About UPWARD

Participatory Research and Development

Users' Perspectives With Agricultural Research and Development (UPWARD) is a network of scientists and development specialists working to increase participation by farmers and other users of agricultural technology in research and development. Launched in 1989 under the sponsorship of the International Potato Center (CIP), UPWARD seeks to address three important challenges facing agricultural research and development today: linking users and R&D professionals for more effective agricultural innovation; bringing sustained benefits to less favored farming areas and marginalized groups, especially women; and working with households and local communities as key actors in research and learning activities.

The growing interest in sustainable, locally-driven agricultural development has spurred increased efforts in the use of participatory approaches by research and development professionals. UPWARD takes PR&D as a family of approaches, methods, attitudes and behaviors that seek greater participation of intermediate- and end-users in investigating and seeking improvements in local situations, needs and opportunities.

Exploring and valuing users’ perspectives represent a fundamental step in PR&D. End-users include cultivators, seed producers, entrepreneurs, traders and consumers -- not only at the individual but also household, group and community levels. Intermediate users include peoples’ organizations, research institutes, extension agencies, NGOs, local government units, and academic institutions.

	User responsiveness
	Household orientation
	Livelihood systems framework
	Integration of scientific and local knowledge
	Interdisciplinary mode
	Inter-institutional partnership
	Problem-based agenda
	Impact-driven objectives
	Field-based action

Through individual and institutional members of the network located across Asia, UPWARD works with and builds upon local users' knowledge and expertise. UPWARD considers PR&D as an iterative process involving four key phases:

Assessment and diagnosis: situation analysis, needs and opportunities assessment, problem diagnosis, gender and stakeholder analysis, documentation and characterization.

Experimenting with technology options: joint agenda setting for experimentation, technology development and evaluation, integration of technology components and piloting.

Facilitating local innovation: bridging social and technical innovations, sustaining PR&D through institutional and policy innovations, facilitating multi-perspective negotiation and conflict management, community mobilization and action, local capacity development, strengthening local partnerships.

Dissemination and scaling up: development of learning and extension mechanisms, information support to macro-policy development, promoting networking and horizontal linkages.

All these require appropriate strategies for Managing PR&D: project development, resource mobilization, data management, monitoring and evaluation, PR&D capacity development.

Rootcrop systems in Asia, such as those associated with sweetpotato and potato, provide the arena in which UPWARD field-tests PR&D. User participation in research and development represents a key challenge in rootcrop livelihoods since these are generally characterized by weak support from the formal research and development sector, resource-poor agricultural and environmental conditions, and key importance to the livelihood of marginalized socio-economic groups.

Through an iterative process of learning and action, UPWARD draws field-tested PR&D concepts and methods through collaborative research projects that seek to:

	Identify functional niches for rootcrops in rural livelihood systems. Studies on identifying utilization opportunities of rootcrops for improved livelihood of rural households.
	Harness the value-adding potentials of rootcrops as undervalued crops. Studies on optimizing the potentials for enhancing socioeconomic benefits from the production and utilization of rootcrops.
	Improve crop management of high value rootcrops by low-income producers. Studies on developing and improving practices for more profitable and ecologically sound rootcrop agriculture.
	Enhance the role of rootcrops in household food security and nutrition. Studies on promoting rootcrops for increased consumption, food security and nutritional well-being among rural and urban consumers.
	Assess the impact of agroecological and socioeconomic transitions on rootcrops. Studies on the interrelations and mutual impacts between agroecological change (e.g. natural resource degradation), socioeconomic change (e.g. subsistence- to commercial-scale) and rootcrop agriculture.

	Integrated crop management: Documentation of local production systems with emphasis on rootcrops, users' soil resource management, integrated and community-based management of pests and diseases, seed supply, and improved management of homegardens and non-conventional production systems.
	Genetic resources conservation: Conservation of germplasm and associated local knowledge, participatory multi-user varietal evaluation, strengthening local capacity for conservation through use, and promotion of biodiversity conservation through homegardening.
	Processing, marketing and consumption: Enhancing production-marketing linkages, postharvest handling and storage, household and community-based enterprise development, and family food consumption and nutrition.

