What are the lasting impacts of 40 years of IDRC-supported research? We’d like to find out.

• Cassava breeding research supported in Africa during the 1970s and 1980s led to the development of high protein varieties of cassava and to plants uniquely adapted to West African growing conditions. One of those varieties helped make Nigeria a leading world producer of this staple food crop.
  
  
• In Morocco, research to facilitate the processing of argan nuts resulted in the creation of women’s cooperatives that provide more than 2500 women with an income, training, and other services. Conservation and reforestation of argan plantations are also helping stop desert encroachment.
  
  
• In India, pilot village knowledge centres to bring information and communication technologies to remote communities are making livelihoods more secure, sustainable, and safe, and are helping villagers to develop new skills. The research has spawned a grassroots movement to bring the benefits of the knowledge revolution to 600 000 villages.
  
  
• After 32 failed attempts to reach consensus on water legislation and a deadly social conflict over water rights, IDRC-supported researchers in Bolivia have helped their country develop a water law that everyone could agree on. The new law recognizes traditional water rights and uses, and guarantees rights to water for irrigation for Indigenous and farming communities.

2008-09