July 2012
Assessing and positioning GCP’s activities and legacy in research-for-development
The Generation Challenge Programme (GCP) was conceived as a time-bound initiative, to be implemented in two-phases over a 10-year period (2004–2013), with the mission of using genetic diversity and advanced crop science to improve crops for greater food security in the developing world.
Consistent with the vision of the GCP founders, the Programme will be brought to an orderly close at the end of December 2014. To ensure that GCP’s achievements are exploited to the maximum extent possible, and to fulfill commitments made to our many partners and stakeholders, as part of the closing process we propose to evaluate the Programme’s performance, identify key lessons learnt, and take steps to ensure that GCP’s products and services are well positioned in the prevailing research-for-development landscape to have not only large, but also sustainable impact.
Some of the activities that have been supported under GCP will quite clearly have achieved their objectives by end December 2014; those activities should be phased out, with appropriate provisions made to ensure that the associated products and services will remain accessible in the future to the global plant-breeding community. Other activities that have been supported by GCP will almost certainly not have achieved their final objectives by end December 2014; for those activities, there will be a need to consider a follow-on strategy, especially if their extension complements and adds value to other efforts, with the goal of identifying how they could be sustained in a post-GCP world.
In line with the spirit of the CGIAR reforms, activities that outlive GCP should, to the extent possible, be embedded within CGIAR Research Programmes or transferred to institutes or programmes outside the CGIAR. Given certain unique characteristics of the Programme, it may, however, be anticipated that some activities deemed important enough to merit continuing support may not fit comfortably into existing initiatives, or might be more efficiently executed through a central service rather than fragmenting across CRPs; should any such activities be identified – there will be a need to identify implementation mechanisms that will ensure their continuation and sustainability.
We embark upon the process of planning for the winding down of GCP in a spirit of openness and consultation. In the weeks and months ahead, we will exercise transparency and communicate frequently, with the goal of keeping the GCP community up to date and fully informed on the status of a transition that concerns us all.
