An important lesson is that both because of its size and its role as a financial institution, the World Bank has not been deft in its interventions in countries' institutional arrangements, particularly at the local level. This is a damaging limitation because as other subchapters demonstrate, appropriate institutional arrangements, particularly at the local level, are critical to the effectiveness of AKST in terms of the Assessment's criteria of equitable and sustainable development. The Bank also has faced numerous demands in the area of AKST from other development funding agencies that are willing to fund initiatives through "trust fund arrangements." The danger that the Bank could be drifting too far from its primary role as a financial institution has been keenly felt by some senior managers; as a result, the Bank has at times taken up and then dropped AKST initiatives that may have been worthwhile in advancing broader development goals. The consequences of its brief attention to these issues have not been well assessed. The other regional development banks have not held the central and symbolic role of the World Bank. But they also have played an important role in their region and have sent powerful signals regarding their AKST priorities to client governments. More in-depth social scientific analyses of the nature of the banks' interactions with other AKST actors and their contributions to equitable and sustainable development is warranted.

2.2.4 Public-private and private sectoral arrangements

Public-private arrangements. A number of countries have relied on multi-organizational partnerships to carry AKST to small-scale producers. For instance, the Foundation for the Participatory and Sustainable Development of the Small-scale producers of Colombia (Spanish acronym, PBA) brings together members of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Ministry of the Environment and the DNP (National Planning Department); international research centers, such as CIAT (International Center for Tropical Agriculture); research agencies such as CORPOICA (Colombian Corporation of Agricultural Research) and CONIF (National Agency for Forestry Research); national and regional universities and local farmers' organizations. It is responsible for bringing together at local levels the expertise and support required for small-scale producers and rural entrepreneurs in research, technology generation, and extension and agroenterprise development. The Andean consortium, established in the early 1990s on the initiative of the PBA, brings together five Andean countries (Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia) under a regional project in order to strengthen participative exchange of research and technology with small-scale producers, as well as mobilize international cooperation in AKST and funding. The project has significantly advanced understanding of the small farm economy, established a strong nucleus of expertise in participatory research, developed the scientific, adaptive and applied research infrastructure and established key agroenterprises for the production of clean seed and bioinputs, and initiated links with private commercial actors in the development of value-adding chains in export-oriented markets, e.g., cut flowers, tropical fruits and counter-season vegetable supply.

     Organizations such as Solidaridad have extended the concept and practices of public-private partnerships by linking fair trade to high return markets, such as the fashion industry and more recently, by moving an increasing amount of fair trade product into mass marketing. This effort is being guided by the multistakeholder negotiation of Codes of Conduct. For instance, the Common Code for the Coffee Industry was introduced in September 2004. It is currently operating in Vietnam and Uganda, with major expansion from 2006 onwards under the sponsorship of the German Ministry for Development Cooperation, the German Coffee Association, producer associations and major coffee processors, such as Nestlé, Tchibo, Kraft and Sara Lee, and international organizations such as Consumers International.

Private sector arrangements for profit. The last sixty years have witnessed a rapid increase in the concentration of commercial control by a handful of companies over the sale of planting seed for the world's major traded crops-by 1999, seven companies controlled a high percentage of global seed sales and the concentration has since increased through takeovers and company mergers. The budgets of the leading six agrochemical companies in 2001-2002 combined equaled US$3.2 billion-compared to a total CGIAR budget in 2003 of US$330 million, an order of magnitude less (Dinham, 2005). At the same time, national small and mediumsized seed companies have emerged, playing an important role for small-scale producers and niche markets. They may result in improved market access by small-scale farmers to locally adapted and affordable seed but this remains to be proven. Interesting innovations include the following three examples. The Seeds of Development Program (SODP) is a capacity development and network initiative that seeks to alleviate rural poverty through improved access to appropriate seed varieties. It offers an innovative program for small and medium sized indigenous seed companies in Africa. The network currently includes 25 seed companies in eight African countries. The SODP has been developed by Market Matters, Inc., a US-based organization working in collaboration with Cornell University. Private seed companies operating in India for many years relied on ICRISATbred hybrid parents and while gradually developing their own research and development capabilities; over time they became a major channel for large-scale farm level adoption of hybrids derived from ICRISAT-bred hybrid parents or their derivatives. ICRISAT realized that such partners have better integrated perceptions of farmers' preferences and this triggered the initiation in 2000 of the ICRISAT-Private Sector Hybrid Parent Research Consortia for sorghum and pearl millet. The consortia expanded to include pigeon pea in 2004. Small and medium sized manufactures of agricultural machinery and equipment, specialized for conservation agricultural equipment (e.g., no-till seeders and planters), especially in Brazil, provide agronomic assistance to farmers and advice on conservation agriculture, which simultaneously increases their own market.

2.2.5 NGOs and other civil society networks

Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are the so-called "third sector" of development, which is different from but