Workshop Series Report: Lessons in Theory of Change from a Series of Regional Planning Workshops

Abstract

The CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) is using theory of change (TOC) planning to specify research outputs, partnerships needed to produce outputs, and a plausible hypothesis on how these outputs will contribute to development outcomes. This learning note is part of a series to capture the process, progress and lessons from CCAFS in its endeavor to plan, implement and deliver research for development with a strong focus on outcome delivery. The portfolio for 2015 includes about 80 newly contracted projects in five CCAFS target regions (South and Southeast Asia, East and West Africa and Latin America) with a value of between $5-15 million in each region. Since the last of these learning notes was published, the process for finalizing the impact pathways (IPs) was considerably simplified to ensure that it was as practical as possible and to ensure buy-in. This learning note describes that process, and the preparatory work in the run up to a series of regional planning workshops; much of this work was focused on reducing the complexity of the IPs and their M&E framework as far as was practicable.

Citation

Schuetz, T.; Förch, W.; Thornton, P.; Wollenberg, L.; Hansen, J.; Jarvis, A.; Coffey, K.; Bonilla-Findji, O.; Loboguerrero Rodriguez, A.M.; Martinez Baron, D.; Aggarwal, P.; Sebastian, L.; Zougmore, R.; Kinyangi, J.; Vermeulen, S.; Radeny, M.; Moussa, A.; Sajise, A.; Khatri-Chhetri, A.; Richards, M.; Jost, C.C.; Jay, A. Workshop Series Report: Lessons in Theory of Change from a Series of Regional Planning Workshops. CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), Copenhagen, Denmark (2014) 38 pp.

Published 1 January 2014