Knowledge Management Through Networking

UPWARD is a loose network of individuals and institutions participating in collaborative field research, training, information/publishing and mentoring activities. Over 50 institutions in Asia and around the world participate in UPWARD and these include national/local research institutes, universities/colleges, international research/donor organizations, development and extension agencies, NGOs and local government units.

Close links with CIP's regional research programs in East and Southeast Asia and the Pacific (ESEAP) and South, West and Central Asia (SWCA) offer important technical input to the projects. UPWARD also draws support and guidance from the Dutch Support Group (DSG), an interdisciplinary association of academics at Wageningen Agricultural University, The Netherlands, and from the UPWARD Resource and Advisory Committee, composed of senior Asian researchers.

Collaborative research activities form the core of UPWARD’s networking agenda and membership. Currently, UPWARD’s field-based projects are located in China, Indonesia, India, Lao PDR, Nepal, Philippines and Vietnam.

UPWARD seeks to strengthen regional capacity for PR&D in Asia through encouraging research and development practitioners to share their field experiences within and across institutions and countries. Its ultimate aim is the eventual integration of PR&D within programs of these institutions.

In continuing efforts to expand the cadre of competent professionals in Asia who will spearhead PR&D implementation and further capacity development, UPWARD sponsors and/or organizes:

	Learning workshops and short courses
	Specialized individual training and internship programs
	MSc and PhD thesis research
	Cross-visits and study tours
	Mentoring schemes between senior experts and junior PR&D practitioners
	Conferences and seminars

Information exchange and diffusion -- nationally, regionally and globally -- are a central part of UPWARD's capacity development strategy, and institutions and individuals with limited access to information are especially targeted. A computer-searchable database of library accessions in the Coordinating Office dealing with methods and rootcrop R&D participants is now available.

The DSG secretariat in Wageningen also welcomes requests for literature searches, acquisition of documents/materials not locally available, and referral to appropriate sources and experts.

UPWARD publications are distributed either for free, at cost or through an exchange deal. These include:

	Bi-annual newsletter
	Working papers
	Training documents
	Sourcebooks
	Volumes of research papers
	Monographs
	Technical reports
	Conference/seminar papers

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Coordinating Office Staff
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	Dindo M. Campilan, UPWARD Network Coordinator/CIP Social Scientist Keith Fahrney, PRDU Project Coordinator (based in CIAT-Vientiane) Program Staff Carlos Basilio, Research Fellow, Environmental Science Raul Boncodin, Program Associate Hideliza de Chavez, Research Fellow, Rural Sociology Lorna Sister, Research Fellow, Agricultural Economics Administrative Staff Marietta Nadal, Office Manager Mylene Aquino, Administrative Officer Isagani Bautista, Driver Mario de los Reyes, Messenger Advisers Gelia Castillo, Senior Adviser Julian Gonsalves, Senior Adviser Vernon Velasco, Data Management Consultant
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Contact Us
To seek additional information about UPWARD, visit the Coordinating Office at PCARRD, Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines or send communications through the following address:
CIP- UPWARD c/o IRRI, DAPO 7777, Metro Manila, Philippines Tel: (63-49) 536-8185 Fax: (63-49) 536-1662 Email: cip-manila@cgiar.org
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Those seeking more information on the Dutch Support Group (DSG) should contact:
DSG-UPWARD Prof. Anke Niehof (Chair, DSG), Email Anke.Niehof@wur.nl Ir. Antine Hardon (Coordinator, DSG Secretariat), Email Antine.Hardon@wur.nl c/o Sociology of Consumers and Households (SCH) Group Wageningen Agricultural University Postbus 8060, 6700 DA Wageningen, The Netherlands Tel (31-317) 482184 Fax (31-317) 482593 Website: http://www.sls.wageningen-ur.nl/sch

	To introduce innovations that optimize the contribution of rootcrops within specific functional niches in local agricultural livelihood systems.
	To field-test and promote participatory approaches in developing and sustaining local innovations.
	To strengthen PR&D capacity and networking among Asian R&D professionals and their organizations.