Mr Shaun Coffey

Acting CEO and Director, Capacity Building, Crawford Fund

An agronomist and geneticist by training, Shaun Coffey has developed broad interests across science and technology through key leadership roles, such as Foundation Chief of the CSIRO Division of Livestock Industries (2002-2006) and as CEO of the NZ Crown entity, Industrial Research Ltd (2007-2013).  Mr Coffey serves on the Board of the Future Fuels Cooperative Research Centre, as a Director of the Board of the Grains Research and Development Corporation, and is Acting CEO and Director, Capacity Building, Crawford Fund.

ABSTRACT

Re-thinking Partnerships and Capacity Building to Support Transformational Impacts of R&D

To build capacity for addressing complex development challenges, organisations engaged in  Agricultural Research for Development (AgR4D) continue to make substantial investments in governance networks.  The final goal (SDG17) of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, for example, is dedicated to building collaborative networks and advocates for “multi-stakeholder partnerships that mobilize and share knowledge, expertise, technology and financial resources, to support the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals”.  This presentation will not attempt to consider the success, or otherwise, of the effectiveness of present approaches to deliver these outcomes. Rather it will look to the capacities needed to create effective partnerships and networks to deliver change in AgR4D, with a particular focus on the role of the individual as an actor who can develop the relationships needed to operate more effectively across organisation, institutional and system boundaries.  Lasting transformational change results from the aggregation of smaller transactional activities driven by network members who explore and then exploit new ways of working.