1. NARS Review and Reform Processes.

Most of the national agricultural research systems are undergoing reforms in the 
context of changing role of the state, decentralisation and decreasing research 
budgets. In most countries, the national / public agricultural research organisations / 
institutes (NARI) were highly dominant research service providers – often the only ones. 
Despite the fact that they were encouraged to work together with other actors in systems 
(NARS), these linkages are still weak in most cases. In the context of the reforms, other 
actors like Universities, private research institutes, NGOs and CBOs are brought into a 
pluralistic research system through structural reforms and changes of the funding and 
institutional arrangements. Competitive grant systems and research networks are key 
mechanisms to enhance pluralism and quality of the services. Of particular importance for 
us is the articulation and the assessment of the demand side for research services.

PICOTEAM supports such reform processes mainly through:

• Design of review and reform processes with stakeholders and organisational leadership

• Involvement in review / reform task forces

• Core functional analysis and service analysis

• Feasibility studies for new arrangements, including demand assessment

• Research and lesson learning on reform processes