Bridging gaps: collaboration between research and operational organisations

There are large potential synergies from collaboration between a research and an operational organisation, such as an NGO, but explicit collaborations between them are not common. This Practical Note examines the institutional partnership between the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and CARE-USA, as a concrete illustration of the difficulties and potential benefits of such a collaboration. It gives examples of the gaps in organisational orientation that can lead to problems, provides ideas about how to bridge those gaps, and highlights what bumps to expect along the way in constructing a productive collaboration.