OC-5: Number of policies, legal instruments or investments modified in design or implementation, informed by ICARDA research

Owned by Enrico Bonaiuti
May 05, 2020
3 min read

Definition: Number of policies/ strategies/ laws/ regulations/ budgets/ investments/ curricula (and similar) at different scales (international to local) that were modified in design or implementation, with evidence that the change was informed by CGIAR research.

  • Policy or Strategy. A policy or strategy could be a written decision or commitment to a particular course of action by an institution (policy); or a (government, NGO, private sector) high level plan outlining how a particular course of action will be carried out (strategy).

  • Legal Instrument. Legal instruments include laws, defined as a Bill passed into law by highest elected body (Parliament, Congress or equivalent); or regulations, defined as a rule or norm adopted by government and backed up by some threat of consequences, usually negative ones in the form of penalties.

  • Budget or Investment. A budget or investment is an estimate of funds allocated for development.

  • Curriculum. Curriculum refers to the planned means and materials with which students will interact for the purpose of achieving identified educational outcomes. This can be at any level of education and target group, ranging from university degree course to farmer-field school

Unit of Measure: Count

Disaggregated by: Names of contributing CRPs/Platforms; CGIAR sub-IDO; Policy/investment type; primary organization designing or promulgating the policy, law, investment; geographical scope (national, sub-national), level of maturity (level 1, level 2, level 3); Gender focus, Youth focus, Climate change focus
Policy/investment type

  • Policy or Strategy

  • Legal Instrument

  • Budget or Investment

  • Curriculum

    Level of maturity:

  • Level 1= Research taken up by next user (decision maker or intermediary);

  • Level 2= Policy/Law enacted;

  • Level 3= Evidence of impact on people and/or natural environment of the changed policy or investment

    Gender/Youth/climate change focus:

  • Not targeted,

  • Significant objective

  • Principal objective

Method of Calculation: Summation of count

Data sources: Policy position papers; Strategic plans, investment plans, curriculum review reports, legal documents. Where independently available sources of evidence are not available, project leaders may also – if appropriate - request formal letters from the relevant authorities or agencies outlining how ICARDA research has been utilized in a particular policy, legal or investment setting.

Data collection method: Review of and count of unique policies/strategies, legal instruments, budget/investment or curriculum in each of the stages 1 to 3.

Data collection and reporting responsibility: Program leaders, project leaders, country managers, and project M&E focal points

Data Collection and Reporting Frequency: Annual

Evidence required:
Stage 1: Outcome/ Impact Case strongly recommended, but optional. If this is not possible, then a short narrative of evidence (max. 200 words) should be accompanied by supporting references and/or links.
Stage 2: Outcome-Impact Case Report
Stage 3: Outcome-Impact Case Report
A wide range of evidence will be accepted. The highest quality evidence will reflect a systematic theory-based approach to testing links and assumptions in the impact pathway, such as contribution analysis.

Rationale: The policy, legal and regulatory enabling environment, as well as education curricula, are critical for development, and influencing this is an important objective of ICARDA and CGIAR research. It is also an important indicator of the "multiplier" effect of the research work.

Comments and limitations:

  • The 'number of policies' is not a meaningful quantitative indicator and cannot be used to compare the performance of ICARDA projects. Rather, this indicator helps to create a database of examples and the strength of evidence that is of value.

  • Policy change is a highly complex process shaped by a multitude of interacting forces and actors. 'Outright success', in terms of achieving specific, hoped-for changes is rare, and the work that does influence policy is often unique and rarely repeated or replicated, and influences are not always documented.

  • Policy changes also tend to occur over long-time frames.

  • In addition, policies are often made behind closed doors and it can also be difficult to assess whether or how much any particular actor influenced policies, regulations and laws.

  • Care must also be taken in relying on indicators such as citations and references as research will rarely be used directly, but often influences policy-makers more gradually and in less direct ways. Conversely, research may be 'tactically' cited ex-post to justify a decision that has already been made, and where the research simply confirms the 'already held' viewpoint but did not influence it per se. For these reasons, the quality of evidence presented is important.