Introdution to Reporting 2018

What is the purpose of the template?

The annual report from CRPs and Platforms needs to satisfy several different aims:

a) Accountability and transparency to external stakeholders, in particular Funders and partners, through fair, complete and evidence-based reporting of achievements and activities as well as areas of lesson learning. Note that your report will be publicly available on the CGIAR website. It therefore needs to be concise and readable.

b) As an input into the CGIAR Annual Performance Report and CGIAR Results Dashboard. This requires a mixture of reporting in ways that can be easily aggregated across the System (Common Reporting Indicators, bullet points on key achievements) as well as a selection of longer narrative case study examples that can be used directly in the System-wide report.

c) For the System Organization and Advisory Bodies to use in analysis of System-wide issues. For example, comparing planned milestones and impact studies with those actually achieved, and collating the reasons behind any non-achievement, may help spot System-wide bottlenecks. (Note however that one of the principles of the new reporting system is not to use such metrics to make simplistic comparisons between CRPs.)

The objective of using an annual reporting template is to promote consistency in reporting across CGIAR Research Programs and Platforms. Note that most annual reporting is expected to be carried out through harmonized Management Information Systems (being adopted by all CRPs this year), so the ordering of the template and its tables does not necessarily represent the way the information is entered on line. Regardless of the way the reporting information is entered into the Management Information Systems, the template defines the mandatory reporting requirements for all the CRPs/ Platforms.

How is the information used?

The use of the information received in 2017 can be seen in the annual system level report and its annexes and evidence tables (see p. 57 of the pdf report for a full list and links to evidence tables). It is recommended that CRP PMUs have a look through these to get a better idea of how the information received is packaged for a wider audience.

The CGIAR Results Dashboard which is under construction will also be a very important outlet for the information and Funders who attended the recent System Council were very excited about this. Since the dashboard will (eventually) allow the submitted results data and evidence to be searched, ensuring that what is reported is of good quality becomes even more important.

What has changed in 2018?

The 2018 version of the template takes into consideration lessons from the 2017 reporting experience. This includes experience from compiling the results from individual CRP and Platform reports into the 2017 CGIAR annual report and its underlying evidence tables (see page , the quality of the information received, as well as the comments received from CRPs and Platforms during and after the reporting process, compiled on the reporting webpage.

The new elements in the 2018 template are marked in green print in the template. A full list of changes, with the justification for each change, can be found on the planning and reporting webpage.

Will the template continue to change every year?

The intention is to keep this annual reporting template stable for the next three years. However, the System Organization reserves the right to make improvements in details, if problems are uncovered in implementation. Moreover, there are still two indicators which are in pilot versions so they are likely to improve over time. If significant demand arises from Funders for additional information, then the System Organization will hold discussions with both CRPs and Funders to see how best to meet this demand without increasing the overall reporting burden. Where can I get clarification and help?

Where can I get clarification and advice and report problems?

As in 2017, there is a planning and reporting website with Templates, Guidance and Frequently Asked Questions. You can also email PlanningAndReporting@cgiar.org to ask questions of clarification and to report any problems. There are also opportunities for live online Q&A sessions on demand: please address requests to above email.

Automation of reporting

The System Organization is working towards finding solutions for automating reporting as much as possible to minimise the reporting burden on CRPs and Platforms, for example for publications, Altmetrics, and W1/2 reporting. We will be in touch about this.

Rationale for information requested in the template

The remainder of this document lists the rationale for each major section of the template, as requested by CRPs. The System Organization also plans to survey Funders about what information is important and unimportant to them, now that they have seen the new-style system report and dashboard, and will feed back this information.

A. NARRATIVE SECTION

The purpose of this section is to provide a narrative which guides the reader through the overall picture of progress and learning from this year, in a concise, interesting way.

