http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-130609-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html

StrategicEvaluation onCapacityDevelopment

Strengthening the Core andthe Periphery:Organizational Case Studyof the Peru Economic andSocial Research

Prepared for:IDRC Evaluation UnitPrepared By:Katrina Rojas y Mariane ArsenaultUniversalia Management Group

Estudio de Caso - CIES

February 2008

Case Study - CIES

February 2008

Executive Summary

The Evaluation Unit of the International Development Research Centre(IDRC) is leading a strategic evaluation of the Centre’s contributionsto the development of capacities of those with whom the Centre works.The fourth phase of the evaluation consists of organizational casestudies. This document presents the organizational case study on thePeru Social and Economic Research Consortium (CIES, from its acronymin Spanish). IDRC has committed more than $3 million in funding toCIES since its origins as the Peru Economic Research Consortium (PERC,from its acronym in Spanish) in 1989. This has been complemented byover $15 million from the Canadian International Development Agency(CIDA).The objective of the case study is to describe how IDRC’s support overtime contributed to the development of capacities of individuals,member organizations, and the Consortium itself as a network orumbrella organization. The methodology included a review of all fourIDRC-funded projects in support of the Consortium between the years of1999 and 2006. Two of these projects provided core institutionalsupport. The data collection phase included document analysis, groupand individual interviews in Peru (Lima and Arequipa) and in Canada,as well as a self-administered questionnaire for the members of CIES.The case study includes six sections: a review of the research fordevelopment context; highlights of the evolution of CIES; adescription of the capacity development intentions at the outset ofthe CIES and IDRC relationship; an overview of the capacitydevelopment interventions; identification of the capacity developmentresults; and finally, a concluding section on strengths and weaknessesin IDRC’s approach and reflections on issues to consider in the futureof the relationship between IDRC and CIES.

Research for development context

Peruvian Context

The Peruvian research for development context has gone throughsignificant changes since the Consortium was created in 1989. Afterseveral years of political conflict and economic instability in thelate 1980s and 1990s, Peru’s situation began to improve. Thesubsequent years of stability in macroeconomic policy provided afoundation for the impressive economic growth that the country is nowexperiencing. Nonetheless, poverty and inequalities are stillwidespread. The recent growth and increase in government revenues hasnot been accompanied by corresponding levels of public sectorinvestment in social programs, due in part to limited governmentcapacity. In addition, since the creation of regional governments in2002, decentralization has become a growing area of attention. Today,several of the provinces or regions are experiencing growth rates thatare higher than those in Lima. These changes in context have provided