In 2000, the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) began experimenting with new ways of linking research and development. The research has been carried out in a way which extracts knowledge from local communities and provides little in the way of useful feedback. Through discussions with several NGO partners in Central America, the conclusion obtained was that there had to be better ways to link research and development processes, and so CIAT embarked on the journey described here. Since that time, this approach has spread widely under the name of “Learning Alliances” and is currently in use with multiple partners in more than 30 countries. One of the main reasons for initiating the work on Learning Alliances was a realisation that a research centre can only play a small role in improving processes of rural development. Linking with other like-minded organisations in a meaningful fashion, the potential contribution of research to a larger innovation system can be important.
