Strengthening our assets: enhancing our impact

The Strategy of the International Potato Center

The Strategy of the International Potato Center (CIP) sets out a program of research for the next 10 years that is aimed squarely at contributing to the achievement of selected targets of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The Strategy follows from CIP’s Vision, published in 2004, which maps out the content of the Center’s research and development activities in relation to the Center’s mission and the context in which it operates. The MDGs guide CIP’s research program, to ensure that the outputs of our work are translated into improvements in the livelihoods of the poor and so contribute to the MDGs

CIP’s mandate crops are potato, sweetpotato and other Andean roots and tubers. In this strategic plan we introduce two new research areas. We take advantage of modern genomics to propose work more with other members of the solanaceous family and our experience hosting the CGIAR Systemwide Program Urban Harvest and issues of health and agriculture to propose a program on safe and healthy horticulture in and around cities.

CIP was founded as a crop improvement center based on the premise of beneficially utilizing the world collections of its mandate crops to make advances in crop improvement and crop protection. We refer to this as our core business. This strategic plan confirms our continuing dedication to this long term founding agenda while at the same time affirming our support for the role that CIP must play in a 21st century global agricultural innovation system.

The CIP Vision introduced an iterative research and development paradigm called the Pro-poor Research and Development (R&D) Cycle. This Cycle is a comprehensive framework for generating a focused research agenda, producing outputs and outcomes, and following through to tangible impact on the livelihoods of the poor.

CIP’s Strategy implements the Pro-poor R&D Cycle through a number of research and development themes that are grounded in regional realities. Looking to respond to the MDGs, important global trends and conceptual shifts, CIP defined a series of key themes that create a logical connection between its research program and its contribution to the MDGs, in fact representing pathways to impact.

Please send your comments on the Strategy to the Director General.

Download the Strategy (600 kb pdf)