Advocacy and Brand

The drive to stay connected

“Like any other year, 2021 started with a lot of challenges and uncertainties. But we remain positive that things will get better. With the support of IRRI’s researchers, scientists, and other support staff, A&B has been able to deliver communications and advocacy work that has highlighted IRRI’s valuable contributions to rice-based food systems around the world.“

Sherwin Pineda

Head

Advocacy and Brand

Some of our achievements include engaging key decision-makers and policy influencers through high-level events and meetings such as the East Africa Rice Conference 2021, the UN Food Systems Summit, the COP26 side event on Locally Led Adaptation for Climate Change Resilience in Asian Mega-Deltas, and the Nutrition 4 Growth Summit.

Using traditional and social media platforms, we reached over 1 billion viewers per month.

We built the IRRI Design Lab to provide our partners with more effective and efficient services.

We launched A&B Engage to provide custom-made communications and events management support to our research programs.

We mobilized IRRI scientists to be brand ambassadors and contribute to thought leadership.

We are also happy to be the top-of-mind provider of communications expertise and support for IRRI and are proud to be recognized in the greater CGIAR as
a go-to partner for communications, branding, and engagement. We have worked closely with CGIAR on a number of high-profile events and projects, including the ongoing One CGIAR transition where several of our staff have taken on leadership roles.

As we look forward to 2022, A&B will continue to work hard to raise awareness of IRRI’s work and its relevance to the global development agenda. We are committed to communicating the value of rice and food systems research in improving the lives of smallholder farmers and contributing to a more sustainable future for all.