[Sdi-latinamericacaribbean] Call for papers - Workshop on Rethinking Impact: Capturing the Complexity of Poverty and Change

[Kate Lance]

http://www.prgaprogram.org/riw/special_edition.htm
http://www.prgaprogram.org/riw/
CALL FOR PAPERS - Workshop on Rethinking Impact: Capturing the Complexity of Poverty and Change 
26-28 March 2008 
Cali, Colombia
Deadline for abstracts: November 9, 2007
Have you been working with some interesting and innovative teams that have 
been effective in achieving a better understanding of how agricultural 
innovations, coupled with linkages between research and policy communities 
and scientific understanding of human-environment systems, can have more 
impact on poverty reduction and social inclusion, while protecting the 
environment?
If so, perhaps you'd consider participating in a 3 day workshop: Rethinking 
Impact: Capturing the Complexity of Poverty and Change, March 26-28, 2008 
at the Headquarters of the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) 
in Cali, Colombia.
Objective
The objective of the workshop is to draw from the experiences of 
professionals from multiple disciplines of natural and social sciences 
regarding evaluation of research aimed at poverty reduction, social 
inclusion and sustainable development. The organizers are particularly 
interested in new methods and metrics that have been developed and tested 
in ongoing evaluations and impact assessment efforts supporting learning.
Workshop attendance
Invitation to the workshop will be based on accepted papers (in the first 
instance). Papers will be considered that arise from ongoing or published 
work and address any of the following three general themes.
Workshop themes
1. Practical case studies with lessons learned in relation to, or that 
provide empirical evidence of, reductions in poverty, and analysis of how 
that impact was achieved, with a focus on one or more of the following: 
*                System dynamics 
*                Roles of different players 
*                Innovation and markets 
*                Research-to-development processes 
*                Learning processes as they affect performance. 
2. Impact assessment and evaluation approaches that address issues such 
as:
*                Assessing contributions in complex partnerships 
*                Interdisciplinary research 
*                Combining quantitative and qualitative data 
*                Linking the contribution of processes to outcomes and 
impact 
*                Innovation systems analysis, and new metrics for 
understanding and measuring outcomes and impacts. 
3. Institutionalization of new approaches for research management and 
impact assessment:
*                Communication challenges 
*                Training and capacity development for poverty-oriented 
research and impact assessment 
*                Policy and operational environments (including 
institutional culture). 
How to apply
Please send abstracts to Claudia Garcia at the PRGA Coordination Office 
(prga at cgiar.org) by November 9, 2007. Submissions should include: 
corresponding author(s)'s name(s), contact details and short biographical 
details (50-100 words); key partners, and a brief abstract (up to 700 
words). 
Notification of papers selected will be made by end of December 2007. 
Travel and accommodation costs will be paid for one presenter for each 
selected paper.
Edited proceedings of all the papers presented at the workshop will be 
produced. Full versions of selected papers (20-25 double-spaced pages; 
maximum 9000 words) should be submitted by end of February 2008. 
The workshop organizers intend to explore opportunities to publish some 
of the papers as a special issue of an international peer-reviewed journal. 
They would also welcome suggestions about additional topics to include 
in the agenda and leading speakers who could be invited to present 
keynote papers and serve as resource persons to the workshop.
If there is sufficient interest, a fourth day (March 29) might be added 
for capacity development or action planning purposes.
For more detailed information about the partners, drivers and assumptions 
behind this workshop, please visit the workshop website:
http://www.prgaprogram.org/riw
Organizing committee:
Nancy Dickson, Co-Director, Sustainability Science Program, Centre for 
International Development at Harvard University, 
http://www.cid.harvard.edu/sustsci
Patti Kristjanson, Leader, Innovation Works: Linking Knowledge with 
Action, International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), 
p.kristjanson at cgiar.org
Nina Lilja, Impact Assessment Economist, CGIAR Systemwide Program on
Participatory Research and Gender Analysis Program for Technology 
Development and Institutional Innovation (PRGA Program), n.lilja at cgiar.org
Jamie Watts, Coordinator, Institutional Learning and Change Initiative 
(ILAC) of the CGIAR, Bioversity International, j.watts at cgiar.org
Workshop Facilitator:
Keith Jones, Innovation Expedition

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