Competitive Funding of Agricultural Research in the World Bank: Lessons and Challenges

Competitive funding has emerged in the late 1990s as an important component of World Bank support to agricultural research systems. This paper outlines the role of competitive funding against a back ground of changing strategies for financing agricultural research. The bulk of the paper is devoted to a synthesis of lessons learned, and ongoing challenges in successful use of competitive funding. The paper concludes that competitive funding can be an important mechanism for financing agricultural research and stimulating institutional reform. However, it should complement but not substitute sustained longterm core funding of public research organizations.