Learning is at the heart of AgResults

This brief, the fifth and final in the series, provides an overview of the fifth phase of AgResults’ approach to Pay-for-Results prize competition design. It explains how program designers can develop a thorough verification plan to evaluate competitors’ results and determine prize payments. It also summarizes the activities involved in project management of a prize competition.

This brief, the fourth in a series of five, provides an overview of the fourth phase of AgResults’ approach to Pay-for-Results prize competition design. It explains how program designers can determine the size of the prize purse to effectively drive participation and innovation without overpaying for results.

This brief, the third in a series of five, provides an overview of the third phase of AgResults’ approach to Pay-for-Results prize competition design. It explains how program designers can create the set of parameters and rules that determines who competes, how to win the prize(s), and the implementation timeline.

This brief, the second in a series of five, provides an overview of the second phase of AgResults’ approach to Pay-for-Results prize competition design. It explains how program designers conduct deeper research on relevant market systems to articulate a Theory of Change for the competition and to reasonably estimate the project’s impacts.

The first in a series of five, this brief provides an overview of concept sourcing, the first phase of AgResults’ Pay-for-Results prize competition design process. It shows how program designers begin the process by brainstorming and assessing potential development challenges to see if a prize competition is best suited to address the identified problem.

This toolkit is a practical guide for agricultural development practitioners who are interested in using Pay-for-Results prize competitions to stimulate new markets for agricultural technologies and engage the private sector for scale-up. It draws upon the experience of AgResults, which has designed and implemented prize competitions around the world since 2013.

Since 2013, AgResults has been designing and implementing agricultural prize competitions to encourage the private sector to "solve" a market failure and work toward a defined goal to receive a monetary award. In this cross-cutting learning document, AgResults presents 12 key takeaways based on its experience with prize concept design and sourcing; launch and marketing; and running a prize competition.

This assessment by External Evaluator Abt Associates reflects the experience of competitors in the Brucellosis Vaccine Challenge Project from mid-2018 to mid-2019. Most competitors reported that the competition had helped advance their B. melitensis vaccine R&D. However, many of them anticipated challenges completing the safety and efficacy trials due to resource constraints.

This baseline report by External Evaluator Abt Associates describes the Brucellosis vaccine landscape at baseline. Evaluators found that the vaccine market is weak and no new vaccines to control Brucellosis have been developed in recent years. Evaluators also found that the Milestone 1 prize seemed to incentivize some new entities to initiate Brucellosis vaccine R&D.

This presentation from the 2019 Global Agenda for Sustainable Livestock (GASL) Multi-Stakeholder Partnership (MSP) meeting introduces AgResults' framework, which uses prize competitions to encourage the private sector to overcome market challenges. The World Bank and AgResults Secretariat share lessons from designing and implementing competitions to strengthen livestock health and productivity: a global Brucellosis vaccine competition, a vaccine competition to address Foot and Mouth Disease in Eastern Africa, and a Tanzania-based competition to boost dairy productivity.

The AgResults Prize Concept Review Framework assesses concepts for validity as a prize competition. The framework comprises four key questions on the (a) market failure, (b) missions impact, (c) prize design, and (d) enabling environment. 

This Lessons Learned article explores the experience of AgResults during the Brucellosis Challenge design, launch, and Year 1 implementation phases.

The evaluationdesign for the Brucellosis Vaccine Challenge Project lays out the approach to assessing the project's influence in stimulating the development of an improved Brucella melitensis vaccine. Evaluators used a qualitative assessment and counterfactual disease study to examine technology development and used cost-effectiveness simulations as well.