BASIS CRSP I, October 1996-September 2001

BASIS I, IN ITS FIRST AND SECOND YEARS of operation, focused on establishing collaborative partnerships and research programs in five regions: Central America, Central Asia, Horn of Africa, Southeast Asia, and Southern Africa. (Southeast Asia was later dropped as a focal region.) In its third year, emphasis shifted to implementation and generating policy recommendations. Our programs in El Salvador progressed rapidly and began to produce early impacts, but by 1999 the research programs had become fully established, and BASIS findings were being widely communicated at policy conferences, through printed matter, to our clientele, and on the BASIS website.

The research and training activities of BASIS I came to a close in September 2001. Though a few activities in the Horn of Africa and Central America continue through no-cost extensions, the projects initiated under the BASIS Competitive Grants Program and in Russia, the Newly Independent States and Southern Africa are complete.

As BASIS I was winding down, considerable effort was given to research synthesis and integration, both within and across regions. Workshops aimed at synthesizing findings of BASIS research programs were held in Central America, Russia and Southern Africa. In addition, BASIS researchers served as moderators and peer reviewers for the World Bank Consultative Meeting on Land Issues, which sought to globally synthesize best lessons on land use and management.

In the meantime, BASIS CRSP was awarded a second five-year phase from October 2001-September 2006. As part of program renewal, the BASIS I helped coordinate the selection of five new regional projects, the preparation of the BASIS phase II proposal, and the successful defense of that proposal. As BASIS I came to an official end (September 2001), I resigned as program director of the BASIS CRSP and the Management Entity shifted from the Land Tenure Center to the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

I am very pleased with what BASIS I accomplished during my years as program director. We were able to implement a global program of research and training that covered three continents and over twenty country programs. The worth of our research programs were validated by Governments that used BASIS results to design project interventions and reform policy, and by the large number of financial contributions provided by USAID regional and country missions. We developed and supported a large number of collaborative partnerships and helped bridge gaps between the research and policy setting communities.

Both the External Evaluation Panel Review and the Administrative Management Review (conducted in the fourth year of BASIS I) gave researchers and the Management Entity very high marks for research and training accomplishments, for the partnerships established, for operating efficiency, and for global outreach. While at times we groaned under the administrative challenges, we never lost sight of our mission to create a CRSP that empowered decentralized ownership and global governance.

These results would not have been possible without the contribution of numerous individuals and organizations in the United States and abroad. Special thanks go to the staff of the Management Entity who helped me over the years with program management and administration, in particular, Beth Amspaugh, Kurt Brown, Marsha Cannon, Danielle Hartmann, Carole Karsten, Beverly Phillips, and other staff of the Land Tenure Center.

The Board of Directors helped provide important guidance on policy and program strategy, while the BASIS Technical Committee advised me on technical programs. Special thanks go to Pauline Peters who served as chair of the Technical Committee, and to the regional coordinators of BASIS programs: Peter Little (Horn of Africa), Claudio Gonzalez-Vega (Central America), Pauline Peters (Southern Africa), Peter Bloch (Central Asia), and Richard Blue (Southeast Asia). Without their dedication to the pillars of collaboration, research and international outreach, this program would never have gotten off the ground, nor reached the heights that it did.

I have had the good fortune over the years of working with USAID project officers-Lena Heron, Deb Rubin, and Pam Stanbury-who helped me promote BASIS, and shape and reshape the CRSP in response to global challenges and USAID's changing needs. I also had the sound counsel of Jean Kearns and the BASIS External Evaluation Panel, who appreciated our goals and helped us in so many ways to get there.

We of the Management Entity gratefully acknowledge the many contributions of our principal investigators and their supporting organizations that researched, taught, collaborated and participated, often far beyond the resources we provided. Without all of you, it wouldn't have been possible, and not nearly as much fun.

As we conclude this phase of BASIS, another phase has been born, one with new actors, a new mission, a new clientele, and a new management. See the new BASIS II website at http://www.basis.wisc.edu. From all of us of at BASIS I, we pass to you the foundations we have laid, and our best wishes for the future.

Michael Roth, BASIS I Program Director
February 2002