IFAR - PROGRAMS AND FELLOWSHIPS

Wilfried Thalwitz Scholarship

Background on the Thalwitz Scholarship:

The family and friends of Wilfried Thalwitz established a scholarship in his memory at IFAR, the results-oriented non-profit organization that supports the research agenda of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) through the provision of scholarships and other means.
Mr. Thalwitz had a distinguished career at the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (The World Bank), where he rose through the ranks to be appointed Senior Vice President for Policy, Research, and External Affairs. In that position, he served as CGIAR Chair in 1990-1991. During his term as Chair, the CGIAR was expanded to include research programs on agroforestry, aquatic resources, banana and plantain, forestry, and water management. He was the World Bank's first Vice President for Europe and Central Asia. His commitment to research for agricultural and rural development, and his deep interest in this region, are combined in the Wilfried Thalwitz Scholarship.
The objectives of the Wilfried Thalwitz Scholarship are to:
1. Enhance the professional development of young, promising professionals from the countries listed at Para 4 below by assisting them to undertake research in partnership with CGIAR Centers.
2. Promote values gained from a "CGIAR System perspective" involving linkages between CGIAR Centers and NARS, and collaboration among CGIAR Centers.
3. Support research that can make a direct contribution to the application of policy in the field of agricultural and rural development.
4. Foster the potential of promising professionals who are at the early to middle stages of their careers.
5. Encourage cooperation among national research institutions through linkages with CGIAR Centers.
As requested by the Thalwitz family, citizens from the following countries will be eligible to compete: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Macedonia, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Serbia and Montenegro, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Turkey, and Uzbekistan.
Applicants will require a graduate degree in at least one of the following disciplines: agricultural economics, economics, finance, a relevant field of natural sciences, and other social sciences which might address policy issues.
One individual scholarship (US$10,000) will be granted to an applicant whose proposed work program is closely linked with the mission and research agenda of the CGIAR (www.cgiar.org), and whose application is sponsored by one or more CGIAR Centers. The scholarship will finance the successful applicant to conduct research at a CGIAR Center. CGIAR Centers and partner institutions in the countries listed are expected to co-fund the awardees, in cash or in kind. Grants are not intended to finance regular undergraduate or graduate academic programs.
Thalwitz Scholarship Recipients :

2007: Ms. Madina Khalmirzaeva from Uzbekistan will study the peculiarities of formation and evalution quality of collector-drainage water with the view of reusing it for irrigation.
2006: Mr. Odil Akbarov from Uzbekistan is the recipient of the 2006 Thalwitz Grant. His work will focus on the impact of land reform on salinity in Uzbekistan.
2005: Ms. Dilrabo Hamdamova from Uzbekistan is the recipient of the 2005 Thalwitz Grant. Her work will focus on the analysis of women's involvement in water resources management in the Zeravshan River Basin, in Uzbekistan. She will work with IWMI.
2004: Mr. Sayat Shortan is the recipient of the US $10,000 grant to carry out a study on "Socioeconomic Aspects of Crop Diversification in Northern Kazakhstan."