Moving From Aid to Innovation – Gary Toenniessen on Leveraging Research to Transform Global Food Systems

How did those initial convenings break down systemic barriers and transform the way donors looked at food aid?

The first convening was off the record – no minutes and no official report. It had two objectives: to gain support for the existing international centers and to lay the groundwork to use these approaches with other crops.

At the time, most of the bilaterals were more into food aid than research. Food aid had political backing because it also helped American farmers and shippers. So there was a lot of support for aid, but not much for doing research on rice in a foreign country in a way that might eventually limit markets for food exports. By bringing together scientists, donors, and politically powerful decisionmakers, the Bellagio convening represented a real directional change, convincing people this research had a significant impact, not just on food shortages, but also on reducing poverty and creating new markets for the U.S. and other industrialized countries.

By the end of the first convening, the donors in attendance were convinced, and they charged their staff and the two foundations to move forward in establishing additional institutions to address crops like sorghum and millet and tropical potato. They held a second convening to map out other crops and opportunities, and by the third convening, the group said, “We need some kind of a mechanism to fund this on a continuing basis and to coordinate the funding and the research.” That’s when they made the decision to create CGIAR.

One of the most important things to come out of those first convenings was significant and sustainable funding. World Bank President Robert McNamara agreed to commit $50 million a year to CGIAR with no restrictions. This meant that whenever a new institution was going to be created or some group wanted to launch a new agricultural research institute, they could get support as a result of the World Bank’s funding. That funding stream doesn’t exist anymore, but back then, it made a huge difference.

What kind of work is CGIAR doing today?

CGIAR makes connections between research, application, and the delivery of the end results. They take research results and methods, apply them to crops and make knowledge and materials available to research organizations and developing countries. Today, CGIAR is the world’s largest agricultural innovation network, producing research, innovative approaches, and tools that tap into the power of agriculture to build economies, fight hunger, and make a more sustainable future.

What was it about the Bellagio Center that helped make this breakthrough possible?

Getting donor countries to look beyond the way they’ve always approached food and agricultural aid meant convincing them to let go of old ideas about technology transfer and how markets worked and to support a new approach. Achieving that goal meant having the right people in the room, the right messengers, and the right environment. I don’t think it would’ve happened without the Bellagio Center. If you have an isolated location for a convening, people bond much more than if you bring them to New York or DC, where they all go to the theater or go their own way in the evening. The Bellagio Center is this special, isolated place. You get to know the other people there in a more real, informal way. I think some important people who might not have otherwise bought in, first of all to the idea of these centers and second to coming to a remote place in northern Italy, did, because it was at the Bellagio Center.

The seeds planted at the initial convening 55 years ago have grown into something no one could have imagined. To Toenniessen, what CGIAR has become is, in part, a tribute to where and how it began. “Bellagio has this aura,” he said. “If you come together there, it won’t just be another meeting where you write up a report and file it away. Something is really going to happen.”