Network Structure of COGENT
Only a country can become a COGENT member. Each country member is represented in COGENT by a national representative, chosen by the country concerned. Two regional coordinators from each of the five regional networks, namely: South Asia and Middle East, Southeast and East Asia, the South Pacific, Africa and the Indian Ocean, and Latin America and the Caribbean, constitute the Steering Committee. The COGENT Coordinator is an exofficio member and serves as the Secretary.
The recent change to international status of the former Asia-Pacific Coconut Community to become the International Coconut Community (ICC) allows the ICC to become the new host for COGENT The Chair and Vice-Chair of the Steering Committee are elected for a 2-year term and must come from different regional networks. The members are also elected for a 2-year term. COGENT programme priorities and activities are decided by members of the Steering Committee, and reviewed by Bioversity to enhance complementation and effectiveness. The COGENT Coordinator coordinates the planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of COGENT’s programme, projects and activities, and establishes linkages with collaborating institutions, programmes and donors.
Partners
COGENT has established collaborative linkages with partner research and development institutions working on coconut which presently include the Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (CIRAD), Institut des Fôrets, Institute for Research through Development (IRD – previously known as ORSTOM), the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), Long Ashton Research Station (LARS) and research agencies in 39 member countries.
Funding
COGENT has received funding support from donors which include the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the Department for International Development (DFID), the Common Fund for Commodities (CFC), the French government, Global Crop Diversity Trust (Trust) and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ), Germany. A CGIAR Coconut Support Group, consisting of donor agencies and partner institutions was formed to foster international support for coconut research. The Group facilitates the financing of priority activities identified by the Steering Committee.