The last couple of months have marked an exciting period for CPWF and its partners. As we have refined and crafted our logic, numerous opportunities have arisen to present these messages at fora around the world. One major exercise we have worked on was to hone our messages based on Phase 1 results, emerging lessons [...]

The World Water Day (WWD) comes right after the High Level Panel on Water, Food and Energy Nexus (WFE) we co-convened at the 6th World Water Forum in Marseilles, France.  This year’s WWD highlights food security. The WFE nexus is an approach to balance development priorities in a more integrated manner. The approach supports a [...]

CPWF Phase 2 Basin Development Challenge (BDC) research programs have been designed around a specific challenge in the river basin. In CPWF Phase 1 (2003-2008), the projects focused on thematic problem sets rather than locally identified problems. When we began designing Phase 2 programs around 2008, one of the lessons we learned was that partners [...]

As I have written many times in my recent blog posts, and as evidenced by our research, there is more to gain from sharing the benefits of water resources than focusing on only sharing the resources of a river basin. Consider water for example; sharing limited water resources in a basin will always be a [...]

A month after our third Forum, what sticks in my mind? It was an intense week, rich in encounters, sparkling debates and a blossom of new ideas. Our Forum’s Policy and Impact Panel helped us better understand who we are, what we do, and how we impact…

Fantahun Mengistu, Director of ARARI In October 2011, project partners and team members in the Nile Basin Development Challenge  met in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia to reflect on project progress and directions. We asked Fantahun Mengistu, Director of the Amhara Regional Agricultural Research Institute (ARARI) to share some of the key points and take home messages [...]

From ILRI Clippings: Earlier this year, the International Development Research Centre (Canada) published a book titled Integrated Natural Resource Management in the Highlands of East Africa. In this short video interview, Ethiopian scientist Tilahun Amede, on joint appointment with the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and leader of a [...]

One of the most surprising aspects of the Planet Under Pressure (PUP) conference has been the general agreement that technical solutions alone will not bring about the desired changes needed to address the different problems facing global systems. Many leading scientists at the conference this week have called for more ‘dialogue’, more collective action and collaboration. [...]

This first appeared in the Agriculture Rural Development Day Blog by Michael Victor, CPWF Africa is going through its own agriculture revolution. According to studies from the CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food, Africa can produce 3-4 times more food through improved agriculture water management practices. The learning event on “How can rainwater management [...]

Blog post by: Michael Victor. This blog first appeared in the Agriculture Rural Development Day Blog (http://www.agricultureday.org/blog/page/5/) A couple of weeks ago I was talking to some Lao colleagues about the CGIAR Challenge Program for Water and Food’s Learning Event on Rainwater management at ARDD and the concept of climate smart agriculture. While the term [...]

Participant Reflections from a Cambodian Study Tour to Lao’s Theun-Hinboun Expansion Project Dam Site From February 13-18, 2012 thirteen participants took part in a study tour to the Theun-Hinboun Dam expansion project in Lao PDR. Traveling from Steung Treng Province in Cambodia this diverse group, made up of Cambodian provincial government officials, NGO workers and [...]

In Phase 2, the Challenge Program on Water and Food (CPWF) looks to address specific basin development challenges in six river basins. Collaborative partnerships ensure both ownership and use of our research. Identifying program partners who could help CPWF to achieve its research-for-development goals was one of the first activities of Phase 2. Active stakeholder [...]

I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of having my awareness raised. It seems every other paper, report or project proposal I pick up is invoking “awareness raising” as rationale, output, outcome or impact and sometimes all four at the same time. Can awareness raising really be all those things, or is it just [...]

Several key members of the Challenge Program on Water and Food (CPWF) community, among them the Management Team and Basin Leaders, met in February for a few days of quiet reflection. One of the topics discussed was related to our “global messages” (see box): what did we, as the CPWF, wish to say to the [...]

Lire la version française. Communication activities do not always form a coherent whole for the Volta Basin Development Challenge (VBDC). Integration, guidance and ongoing collective documentation and reflection can significantly enhance the good efforts undertaken by all in the Volta so far. In a two-day workshop (27-28 March), representatives from all individual Volta projects came together to [...]

The 3rd International Forum on Water and Food (IFWF3), convened in Tshwane, South Africa during November 2011. IFWF3 demonstrated the value of CPWF’s multi-stakeholder, research-for-development approach. The Forum report, entitled “Streams of innovation: Improving people’s lives through research on water and food“, synthesizes the main outcomes and issues identified at the IFWF3 and serves as [...]

It is not just about “engendering” research projects for the sake of rhetorical equality; it is about how robust your research is.
Women play crucial roles in guaranteeing food and water security. In developing countries, they comprise more than 60…

Climate Change in Africa’s Major River Basins Could Impede Continent’s Farm Transformation Efforts, Increase Cross-Border Water Conflicts A five year global research project focused on water, food and poverty nexus in major river basins recently released new information on climate change impacts for these basins. In their examination of the potential effects over the next [...]

Climate change in the Andes is shrouded in myths that risk concealing the real issues
By Alejandra Visscher
It’s a myth that rising temperatures and the melting of glaciers in the Andes is the main factor influencing water availability.
This finding em…

A month after our third Forum, what sticks in my mind? It was an intense week, rich in encounters, sparkling debates and a blossom of new ideas. Our Forum’s Policy and Impact Panel helped us better understand who we are, what we do, and how we impact…