The first in a series of meetings after the CGIAR decided at its Annual General Meeting to integrate the new ISNAR program into IFPRI took place on January 21, 2004 at IFPRI.

• allow members of the former ISNAR Restructuring Team and the last External Program Review Team to brief participants and IFPRI's Senior Management Team (SMT) in detail on how they came to their recommendations related to research agendas and to ensure a seamless transfer of knowledge
• identify, based on past experience, key factors of success for the new program and to assess and discuss options for increasing future impacts
• assess how synergies can be built between IFPRI and the new ISNAR program
• collect ideas on potential strategies and priorities that could guide the development of the new ISNAR research program within IFPRI.

Topics included the impact orientation of a new ISNAR program; organizational strengthening and the future needs of national agricultural research systems (NARS); and the research agenda for institutional aspects of innovation.

It was clear from the discussions that the context for agricultural research in developing countries is changing rapidly and that it is vital that the new program meet these changing demands.

Participants included members of the ISNAR transition and restructuring teams, IFPRI and ILRI senior management and senior researchers, members of the last ISNAR External Program Review Team, and key academics.

All participants concluded that it was a valuable meeting and a useful first step towards exploring options for the new ISNAR program. They agreed that the new program would have to have a strong research basis.

A priority for next meetings is to design stakeholder consultations with partners from the CGIAR, developing countries NARS, academia, NGOs, and the donor community to arrive at an innovative and relevant program within the "transition year (2004)" and to build "social capital" for a broad support of the program. The new leadership of ISNAR and a Program Advisory Committee for the ISNAR Program shall play key roles in that. The respective search and appointment processes are currently in progress.