Abstract

CGIAR consists of a network of international publicly funded agricultural research for development institutes. Over five decades it has worked to increase food abundance, reduce hunger and poverty rates, and lower the geographical footprint of agriculture in lower- and middle-income countries. CGIAR's first formalised research program on climate change was set up in 2009. Here we report on an analysis of 300 outcomes generated over the lifetime of this program, which ran until 2021. Outcomes were characterised in relation to the climate objective, geography, thematic scope, and contribution to global goals. More than half of the outcomes analysed were related to policies for agriculture development under climate change. Twenty-six percent of outcomes related to climate, information and financial services, and 22 percent were related to organisational programming. Most outcomes analysed were at an early stage of maturity, focusing on design and planning stages of policies, strategies, and investments. Fewer than five percent of outcomes had evidence of impact at scale. Outcomes were facilitated by a wide network of partners and contributed to more than ten Sustainable Development Goals. The results of the analysis show the value of outcome-oriented science in being able to harness diversity, balance strategy with opportunism, plan flexibly, work across multiple vulnerability contexts, and allocate resources towards outcomes. These elements have played a significant role in fostering change across contexts, in adjusting research to emerging needs and context changes, in creating conditions for spillovers, and in ensuring global relevance. To transform the food system, the research for development agenda needs to be bolder. It will require more outcomes of various types, achieved through diverse partnerships, spanning a diversity of geographies, vulnerable contexts, and priorities. Significant and intentional investments in strengthening monitoring, evaluation, reporting and learning capacity will be required to further realize the potential for outcome-oriented research.