1. Key Results

1.1 Progress Towards SDGs and SLOs (sphere of interest, with research results frequently predating the CRP)

Rationale and use: CRPs build on a body of past CGIAR results, and therefore need to both demonstrate impacts from past work and show that current research has learnt from past successes and failures. This requires ex-post adoption and impact studies, undertaken after the innovation has been adopted at a large scale and without any explicit or implicit project subsidies. Please see Table A of the 2017 Annual Report for examples of how this information is used. Results on past impact are used by Funders to justify current investment in CGIAR research. Learning from impact studies should also inform program design and investment

1.2 CRP Progress towards Outputs and Outcomes (spheres of control and influence)

Rationale and use: Accountability for investment and lesson learning. Research programs are accountable for using their resources in a judicious and cost-effective way to produce outputs and promote outcomes. The expectation is for high-quality adaptive management, implementing agreed plans and making transparent course corrections whenever needed. Research programs need to be able to tell a coherent, CRP-level story about progress and course corrections. This information is used by Funders to justify their investments. (It is recognized however that “percentage milestones achieved” is not a reliable indicator and these numbers will not be compared across CRPs.)

1.3 Cross-cutting dimensions (at CRP level)

Rationale and use: Cross-cutting dimensions are a key part of the SRF: in particular gender, youth and capacity development. Understanding differences in the way research products are used and affect different types of people [going beyond gender and youth to issues such as wealth, ethnicity, caste, disability etc] is key to meeting the SDG goal of “leaving no-one behind”.

Cross-cutting markers should be tagged to: a) Outcome/Impact Cases b) Policies, and c) Milestones.

Innovations and outputs are no longer required to be tagged - although Programs may choose to do this for their own use.

From 2019 tagging will include climate change in addition to gender, youth and capacity development. This is optional for the AR2018.

2.2 Partners and partnerships

Rationale and use:

Number of external partners is one of the Common Reporting Indicators (#C2) and was requested by the System Council in 2017. The number of partners is not important in itself, but the underlying database of partners is of interest to many stakeholders. For example, the System Organization often gets requests from Funders for information on partnerships in specific countries or areas of work. Interesting stories of partnerships may be picked up for the System Level report. Lessons from partnerships with the private sector in 2018 may be of particular interest as the System Organization moves to strengthen this area of work.

Internal collaboration across the CGIAR is expected to be promoted by the new structures, with benefits including stronger interdisciplinary research programs and improved efficiencies. Interesting examples of collaboration are likely to be picked up for the narrative section of the annual report.

2. 3. Intellectual Assets

Rationale and use: The CGIAR Intellectual Assets Principles (add link) explain the rationale for strategic management of Intellectual Assets in order to maximize their global accessibility and/or impact. The purpose of this section is not to repeat general information on intellectual asset management by Centers, but to highlight specific instances of management by CRPs in furtherance of the CRP Theory of Change and planned outcomes. (If this does not apply to your CRP, please put N/A.) The information is used by the System Organization and others to reflect on the application and relevance of the Policy, and as a source of examples for use in the System annual report and elsewhere.

2.4 Monitoring, Evaluation, Impact Assessment and Learning (MELIA)

Rationale and use: a) Adequate investment in MELIA is important for testing assumptions, reflecting on progress and improving effectiveness and efficiency of the work. Reporting on MELIA coverage and the types of activities undertaken can help make the case for adequate investment by Funders, as well as helping CRPs learn from each other on options for organization of MELIA. b) Under the CGIAR System Charter, the System Management Office has a formal responsibility to “monitor implementation of decisions arising from evaluations of CGIAR Research” (Section 11-ll, p.20)

2.5 Efficiency

Rationale and use: CGIAR’s efficiency and value for money are of great interest to CGIAR Funders, who have to consider the return from various alternative investments. The information provided by CRPs is used in the System wide report to highlight the efficiency gains underway. The 3 ‘E’s framework of economy, cost-efficiency and cost-effectiveness provides one useful way to think about different aspects of efficiency.

2.7 Use of W1-2 Funding

Rationale and use: The use of pooled W1/2 funds is of great interest to Funders and in 2017 this was reported in a linked table to the annual report. Anecdotally, some Funders appreciated the information given in this table last year (as well as the summary in the main report). There is no easy way to track this in the financial system at present, so it depends on self-reporting by CRPs.