CIAT Strategy refreshed for 2018–2020
In the five years that have passed since CIAT’s current strategy (2014–2020) was prepared, we have embraced new initiatives such as sustainable food systems, big data, and land restoration. We have also incorporated into our agenda the mandates of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on climate change while maintaining our focus on impact at global, regional, national, and subnational levels.
This Strategy Update, informed by consultations with CIAT staff, its Board of Trustees, and external experts, reaffirms relevant aspects of the current strategy, revisits its mission statement, and responds to new opportunities, such as an Alliance with Bioversity International – a sister CGIAR Center – and challenges resulting from global drivers of change. In doing so, it introduces new initiatives and our new research area in Agroecosystems and Sustainable Landscapes and identifies opportunities for creating an enabling organizational environment to deliver impact.
To maximize contributions to its overarching vision, CIAT will focus its capacity and resources on the following strategic objectives:
- Providing high-quality and safe food to consumers by boosting productivity and enhancing the nutritional quality of crops
- Making smallholder agriculture more competitive, inclusive, and market oriented through improvements in agricultural value chains and sustainable practices
- Scaling up investments in agriculture and agro-ecosystem sustainability by enabling policy decisions.
The global development community is facing unprecedented challenges with direct implications for the public and international agricultural research. CIAT’s 50-year history has been one of effective and timely adaptation to the changing external environment, and of pioneering new initiatives within CGIAR and beyond. CIAT, with its multidisciplinary systems approach to research for development, has never been in a stronger position to help address these challenges. And this Strategy Update aims to keep this approach sharp.
We encourage you to read, share, and engage with us as we embark on these new directions.