“CIFOR is considered to be the leading international forestry research centre within its mandate and is highly appreciated for its credible and relevant high-quality research.”
This was one of the main conclusions of an independent panel of experts, commissioned by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) to investigate every aspect of CIFOR’s work. External Program Management Reviews (EPMR) provide donors and other interested parties with a detailed and objective analysis of the institutional, scientific and financial health of research centres like CIFOR. They reflect on the past, and suggest strategies for the future.
“We were very encouraged by the findings of the EPMR,” says Andrew Bennett, who succeeded Angela Cropper as the chair of the CIFOR Board of Trustees in 2006. “The review panel was very diligent and thorough, and we support fully its conclusions and recommendations.” One of these was that it was time for CIFOR to develop a new strategy, based on a process of consultation and participatory analysis. This process got under way in early 2007, and it brings staff and management together to agree on a shared vision, mission and values. “This is something which we are very happy to do,” says Bennett. “The last strategy was written 10 years ago, and it was time to formulate a new one.”
The Review Panel conceded that the nature of the research which CIFOR conducts means that it is often difficult to measure its impact in precise terms. However, it was in no doubt that the organisation had achieved much since it was establish in 1993. The Panel found that CIFOR had made significant progress in making poverty alleviation the central focus of all its programmes, and it praised the way CIFOR had created productive partnerships with a broad range of institutional partners, including national and research centres, NGOs, universities and the private sector. These partnerships have helped CIFOR to inform and influence global forestry policy makers. The Review Panel also found that CIFOR’s communication strategy had been very successful, and it suggested it could serve as a model for other CGIAR centres.
For a small centre such a CIFOR, an External Program and Management Review is a challenging exercise. CIFOR staff and members of the Board spent considerable time providing information to the Review Panel, not just at CIFOR’s headquarters in Indonesia, but at its regional research centres in Latin America and Central Africa. This was clearly time well spent, according to Yemi Katerere, CIFOR’s Assistant Director General. “The EPMR was very positive and it provides valuable recommendations for moving forward,” he says. “It strongly reaffirmed the need for an international centre focused on research about how forest policies can reduce poverty and promote sustainable forest management.”
The CGIAR centres also conduct a series of performance measurement exercises each year. The World Bank, a major donor, uses these to assess whether the centres are achieving the output targets outlined in their medium-term plans. The submission for 2005 showed that CIFOR had achieved at least 90 per cent of the work planned for that year. A similarly high level of achievement was recorded in 2006. The submission also provided a detailed assessment of five research outcomes which highlighted the influence of CIFOR’s research for the intended beneficiaries.
Four of these are discussed in greater detail in this report. Research by scientists in the Forests and Governance Programme highlighted the worrying lack of financial due diligence in the pulp and paper sector (see page 8). Submissions from CIFOR’s Environmental Services and Sustainable Use of Forests Programme had a significant influence on international discussions about how to reduce carbon emissions from deforestation (see page 20). And research by scientists in CIFOR’s Forests and Livelihoods Programme encouraged the governments in Brazil and Ethiopia to change forest-related policies in ways which will benefit both the poor and the environment (see pages 32 and 34).