Purpose
Subprogramme 5 works to build technical capacity and facilitate the flow of products from research to delivery (see GCP Delivery Strategy).
Summary of results in 2009
In 2009, molecular breeding was the core subject of a new set of learning materials, and of a training course on analysing phenotypic and genotypic data. Support to individual capacity-building was provided through a Pioneer–GCP PhD fellowship, joint programmes with ACCI and WACCI, and through four capacity-building à la carte projects – linked to Tropical Legumes I – which also include tailored training for different capacities. Also, a number of travel grants were awarded for Interdrought III and the GCP Annual Research Meeting. Increased efforts to enhance infrastructure and training at selected institutes continued with the renewal of a Community of Practice (CoP) project in Asia and supporting an ongoing CoP in Africa. In the area of product delivery, an online tool to prepare project delivery plans is nearly complete, as well as a project providing guidance on assembling germplasm and marker reference sets. The Genotyping Support Service (GSS) has been expanded to also cater for genotyping requests from Integrated Breeding Platform users, and complementary Platform Services will draw on the experience gained from GSS. Version 1 of the online GCP Molecular Marker Toolkit is now available as a searchable database, and the Workflow Management System is being enhanced to facilitate full project management. A website was also completed compiling results from socio-economic projects conducted thus far.
For summaries of SP5 results from previous years, as well as full reports on yearly progress, please see GCP’s Annual reports