Water Land and Ecosystems CGIAR
Research Program:
Uptake Strategy
Elizabeth Weight, IWMI Global Uptake Coordinator
Contents
• Overview of WLE at a Glance
• Overview of WLE Impact Pathways and
Impact Pathway thinking
• Fitting in Comms/KM into impact pathways
• Assignment
WLE Goal: Sustainable intensification of agricultural
development
WLE Uptake Framework: CGIAR SLOs and WLE IDOs
CGIAR System Level
Outcomes
1. Reduce rural poverty
2. Increase food
security
3. Improve nutrition
and human health
4. Sustainable
management of
natural resources
WLE
IDO:
Risk
WLE
IDO:
Gender
WLE
IDO:
Productivity
WLE
IDO:
Income
WLE
IDO:
Equity
Management
Women and
Increased
and marginalized
more equitable
Improved
land, water
and energy
Increased
resilience
of
income
from
agricultural
and
groups
have
decision
making
Increased
ability
of low
income
productivity
in rainfed
and
communities
through
enhanced
natural
resources
power
overagro-ecosystems
and management
increased
communities
to adaptinto
irrigated
ecosystem
services
and
ecosystem
services
in rural
benefits
derived
from
environmental
and
economic
agricultural
landscapes.
and peri-urban
areas shifts,
agriculture
and natural
variability,
demographic
resources.
shocks and
long term changes
WLE Future Impact Pathways
Flagship Thematic Impact
Pathways
Focal Region
Development Challenges
with integrated work
from different SRPs
RRR
Salinity
Landscape degradation
Information Decisionmaking
Mekong
Indus/Ganges
Nile-East Africa
West Africa
WLE Current Reality
• More than 160
projects, mapped
into SRPs and
aligned to activity
clusters
• No coordinated
work in the Basins
WLE Uptake Framework: CGIAR/ISPC
Impact Pathways/Theories of Change
System
Level
Outcomes
WLE
research
outcomes
WLE
Intermediate
Development
Outcomes
WLE
research
outputs
WLE uptake strategy: significant focus
on the research client
WLE
research
outcomes
Opportunity
identification
Levers and
incentives
Partner
engagement
System
Level
Outcomes
WLE
research
outputs
Client analysis
Decision
analysis
WLE
Intermediate
Development
Outcomes
Example of client focus: WLE resource recovery
and reuse
Issue: Urban areas are growing and consuming more resources. How do we recover nutrients
and water at scale? Technical knowledge is available, but few projects go to scale. WLE seeks to
change this by analyzing business models and returns on investment.
Clear client focus: the private sector, public private partnerships, and business schools
 The research portfolio is designed for the client: analyze successes and test promising
business models for replication at scale
 Multi-disciplinary research team includes economists, business developers, and
environmental scientists
Faecal sludge
Nutrients for
agricultural production
Supporting research client decision making through
decision analysis
WLE
research
outcomes
Opportunity
identification
Levers and
incentives
Partner
engagement
System
Level
Outcomes
WLE
research
outputs
Client analysis
Decision
analysis
WLE
Intermediate
Development
Outcomes
Example: the decision analysis process
Northeast Kenya: Tap the Merti aquifer to pump water > 100 km to town of Waiir?
Identify risks and uncertainties in
decision of interest
Engage decision makers
Compute value of additional
information (uncertain variables with
high information value = priorities for
measurement)
Applied Information Economics D. Hubbard,
“How to Measure Anything”, 2010
Make probabilistic cost/benefit
impacts on different stakeholder
groups of likely outcomes of
decision
Probabilistic outcomes (benefits/negative
impacts) for different stakeholder groups
Focused partner engagement, levers and incentives
WLE
research
outcomes
Opportunity
identification
Levers and
incentives
Partner
engagement
System
Level
Outcomes
WLE
research
outputs
Decision
analysis
Client
analysis
WLE
Intermediate
Development
Outcomes
Changing how decisions are use of dams in the
Mekong are made
CPWF Mekong use of communication and
knowledge management to improve dialogue
1. Mekong Forum to dialogue
around research
2. Short targeted State of Knowledge
studies– in all Mekong Languages
3. Use of Film and video
4. Study tours and exchanges
5. Face-to-face individual discussions
with Chinese Dam operators,
investors, policy makers
Convening Power and Trust
Changes in how some dam
operators carry out relocation
and livelihood schemes,
manage flows
Can discuss issues without
fear of getting “shut down”
Designing Impact Pathways
Design Impact
pathway
Revise
assumptions
Identify new
opps
Identify
changes
Research
Engagement
Client Analysis
Network Mapping
Assessing entry points
Develop
Outcome Logic
Model
Reflect
Implement
Develop
Implementation
Plan
Change agents,
assumptions,
strategies,
Budget
Resources
Capacity
Comms/KM
Types of KM Activities
Support
Learning
Culture
Comms for
development
Open access of
materials
Comms for
policy
influence
Communicatio
n about the
project
Repackaging,
co-creation
Sharing and
discussing
progress
Adapted from Simone Staiger
Integrating Communication &
KM
Impacts
Outcomes
Outputs
Activities
Research
KM on processes
Comms on what the
project does
Engagement
Internal
Implementers
Products into use
Repositories
Repackaging
Communicate about
results
Partners
Comms/KM Processes
Engagement
Meetings
Advocacy
Users
External
Different approaches for different
groups.
One-way communication - the
complexity of the issue is low, the
message; high certainty
Two-way communication - the issue is
complex, the message difficult, no
immediate guarantee
Participatory approaches - issue is
highly complex, the messages not clear
yet and there is yet no certainty that
the action will lead to the desired
outcome
Do we communicate to the right audience
capable of taking the action we desire?
• Context matters –
what are barriers?
• Who are the
messengers (Not
just products)
• How will products
support impact
pathways.
Assignment
• WE will take 4 draft impact pathways and
transform them into Outcome Logic Models
and then develop a KM/Comms plan for them
–
–
–
–
Global
Regional – Volta
Thematic – Landscape Degradation
Thematic – Information Decision-making
• 1hr developing outcome logic model
• 1hr developing draft plan for KM/Comms plan