Stripe Review of Social Sciences in the CGIAR

Abstract

The CGIAR faces a world rapidly awakening from a long period of complacency about international agricultural research, a world in which there is at once increased international development assistance, for agricultural development and environmental issues in particular, and heightened high-level attention to issues on which the CGIAR should be well positioned to contribute. Yet donors are also more demanding than they once were and the landscape is considerably more competitive. A window of widespread and high-level demand is now opening wide for agricultural and environmental researchers, presenting a favorable but highly competitive environment for CGIAR social science research. In order to take full advantage of this opportunity, the CGIAR must carefully assess its own comparative advantage in the social sciences within this space, assess its performance in those areas of comparative advantage, and organize itself to enhance its performance going forward. This review, commissioned by the CGIAR Science Council, aims to inform the CGIAR community on these matters, assessing the present state of CGIAR social science research, culminating in recommendations on how best to advance the CGIAR Mission through cutting edge social science.