The Tropical Legumes I project (TLI) was initiated by GCP in 2007 and subsequently incorporated into the Programme’s Legumes Research Initiative (RI). The goal of the RI was to improve the productivity of four legumes – beans, chickpeas, cowpeas and groundnuts – that are important in food security and poverty reduction in developing countries, by providing solutions to overcome drought, poor soils, pests and diseases. TLI was led by GCP and focussed on Africa. Work on beans within TLI was coordinated by the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT). The partners in the four target countries were Ethiopia’s South Agricultural Research Institute (SARI), the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (now known as the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization, KALRO), Malawi’s Department of Agricultural Research and Technical Services (DARTS) and Zimbabwe’s Crop Breeding Institute (CBI) of the Department of Research and Specialist Services (DR&amp;SS). Cornell University in the USA was also a partner. Tropical Legumes II (TLII) was a sister project to TLI, led by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) on behalf of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and CIAT. It focussed on large-scale breeding, seed multiplication and distribution primarily in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, thus applying the ‘upstream’ research results from TLI and translating them into breeding materials for the ultimate benefit of resource-poor farmers. Many partners in TLI also worked on projects in TLII.