News
$24.5 Million Extension Award Received
We are pleased to announce that the Feed the Future Innovation Lab Collaborative Research on Grain Legumes, known as the Dry Grain Pulses Collaborative Research Support Program (Pulse CRSP) from 2007 to 2012 and now to be called the Legume Innovation Lab, has been awarded a $24.5 million extension for 4.5 years, through September 29, 2017.
SAWBO featured on Big Ten Network
The research work of Pulse CRSP PI Dr. Barry Pittendrigh (PI-UIUC-1) was featured on the Big Ten Network in February 2013.
Link to main video article
Legume Innovation Lab Directors Interviewed at 2012 World Food Prize
Dr. Irv Widders, director, and Dr. Cynthia Donovan, deputy director, Legume Innovation Lab, were interviewed at the 2012 World Food Prize in Des Moines, Iowa, in December 2012, on how grain legumes contribute to Feed the Future Strategic Initiatives. Link to Video.
Deadlines
(This column is updated regularly to reflect vital information for researchers and managers connected to PULSE CRSP projects and grants. If nothing is listed, nothing is immediately due.)
Impact Assessment
Impact assessments perform two functions—accountability and learning. Greater accountability (and strategic validation) is seen as a prerequisite for continued support. Better learning is crucial for improving the effectiveness of development projects and ensuring that the lessons from experience—both positive and negative—are heeded.
Impact assessment is essential for evaluating publicly funded research, capacity building and outreach programs, and planning future research. It is essential to document outputs, outcomes, and impacts of public investments in research for development (R4D) activities. Anecdotal data and qualitative information are important in communicating impact to policymakers and the public but must be augmented with empirical data, and sound and rigorous analysis. Methods have been developed to quantify the economic impacts of agricultural research investments.
Impact assessment in Pulse CRSP includes the following.
- Documenting CRSP research outputs, outcomes, and impacts.
- Ex-post impact assessment of Bean/Cowpea and Dry Grain Pulses CRSP Investments in research, institutional capacity building, and technology dissemination in Africa, Latin America, and the United States
- Baseline data collection and impact evaluation integrated into Pulse CRSP projects.
Impact assessment is formalized in Pulse CRSP in the project Impact Assessment of Bean/Cowpea and Dry Grain Pulses CRSP Investments in Research, Institutional Capacity Building and Technology Dissemination in Africa, Latin America and the U.S. PIs: Mywish Maredia, Richard Bernsten, and Eric Crawford, Michigan State University. MSU-4.
Other Publications (reports, conference papers, etc.)
Other Output (web pages, videos, equipment design, etc.)
Scholarly Activities and Accomplishments
Links to Other Research Publication Topics
Material is being organized.
Other Publications (reports, conference papers, etc.)
Material is being organized.
Other Output (web pages, videos, equipment design, etc.)
Maredia, M.K. 2011. M&E and Impact Evaluation of Agricultural Research: Challenges and Best Practices. Presentation made at the USAID/USDA/APLU organized “Feed the Future” Planning Workshop, Purdue University, January 12-13, 2011.
Reyes, Byron. 2011. “Economic Impact Evaluation of Improved Bean Varieties in Central America.” Presentation made at the Symposium “Diminishing Latin America’s Inequalities: Land, Food and Human Health Strategies” April 2011.
Scholarly Activities and Accomplishments
Material is being organized.
Bernsten, Richard: In April 2011, PI Richard Bernsten (co-PI of this project) receivedThe Ralph H. Smuckler Award for Advancing International Studies and Programs at MSU, The award recognizes and rewards a faculty member each year for his/her significant and lasting impact on the advancement of international scholarship, teaching, and public service
Links to Other Research Publication Topics:
Announcements & Opportunities
U.S. Borlaug Summer Institute
The U.S. Borlaug Fellows in Global Food Security Program is offering a two-week learning program for graduate students interested in developing a holistic understanding of the conceptual challenges around global food security with a focus on cross-disciplinary problem solving of real-world development challenges. For more information, click here.
