Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1970 - 2000 (Creation)
Level of description
Fonds
Extent and medium
145.24 linear feet of textual records; 17 CD-ROM; 273 video recordings
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) formed on May 19, 1971 is an informal organization of countries, international development agencies and private foundations that cooperate in underwriting a network of more than a dozen independent, international agricultural research institutes. The co-sponsors of the Group are the World Bank, the Food and Agriculture Organization, the United Nations Development Program, and the International Fund for Agricultural Development. The Bank hosts the executive secretariat and provides the chairman of CGIAR. The FAO staffs the secretariat of the Science Council, an independent panel of scientists and research managers who advise the Group on program and scientific matters. The records in this fonds are those of the executive secretariat.
Repository
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Transferred from CGIAR.
Content and structure area
Scope and content
The records in this series reflect the two principal activities of the Consultative Group: funding and evaluating the international institutes. The Group's activity is carried out through regular informal contacts, through consultation at yearly or semi-annual meetings, and through inspection visits to the centers. The records document the debates on whether to fund new institutes or new programs within existing institutes; what is the healthiest relationship between the international institutes and national research and extension programs; and how to manage the related roles of the Council and the Group, the two secretariats, and the four co-sponsors. A substantial amount of correspondence also is created during the sensitive process of selecting Council members and choosing leaders of the institutes.
The records of the meetings give a bird's eye view of the state of international agricultural research on topics ranging from pest control to rice production to the state of post-harvest technologies. Background papers, mission reports, priorities papers, instituted evaluations, minutes, verbatim transcripts, and correspondence range over every subject in agriculture. Of particular interest are the debates on how to support the collection, evaluation and conservation of plant genetic resources, which ultimately led to the establishment of the International Board for Plant Genetic Resources and a central fund to support it. Changing research interests can also be followed, as well as the growing awareness of the role of women in agriculture, the increasing appreciation of the role of the small farmer, and the heightening concern over the fragility of environmental balance.
Of particular importance is the collection of publications and reports from all the institutes that are supported by CGIAR. Through these publications, the regular evaluation reports, the institute work plans and the regular correspondence, the successes and failures of each institute can be charted. The central files contain massivefiles on the institutes, often including such difficult to locate items as minutes of institute meetings. In the early 1990s a CGIAR project put a large body of the publications from the institutes on a set of 17 CD-ROMS; these publications and others are found in the series of institute publications.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Routine records are destroyed in accordance with the General Records Schedules of the World Bank Group. Printouts and work sheets created during the CD-ROM project were destroyed. For meetings where verbatim transcripts and audioand video tapes exist, the tapes are destroyed, except for meetings of special importance, such as the 1994 Ministerial level meeting or the 1995 twenty-fifth anniversary meeting, for which the videotapes are retained.
Accruals
Accruals are expected.
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Records are subject to the World Bank Policy on Access to Information.
Conditions governing reproduction
Records are subject to the Copyright Policy of the World Bank Group.
Language of material
- English
- French
- Spanish
Script of material
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Record sets of each center's publications are held by that center.
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Publication note
Warren C. Baum with the collaboration of Michael L. Lejeune, Partners against hunger: The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research. Washington, DC: Published for CGIAR by the World Bank, 1986.
Publication note
Warren C. Baum with the collaboration of Michael L. Lejeune, Partners against hunger: The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research. Washington, DC: Published for CGIAR by the World Bank, 1986.
Notes area
Alternative identifier(s)
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
Genre access points
Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
Internal World Bank Group Archives rules based on ISAD(G).
Disclosure status
Level of detail
Dates of creation revision deletion
20 October 2002, 28 March 2012