How We Work

Local people and organizations are recognized under the CRFS’s place-based approach as having a nuanced understanding of the challenges their regions face. In CRFS-funded research, grantees develop quality, long-term partnerships among stakeholders. Knowledge sharing and active co-creation among partners reinforce local agency and increase the potential for collective action and sustainable solutions.

The CRFS focuses on three regions of high food insecurity in the Andes, East & Southern Africa, and West Africa, funding projects that complement and enhance regional and programmatic grant portfolios. The CRFS uses a community of practice (CoP) approach in which people and organizations with a common commitment to AEI interact regularly to improve their work. The CoP model emphasizes networking, learning, and collective action.

Each CoP is supported by a regional team whose activities include support for grantmaking processes and funded project teams. Each regional team develops a regional analysis, strategy, and plan to inform regional grantmaking. The regional team:

• works with potential grantees to support development of proposals;
• builds relationships with project teams and helps project members and other stakeholders connect to each other to foster learning and inspiration;
• conducts site visits and provides feedback to project teams on annual reports and project meetings.

Research methods support is provided in a range of formats, including meetings with individual teams, workshops, and online forums.