145.24 linear feet of textual records; 17 CD-ROM; 273 video recordings

Transferred from CGIAR.

The records in this series reflect the two principal activities of the Consultative Group: funding and evaluating the international institutes. The Group's activity is carried out through regular informal contacts, through consultation at yearly or semi-annual meetings, and through inspection visits to the centers. The records document the debates on whether to fund new institutes or new programs within existing institutes; what is the healthiest relationship between the international institutes and national research and extension programs; and how to manage the related roles of the Council and the Group, the two secretariats, and the four co-sponsors. A substantial amount of correspondence also is created during the sensitive process of selecting Council members and choosing leaders of the institutes.

The records of the meetings give a bird's eye view of the state of international agricultural research on topics ranging from pest control to rice production to the state of post-harvest technologies. Background papers, mission reports, priorities papers, instituted evaluations, minutes, verbatim transcripts, and correspondence range over every subject in agriculture. Of particular interest are the debates on how to support the collection, evaluation and conservation of plant genetic resources, which ultimately led to the establishment of the International Board for Plant Genetic Resources and a central fund to support it. Changing research interests can also be followed, as well as the growing awareness of the role of women in agriculture, the increasing appreciation of the role of the small farmer, and the heightening concern over the fragility of environmental balance.

Of particular importance is the collection of publications and reports from all the institutes that are supported by CGIAR. Through these publications, the regular evaluation reports, the institute work plans and the regular correspondence, the successes and failures of each institute can be charted. The central files contain massivefiles on the institutes, often including such difficult to locate items as minutes of institute meetings. In the early 1990s a CGIAR project put a large body of the publications from the institutes on a set of 17 CD-ROMS; these publications and others are found in the series of institute publications.

Routine records are destroyed in accordance with the General Records Schedules of the World Bank Group. Printouts and work sheets created during the CD-ROM project were destroyed. For meetings where verbatim transcripts and audioand video tapes exist, the tapes are destroyed, except for meetings of special importance, such as the 1994 Ministerial level meeting or the 1995 twenty-fifth anniversary meeting, for which the videotapes are retained.

Accruals are expected.

Records are subject to the World Bank Policy on Access to Information.

Records are subject to the Copyright Policy of the World Bank Group.

• English

• French

• Spanish

Record sets of each center's publications are held by that center.

• See Central Files - Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research planning files(WB IBRD/IDA ADMCF-06) for files on the creation and planning of CGIAR. Also Central Files - Operational sectors (WB IBRD/IDA ADMCF-07) for records related to lending policy, research, and other activities of the Bank's agriculture sector.

• See Records of the Agriculture and Rural Development Sector (WG IBRD/IDA AGR).

• See the following oral histories: Warren Baum; and Michael Lejeune.

• See Records of the Consultative Group for Food Production and Investment in Developing Countries (WB IBRD/IDA CGFP).

• There are four sound recordings related to CGIAR found in Records of the Office of External Relations (WB IBRD/IDA EXT). These sound recordings relate to International Centers Week (Archives item numbers 29I, 31I and 32I) and the International Conference African Livestock Subcommittee (Archives item number 464I) in 1972.

• For records of CGIAR Chairman Ian Johnson (2000-2006), see: Records of individual staff members -- Ian Johnson files -- CGIAR correspondence files (WB IBRD/IDA STAFF-13-04).

• See Records of the Sector Policy and Research Vice Presidency (PREVP) and the Sector and Operations Policy Vice Presidency (OSPVP) (WB IBRD/IDA WB_IBRD/IDA_93)

• See Records of the Policy, Planning and Research Senior Vice Presidency (PPRSV) and Policy, Research and External Affairs Senior Vice Presidency (PRESV) (WB IBRD/IDA WB_IBRD/IDA_122) for records relating to the period when the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) reported to PPRSV/PRESV.

• See Records of the Environmentally Sustainable Development Vice Presidency (WB IBRD/IDA WB_IBRD/IDA_90).

• Also see Records of the Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development Network -- CGIAR meeting and planning records (WB IBRD/IDA WB_IBRD/IDA_92-02).

• Records of the secretariat of the Science Council of CGIAR are in the archives of the Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome, and the archives of the Ford Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation have records relating to the creation of CGIAR and the early funding of the institutes. The US National Archives has a small quantity of records on the founding of CGIAR in Record Group 286, Records of the Agency for International Development; copies of these records are in the Reference collection on World Bank history (WB IBRD/IDA REF). For current information and a selection of historical documents, see the CGIAR website.

Warren C. Baum with the collaboration of Michael L. Lejeune, Partners against hunger: The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research. Washington, DC: Published for CGIAR by the World Bank, 1986.

Warren C. Baum with the collaboration of Michael L. Lejeune, Partners against hunger: The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research. Washington, DC: Published for CGIAR by the World Bank, 1986.

Internal World Bank Group Archives rules based on ISAD(G).

20 October 2002, 28 March 2012