As Lewis Carroll famously observed:
If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.
This reminds us that no institution can aspire to sustainable financing without a clear vision of what it wants to do.
I have been involved in scientific research, particularly agricultural research, for more than four decades. As a researcher, member of science academies, director general of the Africa Rice Center/CGIAR, and Senegal’s minister in charge of agricultural research, I have observed one constant: financial partners support institutions they trust, not just projects that make promises. This trust is given to well-run institutions. That makes them more resilient to financial instability and better positioned to attract long-term partnerships.
Trust is built on five pillars:
