Partnerships constitute WARDA's principal mode of operation. The basis of the Association itself is a partnership among West and Central African Countries. From 1991 to 1999, WARDA-NARS collaborative research was mostly coordinated through thematic Task Forces, which enabled regional coordination of research activities to maximize the benefits of individual research activities and to avoid duplication of effort among partner countries. This maximized the use and effectiveness of the limited resources available for rice research  in the region. 

The mode of operation was highly successful, drawing praise from rice workers throughout the region. In 1999, the WARDA-NARS Task Forces were merged with the West and Central African Council for Research and Development (WECARD-CORAF) ) to form a Regional Rice Research and Development Network for West and Central Africa (ROCARIZ), operated on the Task Force mechanism.

WARDA hosts the central coordination of the ROCARIZ, International Network for Genetic Evaluation of Rice in Africa (INGER-Africa), the Inland Valley Consortium (IVC), and the African Rice Initiative (ARI). It also supports the Coordination Unit of the Eastern and Central African Rice Research Network (ECARRN), based in Tanzania. All these operate on the basis of linkages with many countries across SSA.