Event Report: Strengthening Netherlands - CGIAR Collaboration through the LVVN Attaché Network

Reconnecting with CGIAR

The session opened with an interactive exercise to better understand the existing awareness and engagement between the LVVN attachés and CGIAR. Participants reflected on past initiatives, ongoing partnerships, and knowledge of CGIAR’s scope of work. This led to a conversation on the institutional relationship between the Dutch government and CGIAR, highlighting current funding streams, strategic alignment, and interministerial coordination led by MoFA and LVVN.

Julie van den Bliek, Director Multilateral & Bilateral IFRM at CGIAR, shared insights into the newly restructured CGIAR research portfolio. This portfolio aims to raise the ambition of the science and innovation at CGIAR by bringing together and leveraging the collective capabilities of all CGIAR Research Centers that have a presence in over 80 countries (see image below)

The research portfolio (overview below) focuses on addressing major global challenges such as climate change, gender and social inequalities, poor-quality diets, rural poverty, environmental degradation, and issues stemming from fragility, conflict, and violence. It also considers how significant megatrends are linked to those challenges, including demographic changes, shifting consumption patterns, geopolitical instability, and emerging technologies. Julie highlighted that these structural changes to CGIAR’s portfolio create new and exciting entry points for (strengthened) collaboration, but to make this happen it will require intentional, coordinated engagement from both CGIAR and its national and international partners, including the LVVN attaché network.

Examples of Partnership Ambitions & Actions

The relevance of aligning CGIAR research with embassy-level programming was brought to life through several shared examples. Leontine Crisson, agricultural counsellor for Colombia, Peru, and Ecuador, shared insights into collaborations with CGIAR centers in Cali and Lima. She highlighted the value of leveraging both CGIAR’s scientific expertise and the country-specific networks maintained by Dutch embassies to achieve shared agricultural development goals.

During the conversation CGIAR’s International Potato Center (CIP)'s engagement in a public-private partnership with HZPC in Kenya to breed hybrid potatoes. This partnership demonstrates the type of innovation that both aligns with Dutch foreign policy goals and supports the work of counsellors in the field.

Further discussion explored ways in which the LVVN attachés could support or scale CGIAR-led innovations. An example mentioned was the development of biofortified rice in Indonesia. Throughout the conversation, it was noted that the agricultural counsellors could play an important role to help facilitate connections to local stakeholders, such as private sector actors or local governments, for example, to establish new testing plots or expand demonstration efforts.

Strengthening Strategic Engagement

A recurring bottleneck that surfaced in the session was the need for improved visibility and mapping of CGIAR activities at country level. Participants emphasized that a clearer overview of ongoing research themes and geographical focus areas would empower LVVN attachés to make better use of CGIAR’s resources and capabilities in their own programming.

Concrete follow-up actions discussed include:

• Creating thematic mappings of CGIAR’s country-level activities and Dutch-funded workstreams.
  
  

• Improving information-sharing about strategic research outputs through embassies and the LVVN network.
  
  

• Aligning the planning of incoming delegation visits with CGIAR initiatives to foster stronger in-country partnerships.
  

Moving Forward

The session concluded with a clear call for strengthened collaboration between CGIAR and the LVVN attaché network. As global food systems face growing challenges, closer ties between research institutions and policy implementers are essential. The NL-CGIAR Working Group will take forward the session’s outcomes to ensure follow-up actions are embedded in NL-CGIAR partnership activities.

The discussions reaffirmed the shared commitment to translating science into sustainable impact, one that is rooted in collaboration, knowledge exchange, and the practical strengths of international networks like CGIAR and LVVN.