Objectives

History

EIARD members and their representatives

EIARD and the CGIAR

National ARD policies and investment

ARD country profiles

Objectives

The European Initiative for Agricultural Research for Development (EIARD) is an informal European donor coordination platform on agricultural research for development (ARD). The platform aims to promote and implement coherent European policies and investments at international, regional and sub‐regional levels in order to increase the impact of ARD, in particularly towards advancing on the SDGs. EIARD activities are around two key areas:

• Coordination of European investments in the CGIAR – the world’s largest public global research platform for sustainable agriculture and food systems.
• Coordination of European policies and investment in strengthening ARD organisations at global, (sub-)continental, and national levels in the Global South.

EIARD comprises the European Commission (EC), interested Member States of the European Union (EU), Switzerland, Norway, and the United Kingdom. The Initiative is currently chaired by the EC’s DG International Partnerships (INTPA).

History

EIARD was proposed at the Research Council of Ministers of the European Union (EU) in September 1994 in order to improve the coordination of national and international ARD efforts. The Initiative was launched during a high-level ministerial meeting in Lucerne in February 1995 by the Presidency of the EU through a political statement from the Council. To ensure EIARD’s continuity and legitimacy, the European Commission (EC) prepared a Communication that was endorsed by the Council and the European Parliament in 1997.

The EIARD Secretariat was hosted by the Commission’s DG Research and Innovation (RTD) from 1997 to late 2016. EIARD operated outside the normal EU procedures for committee systems and, as a result, it had no formal status. During this period, DG RTD supplied office space and equipment and covered mission costs for the EIARD Executive Secretary; the latter was provided by an EIARD (non-EC) member through a seconded National Expert. By late 2016, DG RTD was no longer able to host the EIARD Secretariat due to financial and human resources’ constraints. DG Development Cooperation (DEVCO, currently INTPA – International Partnerships) strongly believed that EIARD should stay inside the Commission and funded a part-time consultant for a transitional period. After this period, Germany offered to host the EIARD Secretariat at the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) in Bonn for three years (2017-2019).

The Chair of EIARD normally rotates on a two-year cycle and is selected among its members. Most recent chairs were Norway (2014-2016), Sweden (2016-2018) and Switzerland (2018-2020); DG INTPA has been EIARD’s chair since 2021 and is also providing funding for additional technical support.

Since its establishment EIARD has influenced ARD policies of EU and the EIARD member countries through its activities and coordinated work. It has also contributed actively to the transformation of CGIAR’s governance and strategy.

EIARD members and their representatives

(as of July 2022)

EIARD and the CGIAR

Much of EIARD’s focus has been on the harmonization of European investments in strengthening the CGIAR, which is the world’s largest public global research partnership delivering science and innovation that advances the transformation of food, land, and water systems. This is done through the coordination of European positions at the System Council – the CGIAR’s governing body – to ensure a consolidation of European views. These positions are summarized through statements that have been delivered during System Council meetings.

Seven EIARD representatives are voting members of the CGIAR System Council – EC, Germany (also representing Belgium), the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. The other EIARD representatives are invited to the System Council meetings. Various EIARD representatives also participate in several CGIAR committees and working groups.

Through EIARD’s consolidation of European views as well as individual contributions, Europe has one of the strongest voices in the Council. EIARD and its members have influenced the transformation of CGIAR governance and strategy over the past two decades, most recently the current reform process towards a unified and integrated One CGIAR. In addition, EIARD acts as an information and knowledge-sharing platform for its individual members.

Supporting the 2022-2024 One CGIAR Research Portfolio

EIARD members strong commitment to the One CGIAR reform is evident in the increase in the collective pledge to the portfolio of initiatives for the year 2022 through renewed interest – for example Denmark – and by moving away from project funding in favour of pooled funding. Furthermore, a number of EIARD members are maintaining system-level funding at a significant level.

Contributions to the CGIAR Trust Fund in past years

EIARD members provided 37 percent of the total funding to the multi-Funder CGIAR Trust Fund during 2017-2021. During this period, EIARD members collectively provided the majority of pooled funding (Windows 1 and 2 in graphs below), which were allocated to CGIAR’s systemwide and programmatic initiatives. Of the EIARD members, United Kingdom and the Netherlands were the largest EIARD contributors to the Fund. But allocations across members differed. For example, most of the funding from Norway and Sweden supported the CGIAR system as a whole while the EC and Germany allocated most of their funding to the Trust Fund to individual projects (Window 3 in graphs below). Furthermore, various EIARD members allocated bilateral funding that were directed to specific projects outside the Trust Fund.

National ARD policies and investment

Besides the coordination of European investment in the CGIAR, EIARD also aims at improving the coordination and alignment between all its members on broader ARD policies and strategies. EIARD also favours better linkages between its members and other European and non-European ARD related institutions, at regional and global levels.

ARD country profiles

• Belgium (2022)
• Denmark (2022)
• European Commission - forthcoming in 2023
• France (2022)
• Germany - forthcoming in 2023
• Ireland - forthcoming in 2023
• Netherlands - forthcoming in 2023
• Norway (2022)
• Sweden (2022)
• Switzerland (2022)
• United Kingdom - forthcoming in 2023