLINE

by Evgeniya Anisimova | September 25, 2015

In November 2013, the CGIAR Fund Council requested that all current 15 CGIAR Research Programs (CRPs) undergo an evaluation process prior to the launch of the second phase of CRPs. The evaluation of the CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM), commissioned by the Independent Evaluation Arrangement (IEA) of CGIAR, was completed in spring 2015, and all documents related to this evaluation are now available on the IEA website.

The evaluation covered relevance, quality of science, effectiveness, efficiency, impact, and sustainability of the program. The evaluation team based its findings and recommendations on data collected from multiple sources, including: desk review of key program documents; electronic surveys and interviews with more than 300 CGIAR staff and external partners; bibliometric analysis of PIM publications; and portfolio analysis of PIM-supported research activities.

The evaluation concluded that PIM has “added sufficient value to the CGIAR’s research on policies, institutions, and markets,” and that a CRP on policies, institutions and markets led by IFPRI should continue in the second round of CRPs, starting in 2017.

The evaluation highlights key PIM research contributions such as the support to developing countries in the Doha Round of WTO trade negotiations, the contribution to improving national agricultural policies in conjunction with the African Union’s Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Program (CAADP), and methodological advancements in gender research. In addition, the report states that PIM’s research has contributed to a variety of outcomes through improving agricultural extension, upgrading value chains for less well known commodities produced by low-income rural households, and improving the management of community-held natural resources. The evaluation team also noted the contribution of the foresight modeling work to future decision-making with regard to agricultural research to address climate change.

The evaluation provided PIM with 15 recommendations. The PIM management response stated full agreement with 12 of the recommendations, with partial agreement with the remaining three, and listed a number of short- and long-term actions currently being undertaken to address the evaluation findings and recommendations.

The collection of the PIM evaluation documents (available on the IEA website) include: