Planning for the future

Background

The principal focus of the ICT-KM Program 2006 Investment Plan is on projects that consolidate the gains achieved to date through the work of the 2004 Investment Plan. A small but very important part, however, complements and supports this consolidation work and also supports planning processes for future investments required by the CGIAR system. This document describes the activities related to this future planning.

In 2004 the CIO was asked by the Directors General to put together a proposal for a "Global Public Goods Information Systems Rehabilitation" project to address relevant non-genebank needs and to complement other larger GPG rehabilitation components. With only a few weeks to do this, a 3-day meeting in Penang and a round of virtual consultations with Centers were held. The proposal was to provide unified user access to the vast array of CGIAR GPG information resources through a central portal, integrate information management to enable complex development and research questions to be addressed and enhance CGIAR information resources through networking with national and global partners. As it transpired, CDC did not endorse the proposal, as they felt (quite correctly) that there had not been enough time for extensive consultation.

The Program then started an inventory of exactly what information GPGs existed within the CGIAR and planning for an extensive two-week online consultation including over 200 participants from both within the CGIAR and national partner organizations. This consultation, that took place in February/March 2005, provided the inputs to a new proposal/strategy entitled: "ICT-KM 2 - Global Public Goods: From Data and Information to Food". The results of the GPG inventory were not satisfactory - CG staff were less than forthcoming with information concerning the GPGs for which they were responsible. But the results of the online consultation and with the proposed strategy that was the output were very successful. The strategy would be implemented through specific activities and projects within five components:

• A preparatory, intensive study of the needs of priority users
• Integrated access to these global public goods (technical standards/portal work)
• Networking and capacity building to ensure the best possible linkages between CGIAR, NARS and other partners for public goods generation and sharing
• Value-added information products and services
• Program management, coordination, monitoring and evaluation

The intention at that time was to present this strategy to the Alliance Executive at AGM 2005 for approval in principal. Over the summer months of 2005 a variety of factors emerged to indicate that it would be premature to submit this strategy according to the original timetable. First, it was clear (and recognized from the conception of the ICT-KM Program Strategy) that there was further consolidation work to be done related to the projects from the 2004 Investment Plan. Second, the online consultation described above made it abundantly clear that the scale of what needed to be done in the area of information GPGs was much larger and broader than originally anticipated, including partners as well as the CG Centers and multiple players throughout the CG Centers. It became apparent that a step-by-step approach might make the most sense.

Accordingly, the Program presented the concept paper at AGM 2005 for the Consolidating Gains, Planning for the Future, ICT-KM Program 2006 Investment Plan, and submitted the full 2006 Investment Plan for formal approval in 2006. This approval has just been given. As part of this step-by-step approach, the Planning for the Future components relevant to the GPG area build on this preceding work and include:

• A comprehensive user needs study for making informed decisions re programming and projects (this was strongly recommended by the community that participated in the online consultations in March 2005).
• Activities to consult internally and externally about needs and future directions (one workshop was held in Nairobi involving African information specialists in the agricultural area; another one on "Blending Knowledge Systems" was held in New Delhi as part of the GFAR 2006 conference).
• Building partnerships with other critical players.
• Development and implementation of a process to finalize the information GPG strategy and Investment Plan.

Objectives

The general objectives of these activities are: to be informed concerning the most pressing information GPG needs, and ICT-KM related system priorities, and to develop a strategy and investment plan to address these needs expeditiously and effectively.