As Professor Karen Macours steps down from the position of SPIA Chair, the results of her 6-year commitment to rigorously generating impact evidence for CGIAR are visible both in outputs from the current workplan and in the plans for future SPIA work. Under Professor Macours’ leadership, the formalization of the SPIA Approach to Impact Assessment for CGIAR brought new developments in impact assessment methods for use in learning and accountability in the CGIAR System. Professor Marcours’ leadership was also key in drafting an improved SPIA operational model and workplan, which received support from the CGIAR System Council and CGIAR Science Leadership earlier this year.
We now welcome Travis J. Lybbert, Professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of California Davis, as the new SPIA Chair. Since 2019 Professor Lybbert has served as a SPIA Special Initiative Member, and for the past 25 years he has worked recurrently with CGIAR partners. Professor Lybbert has published research on topics in applied microeconomics ranging from poverty dynamics, climate change and childhood nutrition to agricultural technology adoption, intellectual property and innovation policy. With SPIA, Professor Lybbert has been particularly involved in the Uganda and Ethiopia country studies.
The nomination of Professor Lybbert follows a competitive recruitment process, and he takes on the role of SPIA Chair effective from 1 October 2023.
